The Sandown Guineas, as it is now known, has quite an interesting history.
It was introduced in 1957 when the race was run at Caulfield and was for fillies only.
The inaugural running was won by Orient, a daughter of Midstream who went on to win the Queensland Oaks the following year.
Although at the tail end of the Melbourne Spring Carnival the event was won in following years by outstanding fillies in But Beautiful, Twilight Glow, Lady Sybil, Indian Summer, Birthday Card, Ripa and Light Fingers.
The last year the Guineas was restricted to fillies was 1967 when the winner was Begonia Belle, who went on the win the Newmarket Handicap at Flemington five months later.
In 1968 and 1969, when the race was opened to colts and geldings, the event was run over 10.5 furlongs at Sandown.
The first winner under the revised conditions was Felipe Ysmael’s Always There, who had scored a decisive victory in the Victoria Derby two weeks earlier.
The next year the winner was Top Flat, who had run second to the quality New Zealander performer Daryl’s Joy in the Derby.
In 1970 the Guineas went to its present distance of a mile – changed to 1600 metres with the introduction of metrics in 1972 – and there a long series of brilliant winners.
These featured Abdul, Carnation for Me, Horse of the Year Taj Rossi, Better Draw, So Called, Just A Steal, Galleon, Cossack Prince, Brave Salute, Shankhill Lass and Stargazer, who defeated Tristanagh.
However, the list of winners since 1989 has not been so impressive with, perhaps, Pressday, who had won the T.J.Smith Stakes, Sires’ Produce Stakes and Champagne Stakes in Brisbane the previous season, being the best of those.
The Zipping Classic, which came into being in 1888, has an even more varied history.
Initially it was the Williamstown Cup and was run under the banner of the Williamstown Racing Club.
According to records in 1963 it became the Sandown Cup, in 1999 the Sandown Classic and it was renamed the Zipping Classic in 2011 in honour of the four-time winner, who ruled the race from 2007 to 2010.
During its history the event has been conducted at the long defunct Williamstown racecourse, where the grandstand was burned to the ground in 1947, Caulfield, Flemington, Moonee Valley and now, of course, Sandown.
Its distance has also varied from 11 furlongs, to 12 furlongs, to 13 furlongs, to 2400m, to 3200m and is now back at 2400m.
The Cup’s list of notable winners – apart from Zipping – includes Amounis, Second Wind, Shadow King, Manolive, Counsel, Columnist, Morse Code, Prince Cortauld, Sailor’s Guide, Illumquh, New Statesman, Light Fingers, Arwon, Stylish Century, Our Pompeii, Sky Heights, Americain and Who Shot the Barman.
The Sandown Stakes also has a diverse background being known as the C.J.Coles Stakes to begin with in 1980, then The Coles New World Stakes, Coles Supermarket Stakes, Race Tech Stakes, Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation Stakes, Alannah and Madelaine Foundation Stakes, Sandown Stakes, Yarramalong Racing Club Stakes, Chandler Macleod Recruitment Stakes and Sandown Stakes again.
The first winner was Tower Belle and she was followed by the likes of Showmeran, New Atlantis, Luther’s Luck, Wrap Around, Mamzelle Pedrille, Mahisara, in 2012 and 2013, and Redkirck Warrior.
Appropriately named the Consolation Stakes when added to the racing calendar in 1934 the event now titled the Eclipse Stakes has, extraordinarily, had 17 different distances.
It has also undergone eight changes of track but these have been restricted to between Caulfield and Sandown.
The winner in 1934 and 1935 was Burlesque with the outstanding Hall Mark, who had won the Melbourne Cup in 1933 as a three-year-old, was third on both occasions under big weights.
The race’s honour board has since taken on the names of Manolive, Makai, Morse Code – winner in 1950 and 1952 – Baystone, Gala Crest, What’s Brewing, Leica Lover, Allez Bijou, So Vague, who won in 1985 and 1986, Super Impose, Innocent King, Fields of Omagh, Aqua D’Amore and Mouro.
