OAKLEIGH PLATE News Stories

The Oakleigh Plate is Caulfield's premier sprint race during the Autumn Carnival. It is run over 1,100 metres, and represents the middle leg of a three-race sprint series during the Melbourne autumn.

It is preceded by the 1,000-metre Black Caviar Lightning, and followed by the 1,200-metre Newmarket Handicap, which are both held at Flemington.

Despite not garnering the prize purse of these two Flemington sprints, the Oakleigh Plate is a race with a long and proud history. It was inaugurated all the way back in 1884, where it was won by Malua, who remarkably went on to claim the Melbourne Cup in the same year. 

There have also been two dead-heats in the Oakleigh Plate, which coincidentally occurred in consecutive years in 1931 and 1932. 

The Oakleigh Plate is always one of the most competitive as well as unusual sprint races on the calendar. It is run under handicap conditions, with only five horses carrying 56kg or more to victory in the past 30 years.

The 1100-metre start at Caulfield is also an equalizing factor. Horses begin from a chute which allows them a long, straight run before hitting the first and only turn. This means that barriers don't play much of a role in the Oakleigh Plate, which regularly attracts a capacity field of eighteen starters.

The 2009 running was a testament to this, where Swiss Ace claimed victory from barrier number 18.