Makybe Diva Stakes History

The Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) is a Group 1 race staged at Flemington Racecourse during the early part of the Melbourne Spring Carnival in September.

Originating as the Craiglee Stakes in 1948 when a Group 2 race, the name was retitled to the Makybe Diva Stakes in 2007 to honour three-time Melbourne Cup winning mare.

The race was subsequently upgraded from Group 2 to Group 1 status by The Australian Pattern Committee for the 2013/2014 racing season.

The Makybe Diva Stakes is a weight-for-age event held over a distance of 1600m with a prize pool in excess of $500,000.

It is a race in which a number of high-class gallopers – sprinters and up and coming stayers – contest with the event being one of the mid-distance races that follow a course through to the major prizes duing the Melbourne Spring Carnival.

Often a useful guide for future race winners during the spring, the Makybe Diva Stakes is frequently used as a lead up to races such as the Turnbull Stakes at Flemington and the Underwood Stakes at Caulfield.

The race has been won by a number of Group 1 champions over recent years with some of the most notable including famous galloper Northerly (2001), who went on to win the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate later in the year, Sky Heights (1999), who took out the Caulfield Cup, Shocking (2010), who went on to win the Melbourne Cup, Dissident (2014) and Newmarket Handicap winner Weekend Hussler (2008).

Shocking also ran second in the Turnbull Stakes at Flemington before returning in the autumn to win the Group 1 Australian Cup at the same track, while Monaco Consul finished in second place in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup the following month.

Typhoon Tracy (2009), meanwhile, took out the Group 2 Tristarc Stakes during Caulfield Cup day before scoring a fantastic win in the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes on Victoria Derby day at Flemington.

Some other big-name horses to stand out are the successive winners from 1993 to 1995 – Mannerism, Mahogany and Jeune.

Foreteller (2013) made his way to Caulfield to finish second in the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes shortly after taking out the Makybe Diva Stakes, while Glass Harmonium (2011) had a strong run to finish runner-up in the Turnbull Stakes at Flemington before winning the Group 1 Champions Stakes, while Midas Touch (2011) was placed in the Underwood Stakes at Caulfield after running the Makybe Diva Stakes.

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