Famous C.F. Orr Stakes Winners - Top Five

Blackbook Staff

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Last updated: 08 Feb 2022

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Blackbook Staff 08 Feb 2022

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The C.F. Orr Stakes is the first Group One of 2022
This feature headlines Saturday's Caulfield meeting
Who are the most famous C.F. Orr winners?

Black Caviar crosses the line to win race the 2012 C.F. Orr Stakes. (Getty)

The Group One C..F Orr Stakes is the first Group 1 of the calendar year and a number of genuine champions have taken out this event

We've taken a look at five of the most famous winners of the C.F. Orr Stakes

Comic Court (1951)

Prepared by Jim Cummings with a young Bart Cummings as the strapper, Comic Court was a versatile champion, winning feature races from 1200m to 3200m.

The 1950 Melbourne Cup winner carried 59.5kg when winning our most famous race by three lengths and set then record when completing the journey in a time of 3:19.50.

There was no slowing down in 1951, with Comic Court winning the 1951 William Reid Stakes and was a Melbourne Cup champion to win the C.F. Orr Stakes the following year. Others to do this include Rising Fast (1956), At Talaq (1987), Let's Elope (1992), Jeune (1995) and Saintly (1997).

An Australian Racing Hall Of Fame inductee in 2009, Comic Court was integral horse in starting a famous and powerful racing dynasty and the 1951 C.F. Orr winner is one of true greats of the turf.

Cf Orr - Comic Court — Champion trainer Bart Cummings strapped Comic Court which was trained by his father Jim (ALLSPORT)

Vo Rogue (1988, 1989 & 1990)

Vo Rogue was a front-running superstar and crowd favourite trained by Vic Rail and ridden by Cyril Small (mostly) that completed a winning hat-trick of C.F. Orr Victories (1988,1989,1990).

Purchased for only $5,000 as a weanling, Vo Rogue earned over $3 million in prize money with wins including won dual Australian Cups (following a famous defeat at the hands of Dandy Andy in 1988) and two Turnbull Stakes in a strong era of Australian Racing.

Amazingly, neither his sire in Ivor Prince nor his dam, Vow ever won a race, something you'd struggle to see now with a galloper who won six Group One races and five more that are Group One in status now which includes his three C.F. Orr Stakes victories.

Manikato (1979, 1980 & 1981)

Another triple C.F. Orr winner was the champion Manikato (1979, 1980,1981) and if marked on today's standards, would find himself as a winner of twenty Group Ones.

The second Australian galloper to accrue over $1 million in prize money, Manikato was purchased for just $3,500 back in 1977 and recorded a Blue Diamond Stakes and Golden Slipper double in 1978, while he also won Caulfield Guineas later that year.

He wasn't to be stopped there though, with a 1979 that included wins in the George Ryder Stakes, William Reid Stakes and Futurity Stakes prior to carrying a three-year-old weight record in the Doomben 10,000.

Saintly (1997)

We never got to see this outstanding giant race again after winning the 1997 C.F. Orr Stakes fresh off a Melbourne Cup victory in the spring, but there was no doubting Saintly was a superstar.

Trained by Bart Cummings and raced in the famous partnership with Dato Tan Chin Nam, the 'Horse from Heaven' was cut down in his prime.

The only one of Bart Cummings' 12 Melbourne Cup winners that didn't race on the Saturday before the cup, they instead went down the Cox Plate path with Saintly winning our premier WFA event en-route to the two miles.

In 1997 over the seven furlongs, Saintly gave them a galloping lesson despite the awkward settling position.

Black Caviar (2012)

The four-time Australian Horse of the year and unbeaten champion mare was again untouched and dominated her rivals in the 2012 C.F. Orr Stakes, her one starts at 1400m.

In a grand era for trainer Peter Moody which saw him take out this race in five of the six editions from 2010, his best galloper followed up from another superstar in Typhoon Tracy who won it back to back (2010, 2011).

In the C.F. Orr Stakes, she brought up win number eighteen when putting a space on the 2011 Caulfield Cup winner Southern Speed, with Western Australian Playing God a further half length back in third.

Fittingly, Black Caviar recorded one of the easiest C.F. Orr Stakes wins in history,