Taking place in March and April, the Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival is the premier horse racing event in Sydney, and the first major taste of sporting action for racing fans in the calendar year.
Across the course of six weeks, the best thoroughbred talent from Australia and beyond take to the turf for no less than 20 Group 1 races. More than $37 million in prizemoney is up for grabs.
Three blockbuster Saturdays take the limelight: Golden Slipper Stakes Day at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse and the two days of The Championships, taking place on back-to-back Saturdays at Royal Randwick Racecourse.
Golden Slipper Stakes Day, held in mid-March, is one of the busiest and most widely-anticipated days for horse racing in Australia. The excitement peaks with the eponymous Golden Slipper race, a 1200m dash for two-year-olds that holds the title of the world’s richest race for juveniles.
Attention turns to Randwick in early April for “the Grand Finals of Australian Racing”: The Championships. Over two weekends, the best of the best battle it out in some of the world’s oldest and most lucrative races.
Day one highlights include the ATC Australian Derby, TJ Smith Stakes and, of course, the Doncaster Mile for middle-distance gallopers aged three and over. Seven days later, The Championships returns with the Sydney Cup and the $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
The busiest time of the year for elite racing in Australia, the Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival is nothing short of a punter’s paradise.
Once overshadowed by Sydney’s early-year offerings, the Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival now boasts many of the major highlights of the Australian horse racing season.
A generous serving of feature races, from the oldest and most traditional to the shiny new $5 million All-Star Mile, take place over the span of six weeks across Melbourne’s racecourse triumvirate of Caulfield, Flemington and Moonee Valley.
Caulfield kicks off the calendar year for Group 1 racing in early February with CF Orr Stakes Day, as tension begins to build for the showpiece Blue Diamond Stakes. Attention turns to Flemington the following weekend for the 1000m, $1 million Black Caviar Lightning Stakes.
The excitement hits fever pitch with the arrival of Blue Diamond Stakes Day in late February, where seven races, including two Group 1 races, are run before Australia’s fastest two-year-olds take to the turf for the $1.5 million Blue Diamond Stakes.
March brings more racing drama, with the Australian Guineas teeing up a “Super Saturday” of sporting action that includes the Newmarket Handicap and the Australian Cup the following weekend.
The final standout event is the lucrative All-Star Mile, taking place the weekend after Super Saturday. Inaugurated in 2019, the All-Star Mile has quickly become a fan favourite and only features horses that have been voted in by the public. A huge purse of $5 million makes this one of Australia’s richest races.
With five back-to-back weekends of Group 1 action capped by the enthralling All-Star Mile, the Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival offers a unique blend of entertainment that’s sure to delight racing fans.