Moonee Valley name race after Imperatriz

[Chief Stipe]

The Valley honours former star Imperatriz with Cox Plate day race

www.theaustralian.com.au

The Moonee Valley Racing Club will honour a retired star with a race named in her honour on Cox Plate Day.

The Imperatriz Sprint (1000m) will be run for the first time at October’s Cox Plate meeting, which will be the last at The Valley before the course’s demolition and redevelopment.

 

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The race will replace the day’s existing 1000m open handicap but prizemoney will rise from $150,000 to $200,000.

Imperatriz won her five starts at The Valley, a record that included four of her 10 Group 1 triumphs.

The Mark Walker-trained mare won the last two editions of the William Reid Stakes as well as the Manikato Stakes and Moir Stakes in 2023.

Imperatriz also won the Group 2 McEwen Stakes (1000m) at The Valley.

Imperatriz won four Group 1 races at The Valley, including the last two editions of the William Reid Stakes. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images

The mare also holds the 1000m course record at The Valley, clocking 56.47sec for the journey.

Yulong Investments bought Imperatriz for $6.6m at a broodmare sale in Queensland.

Imperatriz is in foal to Group 1-winning stallion Pierata.

• No Kimochi but plenty of class in William Reid entries

Meanwhile, Saturday’s meeting at The Valley will be an 11-race card after the addition of the postponed Yarra Valley Cup.

Rain forced the postponement of the Yarra Valley Cup from last Sunday with the race to be run over 2040m at The Valley.

The Yarra Valley Cup will be run as a Benchmark 100 Handicap and will carry $125,000 in prizemoney.

Final acceptors for the original Yarra Valley Cup will receive preference in the ballot for Saturday’s race.