Manikato, Moir on the move in Moonee Valley spring shake-up
The Manikato Stakes, the Moonee Valley Racing Club’s premier weight-for-age sprint race, will be shifted in a move that ends a short-lived Melbourne spring carnival experiment.
Run as a Group 1 addition to Cox Plate day racing for the past two years, the Manikato will be brought forward to September 27 in 2024.
The race will now be staged under lights on the eve of the AFL grand final in a Friday night timeslot it last occupied in 2011.
It’s a move that leaves no doubt Victorian administrators are trying to counteract the obvious impact the introduction of The Everest in Sydney has had on Melbourne’s richest spring races for sprinters.
Since the introduction of the Everest in a mid-October date in 2017, there has been a concern among the MRVC hierarchy that the Manikato has lost its way as a bona fide Group 1 contest.
Those fears were allayed to some extent in 2023 when the winner, high-class sprinting mare Imperatriz, was saved for the Manikato at her pet track instead of taking up a slot in the $20 million Everest two weeks earlier.
On the back of Imperatriz’s victory, the Manikato seemed the right fit for Cox Plate day billing after the race figured in a forced switch in 2022.
Bad weather midway through the meeting put paid to the Cox Plate-eve fixture but the Manikato was rescheduled to be run less than 24 hours as the last of 11 races and was considered a success despite the hasty nature of the move.
Among a raft of Moonee Valley spring programming changes announced on Tuesday, the Group 2 Feehan Stakes will be added to the Manikato meeting.
The Feehan winner earns a ballot exemption for the Cox Plate and the MVRC believes the switch will boost its profile as a key lead-up race to Australasia’s weight-for-age championship.
Another spring Group 1 sprint, the Moir Stakes, has also been moved.
In recent years, the Moir has been run on AFL grand final eve but it has been switched to September 7 in 2024
“The move of our two feature sprint races, the Moir Stakes and Manikato Stakes, earlier in the spring, offers the optimal chance for Australia’s best sprinters to chase Group 1 success at The Valley,” MVRC chief executive Michael Browell said.
Cox Plate day will now have the Group 2 McEwen Stakes as its main attraction for weight-for-age sprinters.
There will also be changes to the conditions of the Group 2 Stocks Stakes for fillies and mares.
“The move of our two feature sprint races, the Moir Stakes and Manikato Stakes, earlier in the spring, offers the optimal chance for Australia’s best sprinters to chase Group 1 success at The Valley.” – Michael Browell
The race will remain in a grand final eve timeslot but it has lost its weight-for-age status.
Instead, it will be run under set weights with penalties conditions and have its distance reduced from 1600m to 1500m to provide a point of difference to the Feehan Stakes on the same night
KEY CHANGES TO MOONEE VALLEY SPRING PROGRAMMING
• Group 1 Moir Stakes – Saturday September 7
• Group 1 Manikato Stakes – Friday, September 27
• Group 2 Feehan Stakes – Friday September 27
• Group 2 Stocks Stakes – Friday September 27
• Group 2 McEwen Stakes – Saturday October 26
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