Makybe Stakes Mares - The Long Wait For Another Female Winner

Kristen Manning

Editor

Last updated: Thu 10 Sep 2026 08:29

Kristen Manning 2 hours ago

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Sheza Alibi heads into Saturday’s Makybe Stakes as an odds-on favourite, putting the spotlight on the race’s history with mares
Just 13 mares have won the Flemington feature across its long history, with Southern Speed the most recent in 2012
From Chicquita and Light Fingers to recent placegetters, we look back at the females who have shaped the race

Southern Speed, the most recent mare to win the Makybe Stakes, pictured after her 2011 Caulfield Cup victory. (Getty)

With Sheza Alibi opening odds-on for Saturday's Group 1 Makybe Stakes, there has been plenty of online discussion surrounding the recent record of mares in the $750,000 Flemington feature.

A History Of Grand Mares
The Classic Road To The Craiglee
Time For The Next Female Winner!

We take a look at just how they have performed throughout the history of the race.

First run as the Craiglee Stakes — named after the Sunbury home of a former VRC Chairman of Stewards — as a principal race in 1948, it was elevated to Group 2 status in 1979, when won by Dulcify, and remained at that level until 2013.

It has been a Group 1 race ever since, having been renamed in honour of triple Melbourne Cup champion Makybe Diva in 2007.

The race was originally contested over ten furlongs (2000m) before being shortened to 1600m, the distance over which it has been run ever since.

Across eight decades, the race has been won by 13 mares on 14 occasions.

A History Of Grand Mares

It was in the race's early days that the Craiglee Stakes was first won by a mare, and she managed the feat twice.

Chicquita was successful in 1950, en route to seconds in both the Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup behind Grey Boots and Comic Court respectively, before returning to win the Craiglee again in 1951.

Another grand staying mare, Light Fingers, would become the next female Craiglee Stakes winner, successful in 1965 before recording her memorable Melbourne Cup victory four starts later.

Another Classic winner made the successful step up to weight-for-age company when the previous year's New Zealand Oaks winner Star Belle saluted in 1967, with Lowland making it back-to-back victories for mares the following spring.

That year's AJC Oaks winner, Lowland is somewhat forgotten by history but deserves recognition, having won 10 races at stakes level, including a victory over Rain Lover in the 1969 Sydney Cup.

The early 1970s then produced three consecutive victories by mares — Gay Poss, Dual Choice and Gossiper.

That year's AJC Oaks winner, Gay Poss, won the Craiglee in 1970 and went on to prove herself an outstanding matriarch, with her descendants including multiple Group 1 winners Lonhro, Grosvenor, Lankan Rupee and Niello.

While each of the female winners to that point had been known for their prowess over middle and longer distances, 1971 winner Dual Choice is best remembered for her exploits over shorter trips.

She was also highly effective over a mile, winning both the Caulfield Guineas and Edward Manifold Stakes, while in the same year as her Craiglee victory she captured three feature sprints — the Freeway Stakes, now the Manikato Stakes, the Oakleigh Plate and the Lightning Stakes.

The Classic Road To The Craiglee

The AJC Oaks again proved a strong pointer to Craiglee success when Gossiper won both races in 1972, with How Now completing the same double four years later.

It was a magnificent spring for the Colin Hayes-trained mare, whose next three starts resulted in Group 1 victories in the Underwood Stakes, Caulfield Stakes and Caulfield Cup.

The 1981/82 Australian Horse of the Year Rose Of Kingston — dam of Kingston Rule, who ran fourth in the 1990 Craiglee on his way to Melbourne Cup glory — took out the Craiglee in 1982, while the following year saw popular front-runner Pleach in the winner's circle.

The 1993 running saw four-time Group 1 winner Mannerism record the last of her 13 career victories, while three years later it was also the final win for dual Group 1 winner Saleous, who sadly died young.

The biggest gap between female winners followed, with Southern Speed, the previous year's Caulfield Cup winner, taking the prize in 2012.

It would also prove to be the final victory of her career.