Turnbull Stakes: How Flemington Shapes the Cups & Cox Plate

Kristen Manning

Editor

Last updated: Thu 02 Oct 2025 07:24

Kristen Manning 02 Oct 2025

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The Turnbull Stakes is Australia’s only Group 1 race at set weights and penalties for older horses
It’s a vital form guide for spring majors—Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate, and Melbourne Cup
Many top contenders use the Turnbull Stakes as a springboard for major race victories

Winx winning the 2018 Turnbull Stakes. (Getty)

The Turnbull Stakes – A Race with a Difference

The Turnbull Stakes – A Race with a Difference
Origins and Evolution
A Path to the Caulfield Cup
Recent Turnbull Form into the Caulfield Cup
The Turnbull as a Cox Plate Guide
Melbourne Cup Connections
The 2025 Edition

The Turnbull Stakes has always been a race with a difference.

Run right at a time when the main spring hopefuls are starting to put their hands – or should I say hoofs – up, it sits amongst weight-for-age races and quality handicaps but isn’t either of those.

Australia’s only Group 1 contest run at set weights and penalties, the Turnbull is for older horses only. Four-year-old males are allotted a base weight of 54kg (mares 52kg), while those five and older carry 55kg (mares 53kg).

From that base, penalties are added, with only races run from the start of the previous season taken into account: 3kg for a Group 1 win, 4kg for any horse with multiple Group 1 victories, 2kg for a Group 2 win (2.5kg for more than one), and an extra 1kg for a Group 3 or any race worth more than $500,000 (1.5kg for multiples).

This allows a star like Via Sistina – who on Saturday attempts to become the ninth horse to win consecutive Turnbulls (the most recent being her illustrious ‘stablemate’ Winx) – to have already won a host of Group 1 races and still get in well, while good horses who haven’t won at the elite level for a while, such as Zardozi, receive weight relief.

Origins and Evolution

First run in 1865 as a “principal race” and then known as the Royal Park Stakes, the Turnbull (a Group 1 since 2006) is only four years younger than the Melbourne Cup.

It’s 14 years older than the Caulfield Cup and nearly six decades older than the W.S. Cox Plate.

The first Turnbull was staged just 27 years after Melbourne’s first official race meeting, giving it a significant place in racing history.

The race has been contested over varying distances – for its first 19 editions it was a two-miler – and carried several rather unimaginative names such as the September Stakes, October Stakes and Melbourne Stakes before being named in honour of VRC Chairman Richard Turnbull in 1948.

A Path to the Caulfield Cup

A ballot exemption into the Caulfield Cup means the Turnbull is often used as a lead-up, and six of this year’s top ten in that market are racing at Flemington on Saturday.

The most recent Turnbull/Caulfield Cup winners were Incentivise (2021) and Verry Elleegant (2020). Both are among dozens to complete that double, though not always in the same year.

Lady Medallist, for example, won the Caulfield Cup in 1911 before her Turnbull (October Stakes) victory a year later. Lavendo, four years after her, became the first to land both in the same campaign.

Tony & Calvin McEvoy know the value of the race as a pathway to the Caulfield Cup and are happy to have the current favourite Half Yours take his place against Via Sistina.

Still, history shows that a horse doesn’t have to win the Turnbull to be competitive two weeks later.

Recent Turnbull Form into the Caulfield Cup

Last year’s Caulfield Cup winner Duke De Sessa was fourth in the Turnbull (sticking on after setting the pace).

Jameka finished second in her year (clear of the rest but no match for Hartnell), while Fawkner was third (running on strongly behind Happy Trails alongside future Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente).

Southern Speed boxed on for fourth behind December Draw, Descarado was luckless, while Viewed caught the eye with a late seventh behind Efficient.

The Turnbull as a Cox Plate Guide

The Turnbull has also proven a Cox Plate pointer.

Four of the top five in this year’s market are engaged, with Sir Delius attempting to become the first Underwood Stakes winner since Elvstroem in 2004 to win the Turnbull.

Via Sistina herself famously won both races last year, scraping home at Flemington before thrashing her rivals at Moonee Valley.

Romantic Warrior showed the same pattern in 2023 – beaten when fourth in the Turnbull but bouncing back to claim the Cox Plate over Mr Brightside.

Winx used the Turnbull as her springboard into her third and fourth Cox Plate triumphs, while Maldivian and El Segundo both improved markedly on Flemington defeats to peak at Moonee Valley.

Melbourne Cup Connections

Makybe Diva contested the Turnbull before all three of her Melbourne Cups, including her famous 2005 sequence of Turnbull, Cox Plate and Cup victories.

Seven Melbourne Cup winners in the last two decades have contested the Turnbull. Green Moon is among those to do the double, while Fiorente, Vow And Declare and Verry Elleegant all ran fourth at Flemington before starring later in the spring.

Gold Trip covered ground from a wide draw when fifth behind Smokin’ Romans, while both Efficient (11th) and Knight’s Choice (last) rebounded from poor Turnbull runs to atone in the big one.

The 2025 Edition

This year’s edition again promises to be a crucial form race, with Sir Delius, Half Yours, Aeliana, Land Legend, Deakin and Middle Earth all high in the Melbourne Cup markets.

As ever, the Turnbull is a must-watch for anyone searching for genuine spring guides.