Top 5 Stradbroke Handicap Winners

The Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) is always one of the highlights of the Brisbane carnival and has been won by some champion gallopers over the years. See who made our list of top 5 Stradbroke Handicap winners since 1990.

In modern times, the feature race has been taken out by some outstanding gallopers.

Top 5 Stradbroke winners.

1. ROUGH HABIT (1992)

One of the finest horses to have come out of New Zealand, Rough Habit was a permanent fixture of racing in Australasia from 1990 until 1995. He won 29 races in that time period, including 11 at the highest level. He dominated the Queensland racing scene, picking up the Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) twice as well as the Doomben Cup (2000m) on three occasions. He won the Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 1992, while in 1994, he narrowly went down to Solvit in the Cox Plate (2040m). He dominated in the 1991 edition of the Stradbroke, while his win in 1992 was remarkable, somehow weaving a passage through traffic to score. He retired with 11 Group 1 wins with six of those coming during Brisbane carnivals in the early 1990s

2. DANE RIPPER (1997)

Dane Ripper was a top mare from the Bart Cummings camp that is best remembered for her win in the 1997 Cox Plate (2040m), when she scooted up the inside as a $41 shot with Damien Oliver on board. While she was overshadowed by the likes of Saintly and Might And Power, who won the Cox Plate in the years either side of her, she was a serious racehorse that had earlier picked up the Stradbroke in 1997. The daughter of Danehill would retire in 1998 and finished her career with four Group 1 wins.

3. SANTA ANA LANE (2018)

A recent winner of the Stradbroke that makes this list is Santa Ana Lane, who claimed victory in the Doomben feature in 2018, storming home on the inside of the track to land as a $14 shot. That came just weeks after his success in the Goodwood (1200m) in Adelaide. The Freedman galloper took a little bit of time to get going in his career before breaking through in the Rupert Clarke Stakes in the spring of 2017. Since his Stradbroke win, he has claimed the VRC Classic (1200m) and T.J.Smith Stakes (1200m), while just missing out in last year’s Everest (1200m) behind Yes Yes Yes.

4. ALL OUR MOB (1994)

All Our Mob was a top class galloper around some of the big guns on the Australian racing scene in the mid 1990s. The four-time Group 1 winner showed plenty of versatility in his 74 career starts, winning both sprint and middle distance features in the form of Newmarket Handicap (1200m) and a Mackinnon Stakes (2000m). He is often remembered for his 3rd placing behind Saintly in the 1996 Cox Plate (2040m) one of the most exciting edition’s of that race of all time. He won the Stradbroke in 1994 when trained by Brian Guy before switching to the Gai Waterhouse stable as a five-year-old.

5. PRIVATE STEER (2004)

Another mare to join Dane Ripper on this list is Private Steer, who excited racing fans with her get back and run on style of racing. The John O’Shea-trained galloper announced herself with a big win in the Stradbroke (1400m) in 2003 before performing very well in a series of top races as a four-year-old, winning the Doncaster (1600m) in stunning fashion ahead of Grand Armee in 2004 before her success in the All Aged Stakes (1400m) that year.