Spring Racing Carnival Guide - 2026

Spring racing is back for 2026, starting off with Randwick's Winx Stakes in late August, which is generall regarded as the first Group 1 race of the new Australian racing season and the opening to Group 1 of the Spring Racing Carnival.

Read on to get the full schedule for Spring Racing in 2026. Bring on the racing season!

Spring Racing 2026 - Melbourne vs Sydney

The Spring Racing Carnival was once the domain of Melbourne, culminating in the iconic Melbourne Cup at Flemington on the first Tuesday in November.

Now however, the Sydney Spring Racing Carnival, that was once a fleeting prelude to Melbourne’s big three; the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup – is matching strides with Melbourne’s traditional events thanks to a rush of money and innovation from Racing NSW’s chief honcho and unabashed stirrer of anything south of the Murray River, Peter V’Landys.

Love or hate V’Landys, he has turned Sydney’s Spring Racing program on its head, taking head on Melbourne's more historic emphasis on tradition with a series of new big-money races. 

Headlined by the $20 million The Everest, which has taken racing by storm and ruffled the feathers of Melbourne’s racing officials. The 1200m dash at Royal Randwick is now the richest turf race in the world.

Although a prize money “war” of sorts followed V’Landys’ battle cry, he has proved to have too much fire power to the point that Sydney is sharing equal billing and hardly a month goes by without the “Little General” announcing another new million-dollar race on a day once reserved for Melbourne’s carnival.

PVL has also transformed the NRL as Chairman of the ARLC, into a highly lucrative juggernaut, more than competitive with the AFL in terms of TV viewership.

The cash splash has made the Spring Racing Carnivals the envy of the racing world. There is nothing like big-time racing in Australia in the spring for a feast of fun, colour, fashion, and a flutter on the races.

Victorian Spring Racing Carnival 2026

The Victorian Spring Racing Carnival is a broad church, not only highlighting the famous carnivals at the Melbourne metropolitan tracks at Caulfield (featuring the Caulfield Cup), Moonee Valley (Cox Plate), and Flemington (Melbourne Cup), but also racing fans can boot-scoot it out town to kick their heels up at some of Victoria’s iconic country cups including Geelong, Bendigo and Cranbourne.

The Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival 2023 officially kicks off at the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes meeting at Flemington on October 7, a week after the AFL Grand Final at the MCG.

The Victorian Spring Racing Carnival signs off on November 25 with the running of the $500,000 Cranbourne Cup. Racing Victoria has tinkered with the Spring Racing Carnival 2023 by moving two Group 1 races.

The Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (normally run in late September at Caulfield) and the three-year-old fillies classic, the Thousand Guineas (normally run during the Caulfield Cup Carnival in October) to November 18 at Caulfield. 

The reasoning was to extend the Group 1 festival of racing beyond the famous Melbourne Cup week at Flemington further into the “free air” Saturdays in November when the weather is fine, and the sporting opposition is non-existent.

Sydney Spring Racing Carnival 2026

Although spring fever hit when many of the big names of Australian racing resumed their Spring Racing Carnival campaigns in the $1m Winx Stakes at Randwick, in essence the real action to the north starts with the Sydney Everest Carnival. This kicks off at Randwick yearly in September and finishes with the Five Diamonds Ladies Day at Rosehill in November.

Racing NSW and the Australian Turf Club will splurge a massive $45 million in seven weeks on their feature carnival, which is named after its headline act, The Everest, the 1200m sprint run at Randwick in October.

The Everest is backed up by the unique Golden Eagle, run over 1500m for four-year-olds that carries a $10m purse. Showing once again, V’Landy’s commitment to big money moves.

The Sydney Spring Racing Carnival continues with the “new” $5 million race, the King Charles III Stakes, run over 1600m, on The Everest day, which first began back in 2023. This race was once the Group 1 George Main Stakes, run in September when it was a lead-in race to the Melbourne weight-for-age features in October and November.

Now it’s slap bang in the middle of October, meaning most of the top Sydney horses will stay “home” for the rich Royal race before heading south for the Cox Plate.

However, if you like to go bush, there are festival cup meetings through the NSW Spring Racing Carnival 2023 at Newcastle and Wyong, finishing off with the $1m The Gong meeting at Kembla Grange. 

Spring Racing Carnival 2026 key dates

Melbourne feature races:

$750k G1 Memsie Stakes (1400m), Caulfield, August 29.

$750k G1 Moir Stakes (1000m), Sandown, September 5.

$750k G1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m), Flemington, September 12.

$1m G1 Underwood Stakes (1800m), Caulfield, September 19.

$500k G1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m), Caulfield, September 19.

$2m G1 Manikato Stakes (1200m), Caulfield, September 27.

$500k G1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m), Flemington, October 3.

$3m G1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m), Caulfield, October 10.

$1m G1 Might And Power Stakes (2000m), Caulfield, October 10.

$1m G1 Toorak Handicap (1600m), Caulfield, October 10.

$5m G1 Caulfield Cup (2400m), Caulfield, October 17.

$1m G1 Thousand Guineas (1600m), Caulfield, October 17.

$6m G1 Cox Plate (2040m), Flemington*, October 24.

$2m G1 Victoria Derby (2500m), Flemington, October 31.

$2m G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m), Flemington, October 31.

$1m G1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m), Flemington, October 31.

$10m G1 Melbourne Cup (3200m), Flemington, November 3.

$1m G1 VRC Crown Oaks (2500m), Flemington, November 5.

$3m G1 Champions Sprint (1200m), Flemington, November 7.

$3m G1 Champions Mile (1600m), Flemington, November 7.

$3m G1 Champions Stakes (2000m), Flemington, November 7.

$400k Listed Cranbourne Cup (2025m), Cranbourne, November 21.

*Flemington 2026 only due to Moonee Valley redevelopment.

Sydney feature races:

$1m G1 Winx Stakes (1400m), Randwick, August 22.

$1m G1 Golden Rose (1400m), Rosehill, September 26.

$1.5m G1 Epsom Handicap (1600m), Randwick, October 3.

$750k G1 The Metropolitan (2400m), Randwick, October 3.

$750k G1 Flight Stakes (1600m), Randwick, October 3.

$2m G2 Hill Stakes (1900m), Rosehill, October 10.

$20m G1 The Everest (1200m), Randwick, October 17.

$5m G1 King Charles III Stakes (1600m), Randwick, October 17.

$2m G1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m), Randwick, October 24.

$1m G2 Callander Presnell Stakes (1600m), Randwick, October 24.

$2m The Invitation (1400m), Randwick, October 24.

$10m Golden Eagle (1500m), Randwick, October 31.

$2m The Big Dance (1600m), Randwick, November 3.

$2m The Five Diamonds (1800m), Rosehill, November 7.

$1m Golden Gift (1100m), Rosehill, November 7.

$1m The Hunter (1300m), Newcastle, November 14.

$1m The Gong (1600m), Kembla Grange, November 21.