Race Day Transfers

The Sydney Spring Racing Carnival boasts a long and illustrious heritage. Hyde Park hosted Australia's first formal races back in 1810, and it eventually grew into a three-day carnival. It increased to four days in the 1920s, and it now runs for two action-packed months. However, the Sydney Spring Racing Carnival was overshadowed by its Sydney counterpart for decades.

That is no longer the case. Heavy investment in multimillion-dollar races has put Sydney on the map as one of the world's leading cities for thoroughbred action. Punters from across the globe will watch on as the Sydney Spring Racing Carnival serves up an abundance of excitement, drama, and intrigue this year. It all gets underway in August, and the action comes in thick and fast until Five Diamonds Day in early November.

We have compiled this in-depth guide to arm you with all the information you need on the Sydney Spring Racing Carnival. Read on to learn more about the racecourses featured, the key meetings and feature races to mark in your diary, the prize money up for grabs and the leading runners to look out for.

There has been a major boost to the prestige and prize money offered during the Sydney Spring Racing Carnival in recent years with the festival now host to an incredible number of seven-figure races.

Racing in Sydney during the spring is now headlined by the very popular $15 million The Everest (1200m) run at Randwick in mid-October on the same day as Melbourne’s Caulfield Cup Day.

The Everest is a buy-in race featuring 12 of the best sprinters and is officially also the world’s richest turf race.

Other lucrative Sydney Spring Racing Carnival events not to miss include the the $2 million The Kosciuszko for NSW country-trained gallopers contested on The Everest Day and the $2 million The Invitation (1400m), an invitation-only event for fillies and mares run in October.

Ahead of the 2022 Sydney Spring Racing Carnival, Racing NSW added a further two new $2 million events with The Big Dance to run on Melbourne Cup Day on the first Tuesday of November, and The Five Diamonds for five-year-olds run on Golden Gift Day at Rosehill.

Also now offering $2 million in prize money is the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes, while the Group 2 Stan Fox Stakes has now been renamed as the Callander-Presnell and offers $1 million taking place over the mile on the same day to replace the now defunct Bondi Stakes.

The Group 3 Sydney Stakes run on The Everest Day in mid-October also now offers $2 million in prize money as of 2022.

The Sydney Spring Racing Carnival gets underway in early August with Missile Stakes Day, while the recently upgraded Group 1 Winx Stakes (formerly the Group 2 Warwick Stakes) is the opening Group 1 meeting.