Memsie Stakes

Winners and Past Results for the Memsie Stakes.

Held during the Melbourne Spring Racing carnival in August, the Memsie Stakes is a Group 1 race hosted by Melbourne Racing Club at Caulfield Racecourse.

Horses travel over 1400 metres in a bid to pick up the winning tab of $1,000,000.

The Memsie Stakes is a weight for age race held on the same day as the Group 3 HDF McNeil Stakes.

The race has a rich history with the first event held in 1899. The Memsie Stakes has always been a pivotal race in the spring calendar where horses can prove their ability to conquer the mile and gear themselves for the rest of the spring racing carnival.

The Memsie Stakes is a good predictor of latter races. Many horses that enter the Melbourne Cup and Cox Plate have their first run in the Memsie Stakes. The race usually favours horses that are fresh from their break or those who come in from the JJ Liston Stakes, which is held earlier in the carnival. Regal Roller in 2004 was the most recent horse to complete a JJ Liston Stakes/Memsie Stakes double, while Shoot Out in 2010, placed 3rd in both events.

Sometimes there is as much interest in the horses running well from the back of the field, as in the winner. Good staying horses that emerge from the Memsie Stakes often move on to greater heights during the spring carnival. Three year olds rarely contest in this race since it is scheduled too early in spring, a time when they may have more lucrative options to consider.

From here horses tend to compete in the Group 2 Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington Racecourse or the Group 2 Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes at Moonee Valley. So You Can Think in 2010, after winning this race, went on to win the Group 1 Underwood Stakes and the Group 1 Yalumba Stakes both at Caulfield, before winning the WS Cox Plate at Moonee Valley.

Other horses that have managed to win this event before or after their win at the W S Cox Plate have been El Segundo in 2006, Sunline during 2000 – 2001 and Dane Ripper in 1998. A special mention should be made of Makybe Diva who won successive Melbourne Cups in 2003, 2004 and 2005 and followed it up with a victory in the 2006 Memsie Stakes. For punters, strong performers in the Memsie Stakes ought to be followed closely for the rest of the season.