When is the 2026 Champions Stakes?
| Race fact | Verified detail |
|---|---|
| Date | 2026-11-07 |
| Venue | Flemington |
| Distance | 2000m |
| Grade | Group 1 |
| Prizemoney | A$3 million |
Champions Stakes overview
The Champions Stakes closes Cup Week's Group 1 middle-distance program over 2000m at Flemington. Its weight-for-age setting can bring together horses returning from the Cox Plate and runners targeting a fresh challenge.
In 2026 the Cox Plate itself is also at Flemington, but over 2040m. A performance in that race may provide relevant same-course evidence, while the difference in distance and the two-week gap still need to be recognised.
Champions Stakes past winners (2017–2025)
Historical feature-race results are separate from the all-races track-and-distance sample below. Only source-backed editions are listed; omitted years have not been filled by inference. Earlier names and race conditions differ; an honour roll is not a uniform-condition statistical cohort.
| Year | Winner | Jockey | Trainer | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Via Sistina | James McDonald | Chris Waller | Flemington |
| 2024 | Via Sistina | James McDonald | Chris Waller | Flemington |
| 2023 | Atishu | James McDonald | Chris Waller | Flemington |
| 2022 | Zaaki | Jamie Melham | Annabel Neasham | Flemington |
| 2021 | Zaaki | James McDonald | Annabel Neasham | Flemington |
| 2020 | Arcadia Queen | Luke Currie | Grant & Alana Williams | Flemington |
| 2019 | Magic Wand | Ryan Moore | Aidan O'Brien | Flemington |
| 2018 | Trap For Fools | John Allen | Jarrod McLean | Flemington |
| 2017 | Tosen Stardom | Damian Lane | Darren Weir | Flemington |
Champions Stakes historical trends
Flemington 2000m. All 183 qualifying races, 145 meetings and 2,229 runners stored between 2017-01-01 and 2026-10-03; not just editions of the Champions Stakes. Snapshot checked 23 October 2026, using the available ten-year window (23 October 2016–23 October 2026), with all other filters unrestricted.
| Published barrier | Runners | Wins | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barriers 1–4 | 732 | 60 | 8.20% |
| Barriers 5–8 | 717 | 68 | 9.48% |
| Barriers 9+ | 780 | 55 | 7.05% |
Barriers 5–8 have the highest observed win rate in this grouped sample: 68 wins from 717 runners (9.48%). This is an historical association, not a forecast or an isolated causal barrier effect. The groups differ in field-size exposure and can contain different classes, ages and track conditions.
Stored race-level going only, without substituting a meeting's headline rating. These are scenario subsets of the same sample, not additional races. Rows without a stored race rating are unclassified; subsets smaller than 30 runners are omitted.
| Race going | Runners | Wins | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good | 1,684 | 141 | 8.37% |
| Soft | 427 | 33 | 7.73% |
| Heavy | 118 | 9 | 7.63% |
Champions Stakes TrackBro insights
Win rate is wins divided by starters, not the share of all race winners. Every first-place runner counts as a full win, including dead heats. Missing barriers: 0. No runner-level records are published in this graph.
Actual versus Expected is shown only for the app-eligible subset: complete confirmed fields, usable SP for every starter and a total implied probability between 1.00 and 1.50. Expected wins are race-normalised before grouping; eligible sample size can differ from the barrier chart.
| Published barrier | Eligible runners | Actual wins | Expected wins | A2E |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barriers 1–4 | 732 | 60 | 64.39 | 0.93 |
| Barriers 5–8 | 717 | 68 | 62.80 | 1.08 |
| Barriers 9+ | 780 | 55 | 55.81 | 0.99 |
Champions Stakes related research
Start with Flemington 2000m: track and distance only, Full History where your membership permits it, and every other filter unrestricted. Then change one condition at a time and keep the sample sizes visible. Existing access restrictions remain in place.
Research Champions Stakes with TrackBro
Explore the historical record with Interrogate the Data. View current memberships and access for the live Day Pass and Elite products, prices and terms. Historical patterns help frame questions; they do not promise a winning selection.
Champions Stakes sources
Official 2026 race-day/program reference. Race facts and sources reviewed 23 October 2026.
Historical statistics and honour-roll rows: read-only TrackBro production racing records, checked 23 October 2026. Calculations reuse the existing research application's win and A2E functions; no racing records or research calculations were changed.