A filly will line up in the Victoria Derby for the first time since 1990 when Quick Finish takes on the colts over 2500m at Flemington on Saturday 31 October, the Victoria Racing Club said.
The Group 1 race is worth $3 million, Fox Sports and Nine.com.au reported, with $1 million added to the prize money in 2026, according to the VRC. It is the oldest feature race in Australia, run since 1855, Fox Sports said, and it pre-dates the Melbourne Cup by six years, the club said.
The Derby is set down for 4.20pm AEDT, according to Fox Sports.
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A Filly Against the Colts
Quick Finish is trained by Tony and Calvin McEvoy and ridden by Jye McNeil. She was accepted for the race on Wednesday morning, 28 October, the VRC said.
The last filly to run in the Derby was Lycra, who finished fourth in 1990, according to the club.
Fourteen fillies have won the race. The last was Frances Tressady in 1923, and the Hall of Famers Furious and Briseis are among the winners, the VRC said. The first three Derbies, from 1855 to 1857, all went to fillies: Rose Of May, Flying Doe and Tricolor.
Since Frances Tressady, 24 fillies have taken on the race, Lycra among them. Five have placed, the club said, including the 1940 runner-up Tranquil Star and Born To Be Queen, the filly before Lycra, who ran third as the $4 favourite.
Quick Finish comes into the race off a win in the Group 3 Ethereal Stakes over 2000m on Caulfield Cup Day, according to the VRC. She carries 55kg to the colts’ 57kg, Nine.com.au reported.
An Open Betting Market
Cormier and Stormy Marco head the betting, according to Nine.com.au and Fox Sports.
On Racing And Sports ratings, as cited by the VRC, Cormier is the highest-rated colt on 109, ahead of Stormy Marco on 107. Caulfield Classic winner King Snitz and Moonee Valley Vase winner True Rebel are on 106, and Quick Finish rated 102 when she won the Ethereal.
Nine’s form analyst David Gately described the race on Wide World of Sports.
“Where do you start and finish with the Derby this year? It’s a wide race,” Gately said, according to Nine.com.au.
Gately tips Skua, which ran second to True Rebel on Cox Plate day. That meeting was unusual too, with Flemington hosting the weight-for-age championship for one year only.
Fox Sports’ form guide, by Daniel Nuttall, reads the race the same way.
“It’s not a vintage Derby it must be said with seemingly no emerging superstar, which leaves an open field.”
The guide picks Written Empire, and notes that Icy You was beaten only by True Rebel in the Geelong Classic, with both horses handling 2200m there.
The Waller Pair
Chris Waller has two runners as declared: Stormy Marco, ridden by James McDonald, and True Tone, ridden by Jason Collett. Both drew wide, Fox Sports reported.
Waller has won the Derby three times, with Preferment in 2014, Manzoice in 2022 and Riff Rocket in 2023, according to Fox Sports. Stormy Marco ran fourth in the Spring Champion Stakes at Randwick, and True Tone placed in the Geelong Classic.
Speaking to Fox Sports about the 2500m trip, Waller pointed to breeding.
“He’s by Wootton Bassett who is an international sire who continues to make headlines in the northern hemisphere and down here. So from that aspect, and from the dam side, there is enough there to suggest the distance shouldn’t be a problem.”
He drew a comparison for his second runner. “True Tone is similar to Preferment,” Waller said.
When They Jump
Derby Day is the first of the four days of the Flemington carnival. Nine races are on the card, from 12.20pm to 5.40pm, Nine.com.au reported.
Three are Group 1s, according to Fox Sports: the Coolmore Stud Stakes over 1200m at 3.40pm, the Derby at 4.20pm and the Empire Rose Stakes over 1600m at 5pm, all AEDT. The $10 million Golden Eagle is run in Sydney on the same day.
The meeting is shown on Channel 9, Racing.com, Kayo Sports and Sky Racing, Fox Sports said.
The Derby is not Quick Finish’s only target. She remains in contention for the VRC Oaks over 2500m on Thursday 5 November, according to the VRC and Fox Sports. Of the 24 fillies to run in the Derby since 1924, 21 also ran in the Oaks and six won it, the club said.
The field stands as declared on 30 October, and late scratchings are possible.
More racing and other sport is in our Sports archive.
Sources: Victoria Racing Club, “Filly in the Derby: Quick Finish revives rare VRC tradition”, 28 October 2026 (https://www.vrc.com.au/latest-news/filly-in-the-derby-quick-finish-revives-rare-vrc-tradition/); Fox Sports, “Victoria Derby: Wide draw won’t worry Stormy Marco, says Chris Waller”, 29 October 2026 (https://www.foxsports.com.au/horse-racing/chris-waller-confident-stormy-marco-can-overcome-wide-barrier-in-victoria-derby/news-story/f1c8a26145f0448ef986446e3eb478f3); Fox Sports, “Horse Racing 2026: Derby Day form guide, tips, fields, odds, predictions, analysis”, 30 October 2026 (https://www.foxsports.com.au/horse-racing/horse-racing-2026-derby-day-form-guide-tips-fields-odds-predictions-analysis-empire-rose-stakes-coolmore-stud-stakes-victoria-derby/news-story/fd87efab81c3dd2c083929f94a7e37a0); Nine.com.au, “Victoria Derby Day 2026 Horses: Form guide, field, tips and odds”, 30 October 2026 (https://www.nine.com.au/sport/horse-racing/victoria-derby-horses-form-guide-field-tips-odds-20261030-p618vj.html)
Photo: Herald and Weekly Times, 1940, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
High Caste, ridden by Ted Bartle, at Flemington Racecourse in November 1940.
