7-637: The Victoria Racing Club Oaks (known as the Crown Oaks for sponsorship reasons), is a Victoria Racing Club (VRC) Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old fillies , run under set weights conditions, over 2,500 metres at Flemington Racecourse , Melbourne , Australia on the third day of the VRC Spring Carnival, the Thursday after the Melbourne Cup in early November. Total prize money for
14-600: A nation", the Melbourne Cup , which was first contested in 1861. From its foundation in 1864 until 2001, the Victoria Racing Club was the responsible authority for the conduct of thoroughbred racing in the State of Victoria , Australia. Since 2001, this role has been managed by Racing Victoria Limited . The VRC is managed by an unpaid committee, elected by club members. In 1871, the Victorian Government appointed
21-917: The Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival . The Melbourne Cup is run on the first Tuesday in November, the Victoria Derby are held on the Saturday before the Melbourne Cup, the VRC Oaks is on the Thursday following the Cup, and LKS MacKinnon Stakes is on the Saturday following the Oaks. The VRC also hosts race meetings during the Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival . These meetings include Group 1 races for
28-510: The VRC as trustees of a site of 352 acres (1.4 km ) of Crown Land, next to the Maribyrnong River , which became known as Flemington Racecourse . Much of the early success of the VRC is attributed to the administration of the first Secretary of the club, R. C. Bagot and his successors H. Byron Moore and A. V. Kewney . The Victoria Racing Club hosts four race meetings at Flemington during
35-587: The fastest growing crowd records of any day in the Carnival; excluding the pandemic-impacted years of 2020 and 2021, every Oaks Day since 1994 has drawn a crowd of 50,000 or more. While the main draw card of the race day are the stars of the track, the other popular event on Crown Oaks Day is the annual "Fashions on the Field" celebrations. Introduced by the Victoria Racing Club in 1962 in an effort to woo more women to
42-403: The race is A$ 1,000,000 Record attendance for the race day was set in 2004 with 110,677 in attendance. Popularly known as Ladies Day or just Oaks Day (but in recent times also colloquially called Blokes Day), Kennedy Oaks Day has been an extraordinary phenomenon of racing. Despite being held on a work day (Melbourne Cup Day is the only public holiday during the racing carnival), Oaks Day boasts
49-598: The track, Ladies day and the Fashions on the Field concept has grown considerably with each year and is now adopted at racetracks and smaller events all over the world. Victoria Racing Club The Victoria Racing Club was founded in 1864. It was formed following the disbanding of the Victoria Turf Club and the Victoria Jockey Club. A legacy passed from the Victoria Turf Club was the annual "race that stops
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