MAKYBE DIVA STAKES
- 1600m
- $750,000
- weight-for-age
HISTORY
- First run in 1948 when won by Lungi
- Group One from 2013. Run over 2000m 1948-64. Until 2006 known as Craiglee Stakes
NOTABLE WINNERS
- Comic Court (1949)
- Chicquita (1950/51)
- Sailor's Guide (1956/57)
- Light Fingers (1965)
- Rain Lover (1969)
- Dulcify (1979)
- Zabeel (1990)
- Mahogany (1994)
- Jeune (1995)
- Northerly (2002)
- Weekend Hussler (2008)
- Fawkner (2015)
- Palentino (2016)
- Humidor (2017)
- Grunt (2018)
TALKING POINTS
- Mystic Journey will be aiming to stretch her unbeaten sequence to eight, stretching back to last spring
- Mystic Journey will also be attempting to maintain an unbeaten 1600m record at Flemington following wins in the Australian Guineas and All-Star Mile
- Scales Of Justice won Melbourne's first Group One race of the season, the Memsie Stakes at Caulfield. The Makybe Diva is the second Group One on Saturday
- Humidor is attempting to win the race for the second time having been successful in 2017
- Gailo Chop is resuming from an almost 18 month break. He finished fourth to Humidor in 2017
- The Lloyd and Nick Williams-owned Fawkner won in 2015 for Robert Hickmott. The father-and-son team have Yucatan resuming for Liam Howley
- The Lindsay Park stable is looking to breakthrough for their first win in the race since 2005 when Confectioner won and will be represented by Rostropovich, Fifty Stars and Qafila
- Godolphin has yet to record a victory and will be represented by Hartnell for James Cummings
WHAT THE KEY PLAYERS ARE SAYING:
- “I think she's in really good order so she's going to give a really accurate account of herself. We're confident she's good enough and we're hopeful that's the case” – Mystic Journey's trainer Adam Trinder
- “We think he can run a competitive race, but there's a good one in the race which will make it a bit hard” – co-trainer Ben Hayes on Rostropovich who runs for the first time for Lindsay Park
- “The other day was great so while he's in the vein of form he's in he can take that mare on” – trainer Lindsey Smith on tackling Mystic Journey with last start Memsie Stakes winner Scales Of Justice
- “For an older horse that has had a long lay-off, you just can't replace the match fitness no matter how much you do at home. I would think if he was finishing in the first half on Saturday that would certainly be a pass mark,” – Gailo Chop's trainer Matthew Williams
- “Last time in he won first-up over 1400 metres. He's had the grounding for it but there's nothing like match fitness” – trainer Phillip Stokes on the first-up chances of Mr Quickie