2025 Northerly Stakes Results

Stay tuned for the official 2025 Northerly Stakes results and finishing order on Saturday December 6, 2025 to see which is the year’s last Group 1 winning horse down under!

• 1st: #11 Cosmic Crusader ($6)
• 2nd: #3 Watch Me Rock
• 3rd: #1 Western Empire

Winning Margin: 0.15 lengths

Winning Time: 1:48.48

Cosmic Crusader ($6) delivered a career defining performance to head the 2025 Group 1 Northerly Stakes results Ascot, holding on to edge out Railway Stakes hero Watch Me Rock in a thrilling finish. Trained by Michael Grantham and ridden by Clint Johnston-Porter in the famous Peters Investments colours, the five-year-old gelding overcame the disappointment of missing a start in the Railway two weeks earlier to secure his maiden Group 1 success. Johnston-Porter produced a perfectly timed ride, surging late to hold off the challengers, and later dedicated the victory to his grandfather who had passed away on race eve, making the triumph deeply emotional. For Grantham, it was a breakthrough at the elite level, while for Cosmic Crusader, the win confirmed his place among Western Australia’s top middle-distance gallopers heading into the autumn features.

Northerly Stakes Tips

Stay tuned for our exclusive Northerly Stakes 2025 Tips on the Group 1 Perth showdown this summer.

To Win: No. 15 King Of Light

The unbeaten KING OF LIGHT (8) takes on the older horses now and is short priced to beat them home, which I think he can do. This is a notable rise to WFA for Dan Morton’s Earthlight gelding, but his record speaks for itself – five-from-five and now a Group 1 win pending. He was excellent against his own age here over the mile in the WA Guineas easily saluting as the odds-on fancy having come from midfield to make up ground and win by over a length on the line, and he should get the 1800m without having to stretch too much. Drops back from 57kg to just 52kg so will be airborne at his pet track where he’s already a three-time winner. The big plus? Willie Pike sticks aboard in favour of rides on some of the other last start winners he partnered and that is a good sign. The then filly Amelia’s Jewel (2022) was the last to do the WA Guineas – Northerly Stakes double and I think this three-year-old is a WA star in the making capable of repeating the feat.

Northerly Stakes News

King Of Light Tops 2025 Northerly Stakes Field & Odds

The Northerly Stakes is the last of three Group 1 races run and won at Ascot Racecourse in WA each Perth Summer Racing Carnival.

Formerly known as the Kingston Town Classic, the race was previously named after the Australian Racing Hall of Fame horse Kingston Town.

It was renamed in 2022 as the Northerly Stakes in honour of the 2000 Railway Stakes champion Northerly, one of the country’s best ever middle-distance racehorses. Northerly won a host of Group 1 races in Australia including dual wins in the Australian Cup (2001, 2003) and Cox Plate (2001, 2002), as well as the 2002 Caulfield Cup during his illustrious career.

Run in either late November or early December annually, the weight-for-age race is worth $1.5 million dollars in prize money as of 2022 and is contested over 1800m.

The best lead-up race to the event is the Group 1 Railway Stakes (1600m) run a fortnight earlier. Horses out of the Northerly Stakes field may go on to contest the Group 1 Perth Cup (2400m).

In 2020 the ill-fated Truly Great scored an upset win in the Kingston Town Classic before winning the Group 2 Ted Van Heemst Stakes next-up ahead of a second in the Perth Cup results.

Regal Power (2021) was the last horse to complete the Kingston Town Classic –  Ted Van Heemst Stakes double.

Four horses have completed the Railway Stakes – Kingston Town Classic (Northerly Stakes) double in the same year with the latest to do so being Sniper’s Bullet (2009).

The recently added Group 3 $1.5 million The Gold Rush (1400m), held for the first time in 2022, run at Ascot in mid-December is also a potential target for horses out of the Northerly Stakes field each summer.

Horses that contest the summer’s Northerly Stakes are also now likely to target a slot in Perth’s richest race, the $4 million The Quokka (1200m), taking place for the first time in April of 2023.

The 2022 Northerly Stakes form was franked with the winner Amelia’s Jewel running second in the following year’s The Quokka results before heading to Melbourne where she won both the Group 2 Let’s Elope Stakes and Group 2 Stocks Stakes in 2023.

The 2024 Northerly Stakes winner, Light Infantry Man, franked the form the following autumn running third in Melbourne’s All-Star Mile before claiming victory in the Group 1 Australian Cup in 2025.

2025 Northerly Stakes Betting

The top 2025 Northerly Stakes betting markets will be open at Ladbrokes.com.au for you to back your insider Northerly Stakes betting tips at the right price this summer and also available here at Races.com.au.

Amelia’s Jewel ($2.90 in 2022) was the last favourite in Northerly Stakes betting to salute for the punters.

There was a notable upset in 2023 with Dom To Shoot saluting at Northerly Stakes odds of $21, and again in 2024 with Light Infantry Man ($12) beating Admiration Express ($101).

Northerly Stakes Field

2025 Northerly Stakes Form Guide

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL 2024 NORTHERLY STAKES FORM GUIDE

2025 Northerly Stakes Nominations

More and more interstate raiders trained outside of W.A. are featuring in the Northerly Stakes nominations that close about a month out from the Group 1.

The 2025 Northerly Stakes nominations attracted a bumper 123 early entries led in all-in betting by Dan Morton’s currently undefeated three-year-old gelding King Of Light.

2025 Northerly Stakes Field

The Northerly Stakes field – formerly known as the Kingston Town Classic field – is usually filled out with some of the better Perth thoroughbreds as well as visiting stayers from the eastern states.

Horses traditionally run in the Railway Stakes a fortnight earlier leading-up to the race and Sniper’s Bullet (2009) was the last to do the double in a single season.

Three-year-old runners in the field may have their final lead-up in the Group 2 W.A. Guineas and Arcadia Queen (2018) and fellow filly Amelia’s Jewel (2022) are the last WA Guineas winners to back-up and beat the older horses in the then Kingston Town Classic field next start.

In 2019 the Neville Parnham-trained filly Kay Cee improved on a lead-up second in the WA Guineas to take out that year’s Kingston Town Classic results.

The 2025 Northerly Stakes field is announced on the Monday of race week and will be published in full below once released by Perth Racing.

The Northerly Stakes 2025 final field features a capacity line-up of middle-distance summer stayers led in betting by the undefeated Dan Morton trained WA Guineas winning gelding King Of Light chasing his sixth win from as many starts and drawn midfield in gate eight with William Pike to ride.

Click here to read more on the key runners in the 2025 Northerly Stakes field and betting markets.

Northerly Stakes Barrier & Speedmap

1

Zipaway Off Midfield

2

Depth Of Character Off Midfield

3

Admiration Express Midfield

4

Sentimental Hero Midfield

5

In Good Order Pace

6

Western Empire Midfield

7

Hemlock Stone Off Midfield

8

King Of Light Midfield

9

Cosmic Crusader Pace

10

Ginger Baker Midfield

11

Vivy Air Midfield

11

Bonjoy invalid settling lengths

12

Diamond Scene Midfield

13

Apulia Backmarker

14

Pure Excess Midfield

15

Watch Me Rock Off Pace

16

Osipenko Midfield

Northerly Stakes History

First raced in 1976 and won by Family Of Man, the Kingston Town Classic has undergone plenty of name changes. Starting with the Marlboro 50,000, the event then went on to be named the Western Mail Classic, Rothwells Stakes, Winfield Stakes, Beat Diabetes 2 Stakes and Fruit ‘N’ Veg Stakes. In 2007 it was officially named the Kingston Town Classic after the great horse’s victory in 1982.

Summer Beau won the race in two consecutive years in 1996 and 1997 and Old Comrade followed in 2000 and 2001. Niconero managed to win the Classic twice in 2006 and 2008 as did the race’s first winner Family Of Man in 1976 and 1978.

More recently Playing God (2010-11) went back-to-back in the race as a three-year-old and four-year-old, while in 2015 Perfect Reflection became the first three-year-old filly to win the Kingston Town Classic.

Three years later and another filly was in the mix, Arcadia Queen dominating the 2018 Kingston Town Classic results with a 4.5 length win. The following summer, a daughter of two-time champion Playing God – Kay Cee – became the third filly to win the Kingston Town Classic.

The fillies were back on top again with the favourite Amelia’s Jewel winning the 2022 Northerly Stakes.

The event was renamed the Northerly Stakes ahead of the 2022 edition.

Northerly Stakes Previous Race Winners

The table below shows the winners and placegetters of the Kingston Town Classic since 2020. From 2022 onwards the winners are known as the Northerly Stakes winners.