Inaugurated 1976 Distance 1,000 metres | Race type Thoroughbred Surface Turf | |
Location Moonee Valley Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia Sponsor Charter Check Cramer (2016) | ||
The A J Moir Stakes is a Moonee Valley Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race for horses aged three years old and over under Weight for age conditions, over a distance of 1000 metres, held at Moonee Valley Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia in late September. Prizemoney is A$500,000 and a $5,000 trophy.
Contents
History
The A J Moir Stakes was named after former Chairman of the Moonee Valley Racing Club, long standing committeeman and well known Melbourne solicitor Sir Alan John Moir KCMG (1903–81) of the Melbourne establishment firm Gillott, Moir and Winneke - now MinterEllison.
A lawyer, company director and racing administrator from 1948–67, Moir was a director of David Syme and Co Limited. As a senior partner in the firm Gillott, Moir and Winneke he played an important role in the formation of Syme as a public company in 1948. The paper previously had been run by the Syme family trust.
Alan John Moir was also a great grandson of former Victorian Premier, Sir Graham Berry and relative to Mr Henry Albert Underwood, of the Underwood racing family.
The AJ Moir Stakes was first run in 1976 and won by Scamanda.
Elevated to Group 2 status in 1979, it has been won by many star sprinters, most notably Manikato, who became the second horse to pass $1 million in earnings when he won in 1982. Other top-line winners include the Judge (1978–79) and his sister Victoria Peak (1980), Special (1986), Placid Ark (1987), Spartacus (1996), Falvelon (2000), Spinning Hill (2002) and more recently Miss Andretti, Apache Cat and Black Caviar.
For the 2013 running of the event the race was upgraded to Group 1 status and moved from the traditional Cox Plate Day card to be run under lights on Friday night before the AFL Grand Final.