The Group 3 Frances Tressady Stakes is run in late February of early March at Flemington Racecourse.
It is run under set weight plus penalty conditions by fillies and mares aged three years and above over a trip of 1400 metres.
Frances Tressady Stakes Race Details
Date: 17/2/24
Time: TBA
Racecourse: Flemington
Race Distance: 1400m
Conditions: TBA
Prize Money: $200,000
How To Bet On The Frances Tressady Stakes
Our Top 3 Recommended Online Bookmakers To Bet With For The Frances Tressady Stakes:
Frances Tressady Stakes Betting Tips
1. TBA
2. TBA
3. TBA
When Is The Frances Tressady Stakes: 17/2/24
What Time Is The Frances Tressady Stakes: TBA
Where Is The Frances Tressady Stakes: Flemington Racecourse
How To Live Stream The Frances Tressady Stakes
To live stream the Frances Tressady Stakes, TAB Account Holders can watch the race live.
More Details About The Frances Tressady Stakes
The prizemoney, as of 2023, is $200,000, with the winner receiving $120,000, while those running second or lower are left to vie for the remaining $80,000.
A good New Zealand mare named Annavisto won in 2023.
She is listed as active as of this writing in late March of 2023. She was the odds on favourite. She works for Mick Price and Michael Kent and her 18 jumps to this point have returned above $800,000 in prizemoney from seven wins and five placings. Jamie Kah steered her to the winning post.
After winning the Frances Tressady Stakes, Annavisto jumped in the Group 1 Coolmore Classic at Rosehill under the guidance of Nash Rawiller. Even though she jumped favourite for $5, she was pulled up and finished so far behind the field that she might not have placed in the next race, which was a shame, since she seemed to be going well and was sitting second when she made the turn for home.
She had won the race a year earlier.
The race is run alongside the Group 1 Australian Guineas. The same meeting offers the Group 2 Blamey Stakes and two Listed races are on the card for the meeting.
Horses in this race might be found next in the Group 3 Matron Stakes. Some might try the Coolmore Classic, although that did not work out well when Annavisto tried it.
History of the Frances Tressady Stakes
The race name pays homage to a great racing mare from the 1920s that won the VRC Victoria Derby – Victorian Oaks double and was able to manage a fifth placing in the Melbourne Cup.
The race first jumped in 1975 and went by the name Frances Tressady Stakes through 1995. A series of names came into play that included the Devon Park Strakes, the Chairman’s Club Stakes, the Drumstick Fold Plate, Toohey’s New Plate, Schweppes Stakes, Schweppervescence Trophy and PFD Food Service Stakes.
Frances Tressady Stakes was restored in 2013 and has held for the last 11 jumps of the race as of 2023.
The race grade supplies a bit of interest.
It was Listed through 1979, upgraded to Group 3 in 1980, and then demoted to Listed grade, something we do not often see, in 2010 and was restored to Group 3 in 2011.
The trip for the Frances Tressady Stakes has been fairly constant, with two jumps stretched to 1600 metres in 1980 and 1981. Three jumps from 1983 through 1985 were 1600 metres, but the distance has held steady at 1400 metres since 1986.
Venue for the Frances Tressady Stakes
Without exception, the race has always been held at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne.
Melbourne is known around the world for the Melbourne Cup and stayers from all over the globe come to compete in the world’s richest turf handicap and the world’s richest 3200-metre race.
Racing at the site commenced in 1840 in the flats alongside the Maribyrnong River.
These days, Flemington is host to 14 Group 1, nine Group 2 and 14 Group 3 races. A few of the other marquee races staged at Flemington are the Australian Cup, Black Caviar Lightning, Newmarket handicap and the Victoria Derby.
The track has a pear shape that features a long, continuous sweeping turn on the east end and a devilishly tight turn on the west end.
A unique feature is a chute that leads onto the home straight that enables races of up to 1200 metres to be run without any turning by the racers. It is known as the Straight Six, a nod to the times when race trips were measured in furlongs.
For 1400-metre races, the barriers are set up near the end of the back straight, leading into the continuous turn we described earlier. This jumping spot and turn occupies approximately the first 1000 metres of the race, with the final 400 being the stretch run for home.
Racing History of the Frances Tressady Stakes
As a fillies and mares race, we will be looking for better types that won top races and those that had successful stud careers.
Even though the age eligibility allows for multiple jumps in the Frances Tressady, there have been just two repeat winners in 49 jumps the race has had since 1975 through 2023.
The first was New Smyrna in 1996 and 1997, and the second was Annavisto in 2022 and 2023.
The winner of the inaugural jump in 1975 was Half A Moment.
Records from the time suggest that she was not much as a racer, although records from that time are often scanty.
We found only one offspring for her, a 1981 filly by Bending Away named Go For Glory.
The winner from 1976, Hartsill was at least handy, with 42 jumps for 15 wins and six placings. She had some good wins in 1974, including the Golden Slipper Stakes and the Reisling Slipper Trial. She won the George Main Stakes in 1975 and the Cameron Handicap that same year. Good wins in 1976 include the Canterbury Stakes and the Frederick Clissold Handicap.
We identified four named foals, one of which was a stakes winner.
We are skipping over any that seem to offer no compelling reason not to skip over them.
Minuetto was the winner of the Frances Tressady Stakes in 1979.
She won the Group 1 Rawson Stakes and the Group 2 St. George Stakes, with a Group 3 win in the Adelaide Guineas. She had 10 wins as a two-year-old and had the versatility to win at 2000 metres. She had numerous high finishes and placings in major races at Group grade.
Her stud record was undistinguished.
Parisian Romp was the winner in 1981 and she carried the alias of Wayward Molly. She had seven wins, but nothing truly major that we could ascertain other than the Group 2 SAJC Coolmore Classic.
She supplied six fillies and one colt, the best being by the good racer At Talaq that won three races for minor stakes.
For the record, many of the winners we have examined through 1985 had New Zealand for their birthplace.
Deedle was the winner in 1986 and she also won the Diamond Jubilee Stakes that year at Moonee Valley. That race is now Group 2 Grade and is now run as the Sunline Stakes.
The winner is 1987 was Playful Princess. She also won the Diamond Jubilee Stakes.
Aussie Consul from 1988 was dam to foals by Rubiton, Octagonal and Snippets. Ace Academy by Royal Academy won over $3.1 million in HKD and Solid Contact by Snippets won more than $10 million HKD.
She was a productive breeder, dam to six colts and five fillies. She dropped two by Success Express, two by Flying Spur and two by Zabeel. Coogee Walk (1993) by Success Express won seven races and place in four for over $250,000 NZD. The Big Ask by Bigstone won 11 races and nearly $380,000.
The winner in 1991 was O'Deputy.
She was mediocre as a racer, but she supplied six colts and five fillies. Her best was a 1994 colt by Prince Echo named Ballata that won almost $300,000, but caught our eye for his 115 jumps.
Acushla Marie was the winner in 1992. On her sire Lord Ballina’s side are direct lines to Bletchingly, Biscay and Star Kingdom.
She had a Group 1 win in the Group 1 Coolmore Classic that was known in that time as the Winfield Classic. That win was the third of three successive beginning with the Frances Tressady, followed by the Diamond Jubilee Stakes.
The 1994 winner, Not Related, was the winner of the Group 1 VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes, beating Umatilla, and won the Diamond Jubilee Stakes next jump after the Frances Tressady.
New Smyrna was the first dual winner in 1996 and 1997.
She made 42 jumps for 7 wins and 11 placings, including at Group 2 grade. Of her five colts and one filly, she had two by Encosta De Lago and two by Zeditave, with four of her offspring winning some prizemoney.
We have skipped mostly handy fillies and mares to arrive at the 2009 winner of the Frances Tressady Stakes, a certain Typhoon Tracy.
She is most definitely the winner that causes us to ask, “What was she doing in this race?”
We have gone through the entire list of winners prior, only occasionally finding a Group 1 winner.
Typhoon Tracy won 11 races, six of which were Group 1 grade, with wins in the Coolmore Classic in 2009, along with the Myer Classic that same year. She won the C. F. Orr Stakes in 2010 and 2011. Her other Group 1 wins were the Futurity Stakes in 2010 and the Queen of the Turf Stakes, also in 2010.
This led to her being acknowledged as the Australian Racehorse of the Year and Australian Champion Middle Distance Racehorse in 2010.
She won just over $2.4 million, which is something considering that she made just 20 jumps.
Her first five jumps were all wins. After two placings and one unplaced jump, she reeled off another five consecutive wins. She was beating the likes of Ortensia and Hot Danish.
She could be viewed, given her lines, as a disappointment as a breeder. We found only Last Typhoon by Ireland’s Street Cry, a modest stakes winner of $33,000.
Something we had seen only one time before, in over a decade of examining Australian Thoroughbred racing history is represented by the 2010 winner, a certain Captain Coltish.
The race was the Schweppervescence Trophy at that time and had been demoted to Listed Grade. Well and good, the VRC can classify races as they see fit, but when they demoted the race, they removed the fillies and mares restriction to let an entire win the race.
His name was Captain Coltish. He was exported to South Korea to stand stud, which pretty much says everything necessary. He did produce quite a few offspring, but only one listed stakes winner that won over $640 million in Korean money – a bit above $700,000 AUD.
The Frances Tressady Stakes was reinstated to Group 3 grade in 2011 and the win went to Aloha.
She was by Encosta De Lago and she won over $800,000 from 20 jumps for eight wins and six placings. She won the Group 1 Coolmore Classic in her next jump.
Of her four colts and two fillies, the best was the filly Libertini by I Am Invincible that won nearly $2 million.
Moving forward to more recent jumps of the Frances Tressady Stakes, the 2017 winner Flippant was all right, winner of six races with six placings from 24 jumps – good for over $655,000. It would be her last win. Following others, she jumped in the Group 1 Coolmore Classic in her last race, where she ran 12th of 17, although she was just a smidge over two lengths behind winner Daysee Doom.
In the Frances Tressady Stakes, she beat Oregon’s Day into second, with Oregon’s Day returning for the win in 2019.
She won nearly $1 million and the race was her last win. Jumps in Group 1 races saw her beaten by better types, such as Osborne Bulls and Humidor, but many can make that claim of losing to top racers such as these.
Chaillot was the winner in 2021.
She was by Testa Rossa and her dam, Mary Of Modena, was by Encosta De Lago, so DNA was not an issue. She is still racing for Queensland based trainers Steven O’Dea and Matthew Hoysted with a form line of 17 jumps for six wins and one placing and over $540,000 in prizemoney.
Somewhat ironically, perhaps, a win at Sandown came in the Testa Rossa Stakes at Listed grade, where she nosed Begood Toya Mother.
Her win in the Frances Tressady had Shout The Bar in the field.
She is now aged six, as of March 2023, and she is listed as active.
Conclusion
With the exception of Typhoon Tracy, who possibly won more Group 1 races than all the other Frances Tressady Stakes winners combined, the race has delivered mostly average gallopers and even one stallion as the winner.
Mares and fillies races are popular, but the better fillies and mares will be found in the better grade races.
Frances Tressady Stakes Past Winners
Year | Winner |
2023 | Annavisto |
2022 | Annavisto |
2021 | Chaillot |
2020 | Sylvia's Mother |
2019 | Oregon's Day |
2018 | Flippant |
2017 | Turbo Miss |
2016 | Wawail |
2015 | Madam Gangster |
2014 | Five All |
2013 | Tavarnelle |
2012 | Raspberries |
2011 | Aloha |
2010 | Captain Coltish |
2009 | Typhoon Tracy |
2008 | Coniston Gem |
2007 | Laura's Charm |
2006 | Breezy |
2005 | Skewiff |
2004 | Demographic |
2003 | Galapagos |
2002 | Shelbourne Lass |
2001 | Ticket To Rome |
2000 | Northern Song |
1999 | Fuss |
1998 | Blue Storm |
1997 | New Smyrna |
1996 | New Smyrna |
1995 | Tolanda |
1994 | Not Related |
1993 | Tarare |
1992 | Acushla Marie |
1991 | O'Deputy |
1990 | Thelma Josephine |
1989 | Riva Gleam |
1988 | Aussie Consul |
1987 | Playful Princess |
1986 | Deedle |
1985 | Sweet Gem |
1984 | Kalimna Queen |
1983 | Lemon Princess |
1982 | Winter Flower |
1981 | Parisian Romp |
1980 | Palace Gossip |
1979 | Minuetto |
1978 | Pushy |
1977 | Brett's Honour |
1976 | Hartshill |
1975 | Half A Moment |