22-498: The Memsie Stakes is a Melbourne Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held under weight for age conditions, for horses aged three years old and upwards, over a distance of 1400 metres. It is held at Caulfield Racecourse , Melbourne , Australia as a lead in to the Spring Racing Carnival . Total prize money for the race is A$ 1,000,000. The race is often used as a lead-up race by good horses preparing for
44-458: A gross economic benefit of US$ 521.8 million. The carnival, and particularly the Melbourne Cup attracts the interest of many people otherwise uninterested in horse racing, and special forms of very low-stake gambling are often used for this event. One common form for groups such as office staff is the "sweep", where each participant adds a small fee to a "pot" and draws the name of a horse like
66-527: A horse has come back after its customary winter spell. There is sometimes just as much interest in the horses running on well from the back of the field, as there is in the actual winner. A good run by a staying horse in this race is often a good indicator of a successful Spring Carnival to come. The Memsie Stakes is a virtually identical race to the P B Lawrence Stakes , another 1,400 metre weight-for-age race run at Caulfield usually earlier in August except that this
88-530: A number of decisions by the MRC board, including the potential sale of Sandown Racecourse, a $ 250 million plan to replace the glass-fronted Rupert Clarke grandstand, and a $ 160 million upgrade to the Caulfield course that had included an unpopular new site of the mounting yard, and a new inner track that was rarely used. John Kanga, a board member, gave notice of a motion, backed by more than 150 members’ signatures, to convene
110-465: A raffle. Prize money is distributed to the person who draws the winning horse (occasionally smaller prizes are awarded to placegetters and the last-placing horse). A more complex and high-stakes form of the sweep is the "Calcutta", often held as a fundraising event for community organisations, which begins as in the sweep (though usually with a much higher initial stake), but which allows ticket holders to trade their tickets through an auction system. For
132-548: A special general meeting of the club to oust five members of the board. Two other members of the board, joined Kanga’s "Save Our MRC" movement, despite having earlier signed an MRC statement criticising his actions. Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival The Spring Racing Carnival is the name of an Australian Thoroughbred horse racing series held annually in Melbourne during October and November. Although racing in Australia
154-516: Is held every day except Good Friday and Christmas Day, the Group One races in Melbourne are held almost exclusively throughout the carnival, which is traditionally placed between the football and cricket seasons. During the winter (where football is dominant), and summer (where cricket is dominant), racing takes a 'back seat' position in relation to the cricket or football in terms of media coverage and attendances. However, in spring and autumn,
176-633: Is one of three metropolitan horse racing clubs in Melbourne , Victoria , Australia. It began life as the Victoria Amateur Turf Club in 1875, with E.C. Moore as the club's first Secretary. The first VATC race meeting was held at Dowling Forest Racecourse in Ballarat , on Friday, 24 March 1876. Within six months, the VATC was granted use of Crown land at Caulfield as a permanent home in Melbourne. In 1879,
198-710: Is the Weight for Age Cox Plate race held on the next day with a host of other Group races including the Moonee Valley Gold Cup , Crystal Mile and Moonee Valley Vase . The Bendigo Jockey Club hosts its Group 3 Bendigo Cup on the Wednesday between the Cox Plate and the VRC Derby Day. The Victoria Racing Club 's meetings attract the most attention from the media and the wider community. The Melbourne Racing Club holds
220-518: Is the first Group 1 in the racing season in Victoria. The list of previous winners of the race contain recent champions, including Sincero, So You Think , Weekend Hussler , Makybe Diva , Sunline , Naturalism , Rancho Ruler, Manikato , and famous champions from the 20th century Galilee , Rising Fast , Comic Court , Lord (four times), Ajax (three times) and Phar Lap . † Dead heat Melbourne Racing Club The Melbourne Racing Club (MRC)
242-720: The Geelong Racecourse on the Wednesday between the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate. The meeting also has a couple of Listed races, The 3YO Geelong Classic and The Rosemont Stud Stakes. The day is a public holiday in Geelong's metropolitan area. The Moonee Valley Racing Club holds a two-day carnival at the Moonee Valley Racecourse . The Manikato Stakes is held on the Friday night following the Caulfield Cup. The club's highlight
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#1733093095891264-569: The 1920s, was opened in 1992. With the increase in the number of visiting international horses to the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival , the VATC established a permanent quarantine centre at Sandown Racecourse in 1997. In 2001, the Club commenced a five-year, $ 20 million, strategic plan which included the establishment of 20 feature race days at Caulfield, the construction of a second turf track at Sandown, to be known as Hillside, with
286-732: The Guineas Stand was also burnt down. In 1940, the military occupied Caulfield Racecourse for a period of four years, and it became a depot and barracks for army recruits during the Second World War . The then Vice-President of the United States, Richard Nixon , attended the Caulfield Cup meeting in 1953. In 1963, the Melbourne Racing Club, which had been created from an amalgamation of the Williamstown Racing Club and
308-669: The Spring Racing Carnival contributing more than $ 3.6 billion in gross economic benefit to Victoria in the past decade, almost $ 1 billion more than the Australian Open tennis reported for the same period. The 2017 Spring Racing Carnival injected $ 444.5 million into the Victorian economy, and created jobs for more than 20,000 staff and contractors, in addition to providing boosts to the retail and hospitality sectors. The 2018 Spring Racing Carnival provided an economic return to
330-519: The Spring Racing Carnival officially starts on the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes Day at Flemington, one week after the AFL Grand Final. The Spring Racing Carnival officially ends on the final day of the carnival at Sandown in mid-November. The Melbourne Racing Club holds three race meetings at Caulfield Racecourse , each with major Group one races. The Geelong Racing Club hosts its Group 3 Geelong Cup at
352-487: The Victorian Racing and Trotting Association, was incorporated into the VATC. Following the merger, the newest of Melbourne's race tracks, Sandown Racecourse , was opened on 19 June 1965, in front of a crowd of over 52,000. The first Blue Diamond Stakes , a race for two-year-olds, was run at Caulfield in 1971, won by Tolerance. The glass-fronted Rupert Clarke Grandstand, which replaced the main Caulfield grandstand of
374-622: The club staged the first running of the Caulfield Cup and, two years later, introduced the Caulfield Guineas and the Toorak Handicap . In addition, the Caulfield Cup was switched to the spring racing season and became the lead up race to the Melbourne Cup . The Futurity Stakes was added to the racing calendar in 1898. In 1922, the Members' Stand was destroyed by fire and, five years, later
396-647: The existing circuit being renamed Lakeside, a major upgrade of facilities and training tracks at Caulfield, and a change name from the Victoria Amateur Turf Club to the Melbourne Racing Club. Jumps racing is conducted at the Sandown track during the winter months, the blue ribbon events being the Australian Steeple and the Australian Hurdle. In 2024, the club was engulfed in controversy arising from
418-555: The fashion part of the Spring Racing Carnival many special guests over the years have come to the races. Paris Hilton , Nicky Hilton , Carson Kressley , Eva Longoria , Sarah Jessica Parker , Kim Cattrall , Naomi Campbell , Nicole Kidman , Gigi Hadid and Hilary Swank . The Spring Racing Carnival is made up of meetings held by the metropolitan clubs, where Group One races take place, and also at Geelong and Bendigo . With numerous group races during August and September at metropolitan tracks Flemington, Caulfield and Moonee Valley,
440-460: The longer feature races such as the Caulfield Cup , Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup . Such horses typically compete against less glamorous, and usually fitter, sprinter-milers who have been trained specifically for this race. Speed and fitness seem to prevail over class about half the time, as can be seen in the list of recent winners. As the race comes early in the Spring, it will often indicate how well
462-407: The mass media turns its attention to the racing. There is also an Autumn Racing Carnival, a time where Group One races are also held. The Spring Racing Carnival is a major contributor to the Victorian economy. According to a study conducted by market research company IER, the 2022 Spring Racing Carnival was estimated to have delivered $ 422.1 million in gross economic benefit to Victoria in 2022, with
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#1733093095891484-404: The state of $ 447.6 million, with the event also directly employing more than 21,000 staff and contractors who worked for more than 800 companies in the lead-up and during the event. The 2019 Spring Racing Carnival has been credited with injecting US$ 196.2 million directly into the Victorian economy; when considering total spending by all attendees at the Spring Racing Carnival, the event generated
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