DARLEY MARIBYRNONG TRIAL STAKES
BY ANDREW LEMON
T he Maribyrnong Trial Stakes has a history dating back to 1898 at Flemington. It is the first opportunity for the new crop of two-year-old colts and fillies to race down the straight, at set weights. Now over 1000 metres, the race was originally over 885 metres and was intended as a try-out for the rich Maribyrnong Plate, inaugurated at the 1871 Melbourne Cup Carnival. The indigenous word ‘Maribyrnong’ has many associations with Australian racing history. Maribyrnong is the river that runs past Flemington. It is the suburb upstream, originally Maribyrnong Farm (1855) which became Hurtle Fisher’s – and later his brother C.B. Fisher’s - Maribyrnong Stud. There they bred their brilliant stallion, Maribyrnong, sire of 1878 Melbourne Cup winner Calamia. And Maribyrnong Farm became the site of a private racecourse in the 1890s operated by Archie Cox, son of Moonee Valley’s W.S. Cox. Flemington’s first Maribyrnong Plate was restricted to progeny of sires standing at Maribyrnong, but was soon open to all two-year-olds and became hotly contested. Fittingly, the Maribyrnong Trial Stakes is now sponsored by UK-based Darley, which in 2006 acquired historic Northwood Park at Seymour. Darley is one of the most prestigious stud farms in Victoria.
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