TAB Champions Stakes Day TAB Champions Stakes Day

Prizemoney: $3,000,000

Weight-For-Age. Apprentices cannot claim.

Registered name: L.K.S Mackinnon Stakes

157th of Series

Race History

LKS MACKINNON (1861–1935)

Lauchlan Kenneth Scobie Mackinnon (1861–1935) was one of the most influential chairmen of the Victoria Racing Club in its long history, a committeeman for 26 years from 1909 and Chairman from 1916 until his death, guiding its fortunes as the principal club in Victoria. A solicitor by profession, he bred and raced thoroughbreds, at different times owning Maribyrnong Stud and Chatsworth Park. Kingsburgh won the 1914 Melbourne Cup for him. Woorak won the Epsom at Randwick and became a top Australian stallion. Mackinnon’s conservative views, especially about women in racing, were not universally shared but Victorian racing flourished. The Melbourne Stakes, created in 1869 as a traditional weight-for-age Derby Day lead-up to the Cup, became the Mackinnon in his honour from 1939. In 2016 the race was repositioned as the 2000 metre champion race for the final day of the Carnival.

Prizemoney: $3,000,000

Weight-For-Age. Apprentices cannot claim.

Registered name: Cantala Stakes

107th of Series

Race History

CANTALA STAKES

The original Cantala was not a racehorse, but a mansion that until demolished in 1939 occupied five hectares on Dandenong Road near Kooyong Road, Caulfield. It belonged to Septimus Miller, VRC Chairman 1895–1906. In 1919 the VRC Committee renamed the Coburg Stakes the Cantala in his honour. Miller provided a gold trophy to the first winner. In recent decades the Cantala was the feature mile on the final day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival under various sponsorships – George Adams, Ampol, Nisson, Honda, Chrysler, Emirates. From 2016 to 2021 it shifted to Victoria Derby Day as the Kennedy Mile. Now it returns to the final Saturday as the VRC Kennedy Champions Mile.

Prizemoney: $3,000,000

Weight-For-Age. Apprentices cannot claim.

Registered name: Victoria Racing Club Stakes

66th of Series

Prizemoney: $300,000

Mares Set Weights plus Penalties. Apprentices cannot claim.

40th of Series

Race History

MATRIARCH STAKES

A 2000 metre race for mares has long been part of the card for the fourth and final day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival. The race name Matriarch Stakes was first applied in 1995, and the Kilmore and Ballarat Cup winner Magical Storm was victorious. The race name was inspired by the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes, a mile race for mares on the turf in the USA, first run at Hollywood Park in 1981 and later at Del Mar Racetrack, California. Among the best winners of the VRC Matriarch Stakes has been multiple Group 1 winner Lucia Valentina, successful in 2015 before winning the AJC Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick the following year.

Prizemoney: $300,000

Quality Handicap. Apprentices cannot claim.

Registered name: VRC Queen Elizabeth Stakes

47th of Series

Prizemoney: $175,000

Open Handicap. Apprentices cannot claim.

Race History

ALWAYS WELCOME (Seventh Hussar (FR) - Welcome Back)

Always Welcome, an Australian-bred son of Seventh Hussar, was foaled in 1973, a consistent stakes-winning sprinter whose six Group level victories included the VRC Linlithgow Stakes and Coolmore Stud Stakes (at that time the Craven A Stakes) at Flemington, the Caulfield Futurity (beating So Called) and the Randwick All-Aged Stakes. Twice runner-up in the VRC Newmarket, and second in the Epsom, the Doncaster and the Epsom at Randwick, Always Welcome had the misfortune of competing against such champions as Maybe Mahal, Luskin Star and Manikato. He was trained by Bernie Byrnes from the old Big Stable at Inglis' Newmarket property at Randwick.

Prizemoney: $500,000

2YO Handicap. Apprentices cannot claim.

Restricted 2YO horses nominated in the Inglis Race Series + $200k Pink Bonus to the first eligible horse past the post.

Prizemoney: $150,000

4YO & Upwards Benchmark 90 Handicap. Apprentices cannot claim.

Prizemoney: $150,000

Benchmark 80 Grand Handicap. Apprentices can claim.