Challenge Stakes (New Zealand)

Group I race
Mudgway Stakes
Location Hastings Racecourse
Hawke's Bay, New Zealand
Inaugurated 1991
Race type Thoroughbred - Flat racing
Website Hawke's Bay Racing
Race information
Distance 1400m (7 furlongs)
Track Grass, left-handed
Qualification Three-year-olds and up
Weight Weight for Age
Purse NZ$200,000

The Challenge Stakes (formerly Mudgway Stakes) is a Thoroughbred horse race run at Hastings Racecourse in Hawke's Bay and is New Zealand's first Group One race of the season. It is run over a distance of 1400m on the first Saturday in September.

The race's timing, weight-for-age conditions and the reliably dry weather of the region at that time of the year combine to ensure that the race sees one of the strongest fields assembled in any race all season as a number of horses heading towards a campaign in Australia choose it as a starting point.

As a result, the winners list for the last few years is extraordinarily strong for a New Zealand race. Included among the winners are champion mare Sunline, the brilliant Xcellent and Australian visitor and subsequent European Group 1 winner Starcraft. Seachange is the only dual winner of the race.

As hard as it is to believe by looking at the winners list, the race was only given Group 2 status until 2003, when Miss Potential took out the first Group 1 running of the race.

The race is often used by Spring Classic contenders, with that race being run a month later over 2040m. Along with the 1600m Windsor Park Plate, these races form the Hawke's Bay Triple Crown.

Winners of the Challenge Stakes

Year
Winner
2011 Mufhasa
2010 Keep The Peace
2009 Tavistock
2008 Fritzy Boy
2007 Seachange
2006 Seachange
2005 Xcellent
2004 Starcraft
2003 Miss Potential
2002 Sunline
2001 Fritz
2000 Cent Home
1999 Hero
1998 Batavian
1997 Pakaraka Star
1996 Vialli
1995 Marconee
1994 Snap
1993 Calm Harbour
1992 Surfers Paradise
1991 Rough Habit
1990 Flying Luskin
1989 Catering King
1988 Poetic Prince
1987 Field Dancer
1986 Catering King
1985 Shagolvin