Northerly Stakes fourth race due to track safety. Race was held 21 October 2015. Northerly Stakes The Northerly Stakes is a Perth Racing Group 3 Thoroughbred handicap horse race for horses aged four years old and upwards, over a distance of 1400 metres at Ascot Racecourse, Perth, Australia in October. Prize money is A$150,000. The race was renamed in 2010 after the champion Western Australian thoroughbred Northerly, winner of two W S Cox Plates (2001 & 2002), two Australian Cups (2001 & 2003) and a Caulfield Cup (2002). The race is run on Caulfield Cup day. † Originally the race was scheduled
Northerly failed to reach the same heights. Wins in the St George Stakes and the Australian Cup (by four lengths) were interspersed with defeats in the Orr Stakes and the Victoria Gold Cup, where he was defeated as a long-odds-on favourite by the hitherto unheralded Mr Trickster. In Sydney, Northerly was also odds-on favourite in his three starts, but failed to win. In the Ranvet Stakes, he was run down by Republic Lass; in the Manion Cup, he was unplaced; in The BMW Stakes, Freemason set a course-record pace, and Northerly was unable to run him down, as the two horses