CHAIRMAN’S WELCOME
Welcome to the grand finale of the 2023 Melbourne Cup Carnival. Today is TAB Champions Stakes Day with a sequence of three extraordinary racing contests, each carrying prizemoney of $3 million: the Darley Champions Sprint, the Kennedy Champions Mile and the TAB Champions Stakes. Last year the Victoria Racing Club inaugurated this new format for the last of the four days of the traditional Melbourne Cup Carnival. The result exceeded all
expectations, with spectacular wins to Roch ‘N’ Horse over Nature Strip in the Sprint, to Alligator Blood in the Mile and to Zaaki in the Stakes. The battles today will be equally impressive. Races for champions have been part of the final day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival for the past 150 years. In fact, the first great Champions race here dates back to 1859. But last year was unique in bringing three races for champions together for the first time, over their specialist distances The quality of today’s racing is enhanced by the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes of 2600 metres. Last year this race was run as the Queen’s Cup, an event traditionally rotated around Australian capital cities. This year on TAB Champions Stakes Day it reverts to the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. This honours the late monarch’s deep affection for the sport we all love, and commemorates her several visits to Flemington, beginning with her first royal visit here in 1954. Also run today will be the World Horse Racing Grand Handicap, an 1100 metre sprint, and a salute to Flemington’s inclusion in the World Horse Racing alliance. We farewell another brilliant Melbourne Cup Carnival in championship style. Have a great day at Flemington.
Neil Wilson Chairman
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