The LKS Mackinnon Stakes is a Victoria Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race run on the last day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival, over a distance of 2000 meters at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia. The 152-year-old race often attracts some of the best stayers in Australia, so it’s no surprise that the Mackinnon Stakes races have seen some fantastic finishes over the years.
We’ve taken a look through the archives and come up with some of the best of them.
Veandercross (1992)
The New Zealand-bred Veandercross enjoyed a terrific racing career, and the 1992 Mackinnon Stakes was one of his eight Group 1 victories along the journey. That race also happened to be one of the great victories at this race. Turning into the straight, Veandercross was trapped against the rail, seemingly with plenty to give but nowhere to go. With a couple of hundred meters to go not much had changed, and when Rough Habit took the lead from out wide it seemed all but over. Veandercross, however, had still yet to find space and start his run, and on multiple occasions was forced to change directions after he had appeared to have found a gap. With 100 meters to go, he finally did and motored through along the inside for a famous win.
Alcopop (2012)
31 years after a horse last won multiple Mackinnon Stakes’, Glass Harmonium appeared likely to break the drought with a few hundred meters left to run in the 2012 edition of the event. Holding a lead every bit of seven lengths entering the straight, the former winner gave opponents plenty to chase and seemed to have an unassailable lead as the post neared. Gradually he tired, but with 200 meters to go, he still held a three-length lead over Alcopop and a couple of other rivals. Alcopop continued to chase him down, and with just a few meters to go stuck his head in front for a thrilling victory. The win was the only Group 1 success for Alcopop’s career after he had finished a close second at the Caulfield Cup just two weeks prior.
Arcadia Queen (2020)
Maybe there’s an element of recency bias here, but anytime a horse goes from last to first the race gets locked away in the memory banks, and that’s exactly what Arcadia Queen did in last year’s Mackinnon Stakes. Sitting three-wide at the back of the field with cover from Fifty Stars for much of the race, those two horses swung wide at the beginning of the straight with over five lengths to make up on leader Shout the Bar. Up the entire straight it was Arcadia Queen and Fifty Stars who looked most likely and swamped the leader with a little over 100 meters to go. Having been locked together for much of the straight, however, Arcadia Queen showed a ferocious turn of foot to race clear in the shadows of the post. That continued a fantastic career for the talented mare – it was her eighth win in just 15 race starts, adding to her Group 1 Caulfield Stakes win just a few weeks prior.
With more than 150 years of history, the Mackinnon Stakes has unsurprisingly been the scene of many high-quality races in the past, and the above three are some of the best of them. Of course, races from recent years are much more likely to sit at the forefront of our memory than replays of those from the 19th century and the above list reflects that, but nonetheless they were three terrific finishes from some of the highest quality stayers in this country has seen.