Australian racing history will be made on Saturday if the mighty Overpass can win his third Winterbottom Stakes.
Two time winners of WA's premier sprint race are Asteroid (1953-55), the great mare La Trice (1970 -71), Belinda's Star (1975-76), Hardrada (2002-2003), Ortensia (2009-2011) and the mighty Queenslander Buffering (2013-2015) - but no horse has ever three-peated at Ascot!
Click here for the Breeding to Win - Winterbottom story for tips.
As the Winterbottom attained its G1 status in 2011, only Ortensia and Buffering stand with Overpass as dual winners at the highest level.
From 1979 to 2010 it was a G2 race - but none would argue that it was won by some true champions during this time!
In fact the very first edition of the Winterbottom Stakes in 1952 was won by an all time Australian turf legend Raconteur, so the honour roll kicked off with a bang.
The inaugural race was run at a distance of 1400m and so it remained until 1992.
Earlier winners were horses that were household names in their day, in particular the champion mare La Trice but also Asteroid, Nicopolis, Aquitania, Railway Boy, Belinda’s Star and Romantic Dream.
There are three reasons the Winterbottom Stakes attained its G1 status and commenced its subsequent rise to national prominence as one of our greatest sprint races.
The first was that the WATC had suffered the indignity of having its historic Derby relegated to G2, a decision that was naturally unpopular in the west - but also reasonable given the Derby's undeniable decline in quality over the years.
On the other hand, the Winterbottom was well overdue for the ultimate upgrade, having been won as a G2 race by great sprinters like Asian Beau, Jungle Mist, Fimiston, Placid Ark, Carry A Smile, Barossa Boy, Jacks Or Better, Cranky Tikit and Fair Alert.
The elite speedster Fimiston who won in 1986 sired Fair Alert (2001) and bonny mare Ellicorsam (2004)
The list of winners in the years immediately preceding the G1 upgrade makes a mockery of its supposed G2 status - Hardrada, Ellicorsam, Marasco, Ortensia and turf greats Miss Andretti and Takeover Target!
The second reason for the Winterbottom's renaissance lies with a single famous edition of the race!
In 2008 Perth was abuzz with the prospect of a Winterbottom title fight between two genuine heavyweights of the turf - the aforementioned legend, Joe Janiak's Takeover Target, and another bona fide cult hero in Apache Cat.
It took some serious wrangling from Perth Racing to get these two crowd-magnets to Perth.
Joe and TT were locked in and it was exciting enough that Ascot racegoers would get a chance to see the Aussie battler of folklore, the conqueror of Royal Ascot in the flesh!
Then rumours started to fly of superstar Apache Cat going to Hong Kong. Could a Winterbottom appearance be part of that campaign? What a match race for the ages that would be!
To their eternal credit the wheelers and dealers at Perth Racing got it done.
Whatever it cost to get The Big Cat to show up was worth every penny - because the resulting spectacle catapulted the Winterbottom to premier event status.
After weeks of build up the great day arrived and the atmosphere on course at Ascot was absolutely electric. There wasn't a square inch of space to be had as a gigantic crowd, seething with excitement, watched the horses enter the parade ring for the Winterbottom Stakes!
There were other runners in the field including Fred Kersley's brilliant local sprinter Marasco - but all eyes were fixated on just two.
The differences between them could not have been more pronounced.
Takeover Target came in head low, his eyes kind and mellow as he proceeded almost sedately beside his strapper around the yard.
You could see the power lurking in every inch of his frame - but he also looked like you could pull him out of there, throw a kid on him and watch him happily cruise off to an afternoon at Pony Club.
Apache Cat was simply a born showman and there would be no unassuming, workmanlike appearance from him. There would be an entrance!
How appropriate that Mother Nature had endowed this horse at the moment of his conception with the loud appearance to match his bigtime personality.
As Apache war-danced gloriously into the parade everyone went “oooh.”
These days the Living Legends stalwart is a gentle soul who loves a cuddle, but back then in his prime and at full race fitness he was a sight to behold - a magnificent athlete who busted the wow-o-meter.
As the two - well, the only - contenders moved out onto the track, Ascot was at fever pitch.
You had to be in a camp, choose your warrior, to do justice to this event.
It was like the atmosphere at a boxing match!
They cantered to the start and Takeover Target under Jay Ford came alive - now he looked like the fearsome competitor he was.
The Cat had quit the preliminary theatrics and Corey Brown had him perfectly in hand as he sped to the gates, no more the Harlequin - the game face was firmly switched on beneath that flashy blaze.
It all boiled down to this! The race was just over a minute's worth of pure breathless excitement.
As they rocketed down the straight the roar of the crowd all but lifted the roof off the old stand. The two were locked in mortal combat, neither giving an inch.
Takeover on the rail, Apache the outside, they thundered to the post!
Over the deafening hubbub the voice of racecaller Darren McAllay reached a crescendo of fervour as bang! they hit the line. But who had won? Photo!
Silence fell and the suspense was unbearable. Then the number went up. Takeover Target by a nose!
It was one of the greatest races ever seen at Ascot and the crowd brought them back to scale with a standing ovation. A legend was born and the Winterbottom was on its way.
The final step in awarding the race its G1 status came in 2011 as part of the “Super Saturday” concept, which saw the Railway and Winterbottom Stakes run on the same card.
It was hoped the sprint’s elevation to G1 level would attract the phenomenon that was Black Caviar to tread the Ascot turf.
Again, all stops were pulled out by the powers that be to lure “Moods” and his legendary mare across the Nullabor, and again Perth was gripped by excitement. She was coming!
Then came crushing disappointment. Black Caviar, in winning the Patinack Classic at Flemington, had jarred up badly on the firm track. The big mare wouldn’t be making the trip.
Into the breach stepped Ortensia. She may not have been a once-in-many-generations freak, but the daughter of Testa Rossa was a great sprinter in her own right and had already won the Winterbottom of 2009.
Ortensia had been set to head to NZ for the G1 Railway Stakes there, primarily to avoid running second to Caviar in Perth Now the possibility of a second Winterbottom - and a first G1 win - was on the table, and connections swiftly changed plans.
Ortensia duly saluted and won her second Winterbottom but it was what she did next that cemented the reputation of the race as a springboard and a showcase for the nation’s best short course specialists.
The mare went on an international Group racing winning spree, taking the G1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan, the G1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York and the G2 King George at Goodwood.
Another dual Winterbottom winner Buffering would also famously win the G1 Al Quoz Sprint.
The much-loved “Buff” brought the house down when he led all the way to win his second Winterbottom in 2015, having got up by a nostril hair two years before.
To top it off, he ran a race record time of 1:08.17! What an absolute marvel he was.
Each of the winners of the race since it became a G1 were memorable.
Barakey (Key Business) in 2012 went undefeated in his first 11 starts.
The magnificent Magnus daughter Magnifioso in 2014, Takedown (Stratum) in 2016, Viddora in 2017 and Voodoo Lad 2018 (both sired by I Am Invincible) and Hey Doc (Duporth) in 2019 were all serious top flight performers
In 2022 the tough and talented Elite Street (Street Boss) got the prize and like Overpass, he was out of an Exceed And Excel mare.
2021 Winterbottom heroine Graceful Girl (Nicconi) was another G1 winning product of the Peters Investments breeding empire and was later purchased by Widden Stud for $1.1million at the 2023 Inglis Chairman's Sale.
Her Zoustar yearling filly will be offered at the 2026 Magic Millions on the Gold Coast and there will be plenty of inspections of that one!
In 2022 the ridiculously handsome four year old entire Paulele (Dawn Approach) came with a blinding burst of acceleration from last place to take the prize for James Cummings and Godolphin. The Blue Army had invaded the west!
Paulele now stands at Darley Victoria and no doubt WA owners and trainers will take a keen interest in his first progeny to be offered for sale.
23/24 Winterbottom hero Overpass is the G1 outlier for his sire Vancouver, a G1 Golden Slipper winning son of champion USA racer and sire Medaglia D'Oro.
Vancouver has been a good sire of stakes performers (12 in all) but only Overpass has possessed that G1 X-factor and he got a very big dose of it!
