Top 5 Makybe Diva Stakes Winners

The Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) is a key lead up to some of the Melbourne spring majors and the Group 1 affair has been won by some champion gallopers over the years. See who made our list of top 5 Makybe Diva Stakes winners since 1990.

In modern times, the feature race has been taken out by some outstanding gallopers.

1. NORTHERLY (2002)

The fighting tiger’ is one of the most popular gallopers in Australia since the year 2000 and ended the reign of the Kiwi champion, Sunline, in a thrilling Cox Plate in 2001 before going on to make it two in a row in 2002, backing up a week after winning the Caulfield Cup (2400m) with 58kg. He claimed the Makybe Diva Stakes when it was known as the Craiglee Stakes in 2002. That made up for his defeat in the Memsie Stakes (1400m) earlier on that spring, when he infamously tried to bite one of his main rivals of that era in Fields Of Omagh.

2. WEEKEND HUSSLER (2008)

The Ross McDonald-trained galloper had an amazing time of it in 2007 and 2008, winning race after race on his way to becoming the Australian Horse of the Year. He equalled Kingston Town’s record for most Group 1 wins in a single season and returned at four to take out the Memsie Stakes (1400m) Makybe Diva Stakes and the Underwood Stakes (1800m) before injury cut him down.

3. MAHOGANY (1994)

One of the leading horses of his generation, Mahogany followed up his dominant VRC Derby (2500m) win with victory in the 1994 Australian Guineas (1600m). He claimed the Makybe Diva in that spring but would go on to become a top sprinter and amassed eight career Group 1 wins on his way to accumulating almost $4 million in prize money.

4. JEUNE (1995)

Jeune is mainly known for his exploits in the 1994 Melbourne Cup (3200m) winning for the Hayes stable with Wayne Harris on board. But he was a serious racehorse across all distances that he raced at and won the Craiglee in 1995. The import also won a CF Orr Stakes (1400m) that year and was a Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) and Underwood Stakes (1800m) winner.

5. DISSIDENT (2014)

The Horse Of The Year from 2015, Dissident was a Peter Moody galloper that had a habit of just missing out in a series of the big three-year-old spring races before winning five times at the highest level in 2014/15. He claimed the Randwick Guineas (1600m) before graduating to open class, claiming the Memsie Stakes (1400m), Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) and the CF Orr Stakes (1400m) and closing out his career with a win in the All Aged Stakes (1400m) in 2015.

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