Melbourne Autumn Carnival

The Melbourne Autumn Carnival runs from New Year’s Day through to Easter in April of each year with race meetings held at Flemington, Caulfield and Moonee Valley.

Key Races

Flemington hosts the year’s first Group 1 sprint in the shape of the Lightning Stakes, the first leg of the Global Sprint Challenge, in February, while other significant races include the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield, also in February, and the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap, which headlines Super Saturday at Flemington in March.

The Melbourne Autumn Carnival

The Autumn Carnival gets underway on New Year’s Day with the running of the Group 3 Standish Handicap (1200m), and open handicap for sprinters, while the next group race action comes in the form of the Group 2 Australia Stakes (1200m), a weight-for-age contest held at Moonee Valley at the end of January.

In mid-February, Caulfield stages a card including seven group races. The features of those are the Group 1 CF Orr Stakes (1400m), a weight-for-age race, and the Group 2 Autumn Stakes (1400m), which is limited to three-year-olds only. Five Group 3 races are also staged at the meeting. The Rubiton Stakes (1100m) is a set-weights race for speedsters, while run over the same distance are the two Blue Diamond Prelude races, one for two-year-old colts and the other for two-year-old fillies. Both races are a trial for the Blue Diamond Stakes, which takes place two weeks later. The day’s other two Group 3 races are the Geoffrey Belmaine Stakes (1200m) for fillies and mares and Carlyon Cup (1600m), a set-weights race.

On the final Saturday of February, Caulfield stages Blue Diamond Stakes Day, a high-class day of racing with three Group 1 races, three Group 2s and a Group 3 contest thrown in for good measure. The Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) is the premier sprint of the carnival for two-year-olds, who carry set weights. The other two Group 1 races are the Futurity Stakes (1400m), a weight-for-age contest, and the Oakleigh Plate (1100m), an open handicap. Also taking place on the same afternoon are the Group 2 St George Stakes (1800m), a weight-for-age race, the Group 2 Autumn Classic (1800m) in which three-year-olds carry set weights, the Group 2 Angus Armanasco (1400m), limited to three-year-old fillies who will also carry set weights, and the Group 3 Mannerism Stakes (1400m), for mares only as the older brigade get their chance against one another while carrying set weights.

The following Friday, the first Friday in March, the carnival moves onto Moonee Valley for the staging of the Group 2 Moonee Valley Oaks (1600m) as the best three-year-old fillies go head-to-head.

A day later at Flemington the Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) is held for the best three-year-old colts, while on the same day mares carry set weights in the Group 3 Frances Tressady Stakes (1400m).

The following Saturday is Super Saturday at Flemington. The Group 1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) and Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m), both with $1million in prize money, are the headline acts on a stellar day of racing. An open sprint handicap, the Newmarket Handicap is regarded as one of the toughest races to win in Australia although Takeover Target and Schillaci are among the names to have managed to achieve it, while the Australian Cup, an event for stayers, has an equally glittering roll of honour with Makybe Diva amongst those to have triumphed in the race. Of the three Group 2s staged on the day, the Kewney Stakes (1400m) is for three-year-old fillies carrying set weights, the VRC Sires Produce Stakes (1400m) sees two-year-olds carry set weights and the Blamey Stakes (1600m) is an open race in which horses carry set weights. There are also two Group 3 races on the card in the shape of the Matron Stakes (1600m), for mares only, and the Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes (1200m), limited to two-year-old fillies only.

Moonee Valley stages the Group 3 Alister Clark Stakes (2040m), a race for three-year-old colts and geldings, the following Friday. The action continues at Moonee Valley seven days later, too, with the running of the final Group 1 of the Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival in the shape of the William Reid Stakes (1200m), a weight-for-age race. Also taking place on the same day in the Group 2 Sunline Stakes, a weight-for-age race for mares.

The Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival concludes at Flemington on Easter Saturday when the Group 3 Victoria Handicap (1400m), an open handicap for sprinters, and the Group 3 Easter Cup (2000m), another open handicap, are staged.