Golden Gift

See the 2023 Golden Gift Preview and results.

See the 2022 Golden Gift Preview and results.

The race was first held in late November 2015 as a two-year-old race with prizemoney of $150,000 and was won by Yankee Rose trained by David Vandyke and ridden by Jason Collett. In 2018 only four runners lined-up and in 2019 it was upgraded to $1 million in prizemoney and run on the final day of The Everest Carnival which now has eight weeks of races with $1 million or more prizemoney.

It is held one week after the $7.5 million Golden Eagle on Ladies Day along with the Group 2 Hot Danish Stakes for mares and shares the same date as Melbourne’s Mackinnon Stakes Day at Flemington which is the last day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

It is the only two-year-old race worth $1 million or more that is run before Christmas. Before the revamp the first big two-year-old race of the racing season was the Magic Millions 2YO Classic held in January at the Gold Coast. In the autumn the big two-year-old races are the Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield and the Golden Slipper at Rosehill Gardens. The big prizemoney on offer in the Golden Gift will ensure that the runners who finish first and second will have enough prizemoney to guarantee them a start in the Golden Slipper.

Last filly to win: Sneaky Five (2020)

Fastest time (1100m): Dame Giselle (2019) 1:03:7

Interesting trivia:

Winners of past Golden Gifts may go on to the Golden Slipper in the autumn.