Makybe Diva Stakes 2024
Makybe Diva Stakes
Preview, Trends & Analysis
- Date: 14/9/2024
- Distance: 1600m
- Course: Flemington
- Conditions: Weight-for-Age
- Level: Group 1
- Prize money: $1,000,000
The Rundown
Named after three-time Melbourne Cup winning mare Makybe Diva, this race is contested at Flemington over a mile under Weight for Age conditions for horses aged three or older.
Formerly known as the Craiglee Stakes from 1948 to 2006, the race was renamed after the great mare in 2007 and has remained the same since then.
Interestingly, Makybe Diva never actually won this race in her illustrious career, but it was though by the VRC that this be the race to honor her legacy during the spring carnival.
With prize money pool of $750,000 to collect from, this Weight for Age event attracts some of the best milers across the country.
It was dubbed a Group 2 race from 1979 to 2012 and then gained and retained Group 1 status from 2013.
The winner of the race also becomes a ballot exempt horse for the Caulfield Cup.
The Famous Winners and Record Results
The Makybe Diva Stakes stakes its claim to producing some the most famous winners on the Australian thoroughbred scene.
Most recently, champion horses like Humidor (2017), Palentino (2016), Fawkner (2015), Dissident (2014), Melbourne Cup winner Shocking (2010) have been some of the great horses to have won this event.
One of the biggest boil overs in the race occurred in 2019 when Western Australian galloper Gatting sent punters for a spin after he took out the event at $101 with star jockey Jamie Kah in the saddle.
Interestingly, the race can prove a solid formline for the Caulfield Cup as it has since 1993.
Fraar (1993), Sky Heights (1999), Northerly (2002), Mummify (2003), Elvstroem (2004) and Mongolian Khan (2015) have all won this race prior to being triumphant in the Caulfield Cup.
Southern Speed is one of the rare mares to have won this race having been the only horse of her sex to win the Group 1 affair since 1996 when the vent was won by Saleous.
Other star gallopers to have won the race include Jeune (1995), Mahogany (1994), breeding superstar Zabeel (1990), Dulcify (1979), Ming Dynasty (1977) and Light Finger (1965).
The Statistics
There has been a varied assortment of winning barriers of the Makybe Diva Stakes since 1983.
With the starting mark just before the bend, the mile track at Flemington is one continuous turn until the home straight meaning inside barriers would usually be favoured.
But over the years, the track has allowed horses to win from basically any barrier.
Since the year 1983, barrier six has provided the most of number of winners, hotly followed by barriers one and eight as we see in the data below;
- Six wins: Barrier 6
- Five wins: Barrier 1, Barrier 8
- Four wins: Barrier 3, Barrier 11
- Three wins: Barrier 2, Barrier 5, Barrier 10
- Two wins: Barrier 4, Barrier 11
- One win: Barrier 7, Barrier 13
No winner of the event has come from barrier 18.
It is an interesting affair for favourites in the Makybe Stakes of late with only four of them winning since the turn of the century.
The 2020 favourite Fierce Impact got the chocolates after a stoush up the straight with Russian Camelot.
Dissident (2014) was the most recent winning favourite prior to Fierce Impact’s victory.
Weekend Hussler (2008) and Northerly (2002) were the only other favourites to win the race since 2000.
The last two decades has seen the race dominated by the boys.
Of the last 20 winners of this race, only one of them has been a girl with Southern Speed (2012) winning the race as a five-year-old mare.
It is specifically geldings who have won the race since 2001 with 14 of them having crossed the finish in first place.
However, four of the last seven winners have been stallions with those being Fierce Impact (2020), Grunt (2018), Palentino (2016) and Dissident (2014).
The traditional lead-up race for most Makybe Diva Stakes winners and entrants is the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400 metres) run at Caulfield a fortnight prior.
Interestingly, only two gallopers have managed to achieve the Memsie-Makybe Diva double since 1962.
The Winx Stakes could potentially throw a spanner in the works with Mo’Unga potentially a chance to take the float down to Flemington.
That form line has proven to be quite strong throughout Spring Carnival’s in recent history.
The Cox Plate and The Lexus Stakes.
The Recent Winners
| Year | Winner | Trainer | Jockey | Odds |
| 2022 | I’m Thunderstruck | Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr) | Mark Zahra | $2.3 |
| 2021 | Incentivise | Peter Moody | Brett Prebble | $4 |
| 2020 | Fierce Impact | Matthew Smith | Mark Zahra | $4 |
| 2019 | Gatting | Darren Mcauliffe | Jamie Kah | $101 |
| 2018 | Grunt | Mick Price | Damien Oliver | $10 |
| 2017 | Humidor | Darren Weir | Damian Lane | $12 |
| 2016 | Palentino | Darren Weir | Mark Zahra | $9 |
| 2015 | Fawkner | Robert Hickmott | Damien Oliver | $5 |
| 2014 | Dissident | Peter Moody | Ben Melham | $2.7 |
| 2013 | Foreteller | Chris Waller | Craig Newitt | $26 |
| 2012 | Southern Speed | L. MacDonald & A. Gluyas | Craig Williams | $3.7 |
| 2011 | Littorio | Nigel Blackiston | Craig Williams | $41 |
| 2010 | Shocking | Mark Kavanagh | Michael Rodd | $17 |
The Questions
- Saturday 10th September, 2022
- Yes. The Makybe Diva Stakes meeting coincides with a host of Group and Stakes races on the day.
- The Danehill Stakes (1200 metres), The Cap D’Antibes (1100 metres), The Bobby Lewis Quality (1200 metres) and The Let’s Elope Stakes (1400 metres) are the support events on the card.
- Punch in betdeluxe.com.au to your browser and find your home for all your different types of ways to bet not only on Makybe Diva Stakes but every race across Australia.
- The winner, placegetters or runners in the Makybe Diva Stakes usually use this race as a platform for the Underwood Stakes (1800 metres) at Caulfield two weeks later and then onto the Turnbull Stakes (2000 metres) at Flemington.
