Is The Championships Australia’s New Big Racing Meeting?

The Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate have long been Australia’s big three when it comes to horse racing. But is that about to change with The Championships becoming the number one meeting?

They take place at opposite ends of the year, but the rivalry between the two is becoming intriguing. 

Sydney hosts The Championships in March and April each year and the two-day fixture has become the big attraction of the Autumn Carnival with eight ones taking place across successive Saturdays at Royal Randwick.

While it might have some way to go to match the Spring Carnival, which the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate headline, there is no doubting The Championships has emerged as a real contender.

Just like the big three of the Spring attracts the best horses from across the world, The Championships has quickly become a real major on the Australian racing calendar with globetrotters heading to Sydney.

The Championships was only started in 2014 to create a Grand Finals-type meeting featuring eight Group 1s spread across the two days. In the decade since, it has certainly become just that and is now hugely anticipated each year.

Over the last 10 years, horses from the United Kingdom, Japan and New Zealand have all enjoyed success in the big features of The Championship.

Day 1 includes four Group 1s – the $4,000,000 Doncaster Mile, $3,000,000 TJ Smith Stakes, $2,000,000 Australian Derby and $1,000,000 Inglis Sires – on what is a stellar day of racing at Randwick.

Day 2 is equally as strong with the $5,000,000 Queen Elizabeth Stakes – the richest race of The Championships, $2,000,000 Sydney Cup, $1,000,000 Australian Oaks and $1,000,000 Queen of the Turf Stakes.

While none of those races holds the same sway as the Melbourne Cup, which quite rightly is known as the Race The Stops A Nation given it brings Australia to a standstill on the first Tuesday in November, the combined pull of The Championship is what gives the meeting the prestige.

With eight of the most anticipated races all combined into the huge two racedays, it is easy to see why The Championships has rapidly grown into the event it is within 10 years of being launched.

Could it yet replace the big three of the Spring? Will the international interest in the likes of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes help propel it into the echelon of Australian racing? 

What has helped The Championships is the fact that another of the big Sydney races The Everest has taken away some of the lustre of the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate.

As the world’s richest race on turf and being introduced into the middle of the Spring Carnival as a rival to the three Melbourne features, The Everest has ensured some of the runners have opted to miss one of the big three races.

It has resulted in the field for the likes of the Melbourne Cup being weakened, with more money on offer elsewhere in The Everest. That factor and the burgeoning reputation of The Championship could mean we have a big shift coming in Australian horse racing.