Captain Cook Stakes

The TAB Classic is a Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race run at weight-for-age over a distance of 1,600 metres (1 mile) at Trentham Racecourse in Wellington, New Zealand. Known for many years as the Captain Cook Stakes, in 2023 it became known as the TAB Classic.

Over the years the race has been won by great New Zealand racehorses such as Rough Habit (1992), Solveig (1986) and Copper Belt (1977).

Name

 * Marlboro Mile (1977-1979)
 * Penfolds-Chardon Mile (1980-1981)
 * DB Mile (1982-1983)
 * Double Brown 1600 (1984-1985)
 * Double Brown Mile (1986-1988)
 * DB Draught 1600 (1989)
 * Captain Cook Stakes (1990-2000)
 * Fayette Park Prized Stakes (2001)
 * Captain Cook Stakes (2002–2022)
 * TAB Classic (2023-Present)

Race Date

 * Run In March (1977-1997)
 * Run In October (1998-2008)
 * Run In December (2009–Present)

In 2009 the Wellington Racing Club changed the race date from the end of October to the beginning of December, to move it away from the Hawke's Bay Spring Carnival races such as the Spring Classic. Instead the Captain Cook Stakes was fitted in to be three to four weeks after the Coupland's Bakeries Mile [Churchill Stakes] at Riccarton in November and three weeks before the Zabeel Classic [Galaxy Stakes] at Ellerslie on Boxing Day.