Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival

Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival

The Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival is Australias largest and most popular Racing Carnival in each and every calendar year. They are held at all metropolitan racetracks and also Geelong in regional Victoria. Whilst Racing for the Carnival is held during August and September at Flemington, Caulfield and Moonee Valley, the Spring Carnival officially really kicks off on the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes Day at Flemington just after the AFL Grand Final. The Spring Racing Carnival officially ends on the final day of the Sandown Carnival, Eclipse Stakes Day.

Caulfield hosts some great Racing over the Carnival including the Caulfield Guineas for three year olds as preparation for the Victoria Derby. The Caulfield Thousand Guineas is the preparatory race held at Caulfield for the Victorian Oaks. The highlight race at Caulfield is the Caulfield Cup, a handicap race held on mid October at Caulfield worth over $3 million.

Many of the Caulfield Cup runners then go on to compete in the Melbourne cup 10 days later.  These days the Caulfield Cup is seen to be the best lead up race for the Melbourne Cup, with punters keeping a close eye on those runners getting home hard at the end of the shorter 2400m compared to the 3200m of the Melbourne Cup.  However if you win the Caulfield Cup you would normally receive a weight penalty for the Melbourne Cup, which would then possibly see you disadvantaged in regard to the horse’s that were placed around or near to the winner of the Caulfield Cup but received no such penalty.  In recent years there has been a influx of international horses coming to Australia to win the Caulfield Cup.

Moonee Valley is most famous for its weight for age race, the WS Cox Pate. which is held on the Saturday following the Caulfield Cup. The Cox Plate is judged by many racing purists to be the most prestige’s and grand final of the Australian racing calendar.  It brings together the best Weight for Age horses from around the country and overseas. Given the Plate is run over 2040m at Moonee Valley ten days prior to the Melbourne Cup, making it a good lead up race and in more recent years the Plate runners have been highly fancied over the longer journey because of their class factor.  The Cox Plate this year is worth prizemoney of $3 million.
The Flemington Carnival is the pride and joy of Racing in Victoria, if not all of Australia. Unprecedented Australasian if not worldwide interest in now held in Melbourne Cup week. Prizemoney is now in the tens of millions of dollars and it is every owners dream to own a winner during Cup week. Crowds are up around 100,000 people for each of the four days of the Carnival with of course the Tuesday Melbourne Cup Day being the largest of them. The Cup was always the most popular race of the year until a new trend emerged in 2001, when both Derby Day and Oaks Day attendances surpassed Cup Day as the popularity of Melbourne Cup Carnival exploded. When Makybe Diva won the first of her three Cups in 2003 the official attendance was a record 122,736, which was only surpassed by the Derby Day crowd of 129,089 in 2006. Cup week attendances are now capped aat 120,000 to avoid overcrowding.

The headline race of Melbourne Cup week is of course the Melbourne Cup. Worth $6.175 million in prizemoney this year, this is the penultimate race in Australian racing and the richest and highest profile staying race in the world. The race is run under handicap conditions, meaning the better credentialed horses have to carry more weight than those who haven’t achieved as many wins or accumulated less prize money in their careers.  More recently, we have seen the cup won by some of the best middle distance Weight For Age horses, who if put in the right position by jockey and allowed to relax in the run can produce a sprint for a distance that can see them put the rest of the field away.  Let’s Elope, Might and Power, Saintly, Makybe Diva and Fiorente are all examples.

The Victoria Derby is held on the Saturday before the Melbourne Cup. It is a set-weights race for three-year-old horses. There are also other major races held on this day as well, making it the biggest day in racing including the Mackinnon stakes and Lexus Stakes, four Group 1s for the day in total.

on the Thursday after the Melbourne Cup is Oaks Day, better known as ladies day. The Victorian Oaks is for 3 year fillies, a set weights race to crown the best filly in the country. Of recent years, Oaks Day has has massive crowds to rival that of the other two big days of Derby and Cup Days.

The Emirates Stakes Day, known as Stakes Day, is held on the Saturday following the Oaks, and traditionally has been known as ‘family day’. It is a brilliant days Racing to finish off Cup week and the Emirates Stakes is a Group 1 race over 1600m and is worth $1 million.

The last official meeting of the Spring Racing Carnival is at Sandown Racecourse. This day includes the Group 2 Sandown Classic and the Group 3 Eclipse Stakes and occurs in mid November.