The Turnbull Stakes is a Victoria Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race, for horses four years old and older, run under set weights with penalties conditions over a distance of 2,000 metres. The race is held at Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia in early October. Total prize money is A$1,000,000.
History
It is one of the important races of the Spring Racing Carnival and is considered a major preparatory race for the Caulfield Cup, W S Cox Plate and for the Melbourne Cup.
Name
In 1948 the race was renamed after the Victoria Racing Club Chairman at the time Richard Turnbull.
The race has featured in the VRC Spring meet under different names.
1865–1894 - Royal Park Stakes
1895–1897 - September Stakes
1898–1936 - October Stakes
1937–1947 - Melbourne Stakes
1948–1999 - Turnbull Stakes
2000–2001 - Four'n Twenty Turnbull Stakes
2002–2007 - Turnbull Stakes
2008 - Patinack Turnbull Stakes
2009–2014 - Turnbull Stakes
2015–2016 - Yellowglen Turnbull Stakes
2017 Seppelt Turnbull Stakes
2018 onwards - TAB Turnbull Stakes
Grade
1865–1978 - Principal Race
1979–2005 - Group 2
2006 onwards - Group 1
Distance
1865–1883 – 2 miles (~3200 metres) 1884 - 1 miles (~2800 metres) 1885–1890 – 2 miles (~3200 metres) 1891 - 1 miles (~2600 metres) 1892–1894 - 1 miles (~2400 metres) 1895–1915 - 1 miles (~2000 metres) 1915–1922 - 1 miles (~2400 metres) 1923 - 1 miles (~2000 metres) 1924 - 1 miles (~1800 metres) 1925–1947 - 1 mile (~1600m) 1948–1970 - 1 miles (~2400 metres) 1971 - 1 miles (~2000 metres) 1972 onwards - 2000m
Conditions
From 1864 to 1963 the race was run under Handicap conditions. From 1964 to 1970 the race was run under Weight for Age conditions.