Underwood Stakes Winners: Past Results & History

The Underwood Stakes is a quality Group 1 race in Melbourne, and we look at the past results and history of the middle-distance race.

Some of Australia’s best thoroughbreds have won the Underwood Stakes, and the Underwood Stakes past winners list is packed with champions.

Recent Underwood Stakes Winners

The Underwood Stakes has produced some stellar winners over the last 20 years, including Sir Delius, Alligator Blood, Black Heart Bart, It’s a Dundeel, So You Think, and Ocean Park.

Here are the last 20 Underwood Stakes winners:

• 2025 – Sir Delius
• 2024 – Buckaroo
• 2023 – Alligator Blood
• 2022 – Alligator Blood
• 2021 – Zaaki
• 2020 – Russian Camelot
• 2019 – Black Heart Bart
• 2018 – Homesman
• 2017 – Bonneval
• 2016 – Black Heart Bart
• 2015 – Mourinho
• 2014 – Foreteller
• 2013 – It’s a Dundeel
• 2012 – Ocean Park
• 2011 – Lion Tamer
• 2010 – So You Think
• 2009 – Heart of Dreams
• 2008 – Weekend Hustler
• 2007 – Rubiscent
• 2006 – El Segundo
• 2005 – Perlin

The Underwood Stakes is a big Group 1 race because of the incredible past winners’ list. It has produced the likes of Northerly, Octagonal, Tie the Knot, Jeune, Phar Lap, and Ajax, who won three consecutive editions in the late 30s and early 40s.

It’s a time-honoured race with a rich history of champion winners, and the quality hasn’t deteriorated in recent times. The likes of Buckaroo and Sir Delius showed what class of thoroughbred it takes to win the Underwood Stakes, which is a key lead-up race to the likes of the Ladbrokes Cox Plate and Caulfield Cup.

Notable Underwood Stakes Winners

There have been many quality winners since the race debuted in 1924.

The great Phar Lap, considered the best horse of all-time, won in 1931, and the Underwood Stakes has since been contested by some of Australia and New Zealand’s best middle-distance horses, including Lord, Rain Lover, and Bonecrusher.

It takes a tough horse to win the Underwood Stakes, which is why it’s loved by many. In more recent times, Black Heart Bart showed his toughness when winning in 2016 before winning three years later as an older horse.

Alligator Blood won back-to-back Underwood Stakes in 2022 and 2023, and he was the first horse to win consecutive titles since the great Northerly in 2001 and 2002.

Underwood Stakes History

The Underwood Stakes is a prestigious Australian thoroughbred horse race with a long and distinguished history. First run in 1924, the race was named after John Underwood, a prominent figure in Victorian racing. 

It is traditionally held at Caulfield Racecourse in Melbourne and has become an important event on the spring racing calendar. The race is contested over 1800 metres and has attracted many of Australia’s finest middle-distance horses.

Over the years, numerous champions have competed in the Underwood Stakes, using it as an important lead-up to major spring races such as the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate. The race has changed distances and conditions at various points in its history.

It’s an early spring race, and most runners are second-up into their spring carnival, with bigger races in mind later in the season.

What age group has the best Underwood Stakes record?

Four-year-olds have dominated the Underwood Stakes winners list in recent years with 10 saluting between 2000 and 2025, most recently Homesman in 2018.

The oldest recent Underwood Stakes winner was Black Heart Bart in 2019 who saluted as a nine-year-old. Black Heart Bart also won the race three years earlier in 2016 as a six-year-old.

The youngest recent Underwood Stakes winner was Russian Camelot in 2020 who beat home the older horses as a three-year-old.

In the past decade the older horses have had the best Underwood Stakes record. From 2014-2025, eight of the 12 Underwood Stakes winners were aged at least six-years-old.

Between 2000 and 2025 the breakdown of Underwood Stakes winners by age is as follows:

• 3YOS – 1 (latest Russian Camelot in 2020)
• 4YOs – 10 (latest Homesman in 2018)
• 5YOs – 4 (latest Sir Delius in 2025)
• 6YOs – 7 (latest Buckaroo in 2024)
• 7YOs – 2 (latest Alligator Blood in 2023)
• 8YOs – 1 (latest Mourinho in 2015)
• 9YOs – 1 (latest Black Heart Bart in 2019)

Latest Underwood Stakes 2026 Odds