The Red Roses Stakes is a Group three sprint race of 1100 metres for three-year-old fillies under set weight plus penalty conditions at Flemington Racecourse during the Victorian spring carnival.
The race is held a couple days after the Melbourne Cup and offers total prizemoney of $300,000. It was the last race of the meeting in 2021 and followed the Group 1 Kennedy Oaks.
Red Roses Stakes Race Details
Date: 7/11/24
Time: TBA
Racecourse: Flemington
Race Distance: 1200m
Conditions: TBA
Prize Money: $300,000
How To Bet On The Red Roses Stakes
Our Top 3 Recommended Online Bookmakers To Bet With For The Red Roses Stakes:
Red Roses Stakes Betting Tips
1. Tips Will Be Updated Closer To The Race
2.
3.
When Is The Red Roses Stakes: 7/11/24
What Time Is The Red Roses Stakes: TBA
Where Is The Red Roses Stakes: Flemington Racecourse
How To Live Stream The Red Roses Stakes
To live stream the Red Roses Stakes, TAB Account Holders can watch the race live.
More Details About The Red Roses Stakes
The first place share of $180,000 was claimed by Flying Evelyn a 2018 filly by Not A Single Doubt out of a U.S. mare named Champagne Run.
Flying Evelyn’s lines include her grandsire Redoute’s Choice, with ties on her sire’s side that include Danehill, Danzig, Canny Lad and Northern Dancer. Her dam’s side features names such as Bint Marscay and Marscay, Biscay and American Triple Crown winner Secretariat.
DNA of this calibre is seldom long for the track and Flying Evelyn flew only nine times for two wins and two placings. She never competed above Group 3 grade and the Red Roses Stakes was her best win.
Flying Evelyn has yet to produce a progeny record.
The 2020 jump of the race was won by Written Beauty by Written Tycoon out of Beauty World. She made 18 jumps for six wins and two placings to earn just over $475,000. Written Beauty had some common ancestors with Flying Evelyn, with the addition of Vain on her dam’s side.
She is listed as active. She has never won above Group 3 grade and she is currently working for Chris Waller, so she spends a lot of her time running barrier trials.
History of the Red Roses Stakes
Who doesn’t enjoy a race with three-year-old fillies?
The race jumped for the first time in 1983.
As the race is staged in Victoria by the Victoria Racing Club, the name has changed often, typically for sponsorship reasons. The officially registered name is the Red Roses Stakes and the race needed only that from 1983 through 1993. Over the next two decades, the name of the race changed 13 times, becoming the Red Rose Stakes once again in 2019.
Since the race made its debut after the start of the Group classification system, it did not spend any time as a Principal race and was granted Listed status through 2013. Group 3 grade was conferred on the race in 2014, which is the first year the VRC staged the race over 1100 metres, dropping it down from 1200 metres that was the trip from inception through 2013.
Venue for the Red Roses Stakes
The race has always been run at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne.
Flemington, often referred to by the Vics as “Headquarters” has been the premier metro racecourse in Victoria since racing first commenced on the site around 1840. The course is home to one of the best-known races in the world, the Melbourne Cup, a 3200-metre handicap that attracts gallopers from all over the world interested in capturing some of the $8 million prize pool.
Over the course of a year, Flemington stages 14 Group 1, 9 Group 2 and 14 Group 3 races.
For an 1100-metre sprint such as the Red Roses Stakes, the gallopers use the long chute at the head of the home straight that permits straight-line racing of up to 1200 metres. This chute, combined with the straight, have resulted in that portion of the track being referred to as the “Straight Six.”
Racing History of the Red Roses Stakes
Of course, an age-restricted race will have no winners winning more than once. There did not seem to be any winners that caused us to question why a top galloper was in this race. Where it currently resides on the card for that mid-week meeting of the spring carnival, it is the last race of the day and follows the Group 1 Kennedy Oak, the race everyone is there to see.
We will examine the list of fillies to win the race in the hopes of finding a Group 1 winner or two, or fillies that as mares would supply significant offspring to Australian Thoroughbred racing.
The first winner in 1983 was name Nouvelle Star.
She did not earn a lot of money, but from 15 jumps, she compiled a record of six wins and eight placings.
Her sire, Luskin Star, was a top champion galloper, winning 17 times from 20 jumps.
Nouvelle Star won at Group 2 grade with a victory in the 1984 Linlithgow Stakes. She ran second in three Group 1 races that year and for the 1984/85 racing season, she was deemed Champion Older Mare.
Sent to England for birthing duties, she was mediocre and it seems she was wasted on desultory sires. She had a 1994 colt by Mujtahid that was named Juwwi that made what we believe is the highest number of jumps we have ever seen – 187. He raced until his legs became so short that his connections tried to ring him in for a Dachshund competition.
The winner in 1984 was named Weigh.
She was by Biscay out of a U.S. mare named In The Balance, and her grandsire was the ubiquitous Star Kingdom, a stallion that at times seems to be in the lines of every racer that ever ran. She was not much of a race, was Weigh, and she only supplied three named foals, the best a race mare by Serheed named Boardwalk Lady that won above $200,000, but took 58 jumps to do it.
We are skipping 1985 winner of the Red Roses Stakes Goodwood Lady to examine the 1986 winner, Lucky Witch.
Lucky Witch was a modest racer. She was a productive breeder.
She was a frequent consort to Sir Tristam and Perugino and others, supplying Thoroughbred racing with 13 named foals, three of which won stakes. The best was a 2001 filly by Perugino named Lucky Diva that won over $400,000.
Blixen was the winner of the race in 1988.
She only made 12 starts, but she won seven of those, with her best win being the 1988 Sandown Guineas, a Group 2 race.
Served by the top class of stallions, including Octagonal, Grand Lodge, Canny Lad and Grand Lodge, seven of Blixen’s 10 named offspring won money racing. The best was a 1996 filly by Grand Lodge named Avilde that won almost $400,000.
We are skipping the 1989 winner Perfect Evening. She did not produce much, either by racing or breeding, which seems a bit odd, given than she was by Imposing, with Todman for a grandsire, which, you guessed it, means Star Kingdom. There was a distaff connection to Star Kingdom as well.
Wrap Around won the race in 1990.
She is the best to date, with a Group 1 win in the William Reid Stakes and high finishes in other Group 1 races. She won 10 times with 10 placings from 28 jumps for over $520,000.
Her sire was Bletchingly, hence Biscay and Star Kingdom.
After racing, Wrap Around supplied 13 named foals. Five of those foals earned money, but the best, a 2006 gelding by Commands named Commandare, won only about $125,000.
The next winner, in 1991, was In The Bahamas. She was by Marscay, hence Biscay and Star Kingdom. She won four and placed in five from just 12 jumps, but she never won anything truly notable and her stud record was nothing remarkable.
Gatana from 1992 made 22 jumps for four wins and eight placings to earn almost $240,000. She won the 1993 Hilton On The Park Sprint and had a second place run in the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap, the Group 2 Stanley Wooten Stakes and the Group 3 Swettenham Stud Stakes.
Two of her offspring, Piccadilly Circus by Royal Academy and Rahee by that same sire, out earned Gatana, with stakes of $265,000 and $350,000, respectively. Four other Gatana offspring earned money, so six of the 11 named foals were successful racers.
Bislotto won the Red Roses Stakes in 1993. She did not earn enough from her 17 jumps to pay for her feed, let alone her stall, but she passed along a pedigree that was northern hemisphere on her sire’s side, with top Aussie gallopers serving on her dam’s side.
She was a top breeder.
She only supplied seven named foals, but the sires that served her had names such as Danehill, Encosta De Lago, Redoute’s Choice and others. Five of her foals earned money, the best being Bel Danoro by Danehill that won over $300,000.
Princess D'Or from 1994 also won the Group 2 Surround Stakes, but she made just 10 jumps for four wins and one placing and $140,000 in stakes earnings.
She was the dam of eight named foals, six that earned money and won races.
The winner for 1997 was Dantelah, a New Zealand product.
She won nearly $1 million. Her best patch of racing came in 1999, when she won the Group 2 Swettenham Stud at Morphettville, followed by the Group 1 Oakleigh Plate and a good second in the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap. She had good runs with high finishes in other Group 1 races.
All her progeny combined, six in total, did not earn more than their mum did, despite three of those being sired by Zabeel.
Two-time Group 1 winner Isca won in 1998. She won the Lightning Stakes and the Newmarket Handicap. At stud, she was a dud.
We skipped a few obscure winners of the Red Rose Stakes to arrive at the 2004 winner Tahni Girl.
A 2001 filly by Redoute’s Choice, she earned about $400,000 from 16 jumps for three wins and four placings. She won two Group 3 races and she had some good runs in better races against strong competitors, such as Alinghi and Fastnet Rock.
She supplied seven named foals, four of which earned above $100,000, including Kentucky Breeze by Pierro that won almost $440,000.
The winner in 2005, Crevette, made 17 jumps for four wins and four placings. Her prizemoney was more than $214,000 without ever winning above Listed grade.
Her larger contribution was a 2010 filly by Northern Meteor named Cosmic Endeavour that won almost $1.4 million.
Gold Edition from 2006 was the best racer to win this race to this point in our exploration of Red Roses Stakes winners.
She won more than $3 million, with Group 1 wins in the Ascot Vale Stakes and the Manikato Stakes. She won at Group 2 level five times, with three Group 3 wins included. She had second place runs in four Group 1 races in 2007 with seconds in four Group 2 and two Group 3 races.
Almost predictably, it seems, she was not much for motherhood, supplying just three named foals by the likes of Written Tycoon, Snitzel and Encosta De Lago with less than $1000 to show for it.
A filly named Trim was the 2009 winner.
She made 17 jumps for three wins and five placings and we would probably overlook her but for her lines. Her sire was Lonhro, hence Octagonal and Zabeel.
She supplied three named foals, including a 2014 filly by Exceed And Excel named Manicure that won more than $630,000.
Another Exceed and Excel offspring, Curtana, won the race in 2010.
She produced a second in that year’s Coolmore Stud Stakes, but she, like many others, was well behind the winner, Star Witness.
Curtana’s best out of the barn was a 2015 filly by Sebring named Sword Of Mercy that won over $400,000.
Shamal Wind won in 2012.
She won more than $830,000 from 25 jumps for eight wins and seven placings. She was disqualified from the 2013 Group 1 Oakleigh Plate, but returned to win the race in 2015.
Secret Agenda won the Red Roses Stakes in 2015.
She was by Not A Single Doubt and we have none about her. She won more than $1.5 million from 23 jumps for seven wins and six placings. She won the Group 1 Robert Sangster Stakes at Morphettville, and then ran the race again in 2018 to finish second.
She beat Viddora to win the 2017 Group 1 Robert Sangster Stakes.
The winner from 2016 was Spright.
She won over $1.3 million, including, like Secret Agenda, the Group 1 Robert Sangster Stakes in 2019, with a second to the remarkable Sunlight in the Group 1 William Reid Stakes. When she won the Group 3 Star Kingdom Stakes in 2018, she beat the good galloper Dothraki.
The final winner we will examine is 2019’s Sisstar.
A 2016 filly by Zoustar, she won more than half a million dollars from 15 jumps for six wins and one placing. She also won the 2020 Magic Million 3YO Classic from The Astrologist.
The Red Roses Stakes, for now at least, is the race that no one sees as everyone is heading for the exits after the Group 1 Kennedy Oaks.
The race has supplied some good winners, both in terms of racing and breeding, but only a few had the ability to win Group 1 races, no matter what anyone may think about Group 1 fields in South Australia.
A few of the Red Rose Stakes winners did win Group 1 races in the east and a few supplied profitable racers to the sport of kings.
Red Roses Stakes Past Winners
Mumbai Muse
Year | Winner |
2023 | Mumbai Muse |
2022 | Aitch Two Oh |
2021 | Flying Evelyn |
2020 | Written Beauty |
2019 | Sisstar |
2018 | Bleu Roche |
2017 | Jorda |
2016 | Spright |
2015 | Secret Agenda |
2014 | Onemorezeta |
2013 | Melrose Place |
2012 | Shamal Wind |
2011 | Emmalene |
2010 | Curtana |
2009 | Trim |
2008 | Exalted Keetah |
2007 | Gamble Me |
2006 | Gold Edition |
2005 | Crevette |
2004 | Tahni Girl |
2003 | Danabaa |
2002 | Red Labelle |
2001 | The Big Chill |
2000 | Wyndam Special |
1999 | Faithful Love |
1998 | Isca |
1997 | Dantelah |
1996 | Chalee |
1995 | Laudemio |
1994 | Princess D'Or |
1993 | Bislotto |
1992 | Gatana |
1991 | In The Bahamas |
1990 | Wrap Around |
1989 | Perfect Evening |
1988 | Blixen |
1987 | Open To Offers |
1986 | Lucky Witch |
1985 | Goodwood Lady |
1984 | Weigh |
1983 | Nouvelle Star |