The Canterbury Stakes is one of the early Group Ones of the Sydney Autumn Carnival.
While it is currently run at Randwick Racecourse, it is race that for a vast majority of its existence was contested in the west of Sydney at Canterbury Park Racecourse.
Inaugurated back in 1929 at Canterbury Park, the race was held at that track all the way through to 1996, when it was temporarily run at Rosehill Gardens. Rosehill and Canterbury then shared the race until 2014, when it was moved to Randwick, where it has remained since.
While Canterbury locals will be hoping that the Canterbury Stakes one day returns to its rightful home, for now, its Group One status means that its likely to remain at Randwick. The race was upgraded to a Group One in 2013, and since then has seen several quality editions.
The 1,300 metre distance attracts a mixture of sprinters and horses who will be stepping up to a mile and beyond in their autumn campaigns. Indeed, the winner of the Canterbury Stakes gains automatic qualification into both the George Rider Stakes and the Doncaster Mile, which are run over 1,500 and 1,600 metres respectively.
The very first edition in 1929 was won by one of Australia's greatest ever racehorses, Amounis. And a list of recent champions of the race demonstrate what a quality race the Canterbury Stakes has become. More Joyous, Pierro and Happy Clapper have all triumphed in the last ten years.
As the race often sees small fields of high quality horses, it is rare for an outsider to win. In fact, since 2008, the longest-priced winner was Holler in 2016, who started at odds of $7.50.
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