A major Group 1 race is to be renamed by the Australian Turf Club.
The Chipping Norton Stakes will now be known as the Verry Elleegant Stakes in honour of a Melbourne Cup winner and one of the most popular race mares in recent history.
Sydney Group 1 Name Change a Fitting Tribute
Traditionally, the Chipping Norton has been the first Group 1 event of the season in Sydney. Now the Verry Elleegant Stakes, the race honours the mare millions watched win the Melbourne Cup live in 2021.
The great mare was trained by Chris Waller, one of the trainers we’ve been looking at as well as assessing the chances of the top UK and Irish handlers this year.
A top weight-for-age race, the new Verry Elleegant Stakes will be run on Saturday March 2. It will be run over Royal Randwick’s 1600-metre track. Won by some of the best in the business, Verry Elleegant herself took the race in 2022. The name change to honour her is a fitting one indeed.
Elleegant and Waller’s Melbourne Cup Success
Verry Elleegant, having been such a crowd favourite, eventually landed the big one in 2021. It was also Chris Waller’s first Melbourne Cup win.
Waller was himself a champion without a Melbourne Cup win for so long. He had plenty of success elsewhere, with his other super mare Winx winning what was the Chipping Norton herself. In fact, Winx won it four years in a row between 2016 and 2019.
Despite having won at around this one-mile trip and over slightly further, it took the Melbourne Cup’s extreme field and 3200m distance for us to see the best of Verry Elleegant. She was sent to France afterwards in order to try to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, though that ultimately proved a little ambitious.
The honour of the Chipping Norton name change, according to Waller, is testament to Verry Elleegant’s heart. She won Group 1’s ranging from 1400m right up to the Cup’s 3200m.
A True Champion
As well as winning the Melbourne Cup in 2021, Verry Ellegant took several other major races. She landed the 2020 Caulfield Cup and was in fact the 2021/22 Horse of the Year.
After no fewer than 16 high-profile career wins, Verry Ellegant was retired. She took 11 Group 1 titles after turning out fully 40 times on the track. In terms of earnings, she sits fourth on the list behind Winx, Nature Strip and Redzel having raked in $14.9 million in her career.
Eight of the mare’s Group 1 wins were achieved on tracks in Sydney. This fact has prompted the name change honour, confirmed by ATC chairman Peter McGauran.
Verry Elleegant is now expecting her first foal. We hope to see more stars produced to follow in her prestigious footsteps.
