Eskimo Prince Stakes 2024 Tips, Betting Odds, Past Winners & Results

The Eskimo Prince Stakes is a Group 3 sprint of 1200 metres that has been staged at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney since 2021.

The running conditions are set weights plus penalties and the racers are restricted to those that are three years of age.

 

Eskimo Prince Stakes Race Details

Date: 3/2/24

Time: TBA

Racecourse: Randwick

Race Distance: 1200m

Conditions: TBA

Prize Money: $200,000

How To Bet On The Eskimo Prince Stakes

Our Top 3 Recommended Online Bookmakers To Bet With For The Eskimo Prince Stakes:

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Eskimo Prince Stakes Betting Tips

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When Is The Eskimo Prince Stakes: 3/2/24

What Time Is The Eskimo Prince Stakes: TBA

Where Is The Eskimo Prince Stakes: Randwick Racecourse

How To Live Stream The Eskimo Prince Stakes

To live stream the Eskimo Prince Stakes, TAB Account Holders can watch the race live.

More Details about the Eskimo Prince Stakes

Current prizemoney for the race is $200,000.

The 2022 winner, Paulele, banked $84,000 for the win in 2022 and later that year, in his most recent jump, he won the Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes at Ascot in late November.

The Eskimo Prince Stakes, the Champion Two-Year-Old from 1964 as the winner of the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes, Canterbury Stakes and Rosehill Guineas, both Group 1 races.

It seems ironic that a race for three-year-olds would be named in honour of a champion two-year-old, but stick around racing long enough and irony becomes almost a daily process.

When the race was held at Canterbury, it was run under the lights as part of the Canterbury Stakes Carnival.

One of the past sponsors was Widden Stud. One of their sires was Strada that won in 2006, so the race was briefly called the Strada Stakes from 2008 – 2010.

It is easy to see why they changed back to Eskimo Prince Stakes, a name far cooler than the Strada Stakes.

The record time of 1:03.05 for the race as an 1100-metre trip was Dehero in 2003.

History of the Eskimo Prince Stakes

The race made its debut in 1984 at Canterbury Racecourse, sometimes referred to as Sydney’s “other” metro tracks, in addition to Royal Randwick, Rosehill Gardens and Warwick Farm.

It remained there through 1996, before moving to Rosehill for three jumps from 1997 through 1999. It returned to Canterbury in 2000 and remained through 2005, never to return.

From 2006 through the present time, the Eskimo Prince Stakes has been first at Randwick, then Warwick, back to Randwick, back to Warwick, back to Rosehill, back to Randwick, back to Warwick and finally to Randwick in 2021.

It might be easier to list the venues where the race has NOT been run and it is tempting to suspect that someone from the VRC infiltrated the ATC and started doing Victorian tricks on NSW racing.

The race has jumped under variations of the Eskimo Prince name, and except for jumping one year as the 3com Stakes and the aforementioned Strada Stakes, Eskimo Prince has prevailed.

The length of the race has been modified multiple times.

From 1984 – 1986, they raced for the uncommon distance of 1280 metres. It began going as a 1200-metre race in 1987. In 1991, it was abbreviated to 1100 metres and since 2008, the race has jumped at 1200 metres.

The ARB Group classification system was in use when the Eskimo Prince Stakes debuted in 1984 and the race was granted Listed grade, with promotion to Group 3 grade in 2015.

The race was not abandoned in 2007, as some were due to Equine Influenza, but the human-based Covid-19 virus saw the race abandoned in 2020.

Venue for the Eskimo Prince Stakes

Now that the race is at Royal Randwick, at least for now, here is some information about Sydney’s premier turf flat racing facility.

Randwick has been holding race meetings since opening in 1833.

For much of its history, the premier races at Randwick were the Australian Derby, the Doncaster Handicap and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

In 2017, though, the ATC fired the shot heard round the world when they debuted The Everest, a special conditions race that is promoted as the world’s richest turf race. Twelve slot holders pay handsomely for a barrier. The race offered $15 million in prizemoney in 2022.

Plain Old Randwick Racecourse became Royal Randwick Racecourse in 1992. After the Wise Men of the East completed all the protocol-determined bending of knee, bowing and scraping to the visiting Queen Elizabeth II, she gave her blessing to add Royal to the name of the course.

Randwick holds about 45 meetings per year, a packed dance card that includes 20 Group 1, 18 Group 2 and 11 Group 3 races, as of early 2023.

For 1200-metre sprint races such as the Eskimo Prince Stakes, the gallopers jump from a chute on the west side of the course, run a straight, and then one turn to the 410-metre home straight to finish in front of the spectator stands on the east side of the track.

Racing History of the Eskimo Prince Stakes

With the three-year-olds only restriction, there have been no multiple winners of the race. We imagine that in those years when the race jumped at Canterbury that the fields were not the best NSW had to offer.

We saw only a few familiar names on the winners list, so as we go through, we will look for Group 1 winners, million-dollar earners and stallions and mares that went on to produce valuable progeny.

The first winner in 1984 was Run Ashore.

He was a combination of northern and southern hemisphere lines, but the Australian branch did not gain prominence until dam Vertrice, grand damsire Matrice (Pago Pago) came into the mix.

Pago Pago was the sire of the 1985 winner, Pago’s Yarn.

His records are incomplete with our sources, but we did learn that he was sent to Hong Kong in 1985 and renamed Distinction. He did not leave a progeny record that we would locate. Perhaps he served mares in Hong Kong, but those records would be in Chinese and our knowledge of that language is limited to profanity and scatological reproductive phrases.

The 1986 winner was All In A Name.

You would think that this was an original name. We did, but we were wrong. There was another by that name that dropped in the U.S. 10 years prior.

Here, we have our first connection to Star Kingdom as grandsire and sire of Osmunda. We determined that the Eskimo Prince Stakes was his best win, but he also raced under the name of Young Look.

We found no reliable progeny record, but if this had been our stallion, one of the offspring would most definitely have been called What’s In A Name.

Cupillus, the 1987 winner, was similarly anonymous as was All In A Name.

Now, the 1988 winner, Royal Handout, was not a famous racer, he was a most competent stud. He did not supply any mega-stakes winners, in fact, his best-earned $334 below an even $100,000. The thing that jumps off the progeny table is the fact that a remarkably high percentage of Royal Handout offspring earned money from racing.

Sir Laurence from 1990 only made eight jumps. He is credited with three wins, the Eskimo Prince, and some other nondescript races.

He was by Bletchingly, though, so Biscay and Star Kingdom supplied DNA and some of the better U.S. racers, such as War Relic and Man O’ War provided traits further back.

Sir Laurence had a way with the ladies. Like Royal Handout, Sir Laurence supplied dozens of foals, many of which earned prizemoney. The best was a 1995 colt out of Helisa named Laurie’s Lottery that won over $1 million, with a Group 1 win in the Doomben 10,000.

If the name of the 1991 winner, Varikos, sounds vaguely familiar, it is because it is a derivation of his sire’s name. That sire was none other than Vain. He was an average racer and stud.

Our Replica was the 1993 winner.

His sire was Snippets and Our Replica made 37 jumps for 9 wins and 10 placings. We found not progeny record for him.

Sympose won in 1994, carrying on, to a much lesser extent, the racing exploits of his sire, Imposing. Even much less than his grandsire, Todman.

Magic Winner was the winner in 1995, but there was not much of anything magic about him. He made 18 jumps and won eight races. The Eskimo Prince Stakes was his best win, the others were minor events. He lined up for the Group 1 Galaxy, but he crossed ahead of just three of the 15 gallopers.

A million dollar winner came along in 1996 gelding Quick Flick.

His tally was almost $1.3 million from 55 jumps for 16 wins and 13 placings. The Eskimo Prince Stakes was the sixth of his wins. He had an easy Group 2 win at Eagle Farm in 1997 with a win in the Byrne Hart Stakes. He had three consecutive wins with the Group 2 Apollo Stakes, the Canterbury Stakes (now Group 1) and the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes

A talented gelding named Red Hannigan was the winner in 2002.

He won almost $700,000 from his 55 jumps that produced 11 wins and 6 placings. He won the Group 2 Pago Pago Stakes in his fourth start before posting third in his next jump in the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes, followed by a fifth in the Group 1 Sires’ Produce Stakes. His next win was the Eskimo Prince in a year where there were only five racers.

The win came after five consecutive barrier trials, leading us to suspect that he was a Chris Waller horse.

The next winner, 2003’s Dehero, shared not only the win in the Eskimo Prince Stakes with the previous winner Red Hannigan, but they shared a sire in Dehere, a U.S. horse. We repeat that he set the record for the race in 2003 at Canterbury at 1100 metres.

A good gelding, also by a U.S. sire, was the 2004 winner, Spark Of Life .

Spark Of Life won over $1.5 million from 29 jumps for 11 wins and 8 placings. He won the Group 1 The Galaxy in his next jump. He then won a Group 3, a Group 2 and the Group 1 Manikato Stakes in three consecutive starts. He won the Manikato Stakes again the following year. For the rest of his career, he was often near the front in elite races that included the likes of Snitzel and Takeover Target.

Snippets supplied the 2005 winner Snippetson.

Snippetson never won a better race than the Eskimo Prince Stakes. He made just 12 jumps, before he headed for the breeding sheds. Snippetson had many, many, many Snippet’s grandsons (and daughters). The best was a 2010 gelding named Snippets Land that won about $850,000 and had Testa Rossa for grand damsire.

When we get to 2006, we find Strada, the namesake of the race from 2008 – 2010. This is almost an insult to us. Strada made nine jumps for four wins and two placings, earning under $200,000.

He was a productive sire in terms of quantity and a few of his babies made some solid money, including over $4 million in Macau by Lucky And Wealthy out of Star Above, which is about $720,000 AUD at today’s exchange rate.

A mare named Absolutelyfabulous was the 2007 winner. She had 35 jumps for 5 wins and 13 placings for earnings of just under $890,000.

She was served by the likes of Lonhro, More Than Ready (four foals), Written Tycoon and Sepoy. The best was a 2012 gelding by More Than Ready named More Than Fabulous that won above $250,000.

The 2005 winner, Snippetson supplied the 2012 winner, a good gelding named Nobby Snip. The Eskimo Prince Stakes was his best win, but he came within a length of Group 1 glory when he finished second to Temple Of Boom in The Galaxy. Nobby Snip won over $300,000 from just 11 jumps for five wins and three placings.

The winners from 2014 and 2015, El Roca and Scissor Kick, respectively, contributed more at stud than they did at racing. Both supplied many black type producers, although nothing truly major, just solid earnings.

Spill The Beans (2016) by Snitzel from Miss Dodwell was better than many. He made 11 jumps for five wins and three placings, turning that short career into over $560,000. He did this despite never winning above Group 2 grade, and that was just the QTC Cup at Eagle Farm.

Spill The Beans is now deceased, less than a dozen years of age, but before he passed, he paired with Love Of Liberty and supplied Ellsberg that won almost $2 million.

The 2017 winner was Man From Uncle.

This campaigner won three races, all in his first five jumps. After winning the Group 2 Hobartville Stakes in 2017, he lined up more than 30 more times, but only placed in six of those attempts.

We found the familiar name of Kementari as the 2018 winner of the Eskimo Prince Stakes.

He is listed as active and the now eight-year-old gelding son of Lonhro has won more than $4.7 million from 47 jumps for 8 wins and 14 placings.

He won the Eskimo Prince, followed by the Group 2 Hobartville Stakes and culminating with a win in the Group 1 Randwick Guineas, where he had a rather easy go of beating Pierata and Trapeze Artist. His next jump found him running third in the George Ryder Stakes to Winx and happy Clapper. No disgrace losing to those two.

He was seventh in The Everest to Giga Kick in 2022.

The final winner we will examine now is the 2021 winner, Peltzer.

He won over $1 million from 13 jumps for six wins and one placing.

The son of So You Think from Miss Otto is now five and comfortably retired, although he has yet to supply progeny.

A replay of Peltzer’s win can be viewed here.

 

Conclusion

The Eskimo Prince Stakes has a cool name, but we will have to spend some time washing the taste of Strada out of our mouths.

In latter years especially, the race has been won by entires that were sent off early to duty in the breeding sheds.

There have been some good winners and we would have to say that Kementari was the best.

Eskimo Prince Stakes Past Winners