Queen Elizabeth Stakes Tips, Betting, Odds, Horses & More 2026

The Queen Elizabeth Stakes, a weight-for-age race at Randwick Racecourse will be held on Saturday 11th April 2026. The 2,000m trip is one of the top races in the Australian calendar and always features the best horses the country has to offer. The race has grown in popularity thanks to the great mare, Winx, winning the race three times in a row, along with a long list of notable other winners.

Let’s get cracking with some quick facts about the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Check out the table we have put together here:

The 2026 Queen Elizabeth Stakes will be held at Randwick Racecourse (one of the top tracks in Australia) on Saturday, April 11. Please use this page as a guide to everything you could possibly need to know about the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. 

At OnlyRacing, we include critical information on both the 2026 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (including tips and analysis), as well as historical information that pertains to the race and its home track, Randwick Racecourse. We’ve got you covered from every angle, that’s for sure!

There’s no doubt that there has been increased interest in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes over the past few years and this resulted in a $1 million prize money increase in 2023. This means that participants are competing for a share of a cool $5 million!

It is going to be very interesting to see which horse will step up in 2026 and claim the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Will the eventual favourite cross the line first, or will a roughie break the hearts of favourite punters all around Australia? Be sure to block out your calendars on April 11 so you do not miss out on a great showing!

The pledge by Racing NSW to increase the total prize money of its big Group One races has greatly benefited the staple races in New South Wales. This includes the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, which has upped its prize money from 2022 by a full million. By increasing from $4 million to $5 million, there is even more incentive to get over the line first in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Here at OnlyRacing, our experts take horse racing very seriously! This includes putting in the hard yards to ensure our readers get only the best free horse racing tips going around. On top of this, you can take advantage of our Randwick tips all year round. So, if it isn’t Queen Elizabeth Stakes time, you still have some tips to feast on.

We love providing horse racing tips to our loyal readers, but we are sorry to say that our 2026 Queen Elizabeth Stakes tips are not available just yet. We prefer to wait until the final field is confirmed during race week, when this happens we will have all the information we need to provide more accurate tips.

See that you’re already here, let’s check out our best bet, next best and best roughie for the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Stakes:

Queen Elizabeth Stakes Best Bet - Via Sistina

Via Sistina is the best horse in the race and certainly has to go on top, but the price? We are currently getting $1.85 for her to take the win, thanks to PlayUp, which is pretty skinny in my eyes. Fangirl has been scratched from this one, so I do think that improves her chances, but if value is what you’re looking for, there are other better options. 

The 7YO comes into the Queen Elizabeth Stakes looking to claim her third Group 1 victory in a row, after taking out the Verry Elleegant Stakes and then the Ranvet Stakes (same distance and conditions) last time out. Her Spring campaign was amazing and she’s doing just as well this time out. This looks like a tougher field, but she is a classy horse.

Queen Elizabeth Stakes Next Best - Buckaroo

With a short-priced favourite, this means there are heaps of value plays and I think the key next best in this one is Buckaroo. The 6YO may be the second best in my eyes, but he is going around at roughie odds, currently listed at $15 with PlayUp. So, get while the going is good, I say!

Was brave in defeat last time out in the George Ryder Stakes where not a lot of things went his way, but still finished within touching distance of the eventual Doncaster Mile winner. The gelding also has a great second-up record of two wins and two placings across six starts. Gets the services of Tommy Berry and draws barrier three. There’s a lot to like.

Queen Elizabeth Stakes Best Roughie - Rousham Park

Rousham Park is another that I think will have a good run in the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Saturday. The 6YO makes the trip over from Japan and we haven’t seen him running since December 2024. Rousham Park is a Group 3 winner over this distance and he has also placed on multiple occasions at Group 1 level. 

This includes a runner-up performance in the Breeders’ Cup Turf in November 2024. In that one, he was close to Rebel’s Romance, who is a seven-time Group 1 winner. Jockey Christophe Lemaire makes the trip over as well and the two have built a good relationship, including four wins and three minor placings from seven races.

It is always a tough choice where to place your money for such big Group 1 thoroughbred races as the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Thankfully, at OnlyRacing, we have a dedicated bookmaker reviews page that comprehensively lists all the best Australian bookmakers that offer horse racing markets. Therefore, all these bookies will have Queen Elizabeth Stakes markets.

To decide which bookie to use to bet on the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, compare the odds of your preferred market and place with the bookmaker that will give you the best payout. You should also use several different betting apps, as this means you can take advantage of all the various betting promotions on offer.

When it comes to Queen Elizabeth Stakes betting, there are a few horse racing betting sites in particular that we like, and we think you’ll like them too! These Australian betting sites include; VolcanoBet, WellBet and Dabble.

VolcanoBet has competitive odds, so it is a good idea to have them in your back pocket to see what odds they are offering for the Queen Elizabeth Stakes runner you want to back. The graphics on their website are really fun as well, so if you want something a little different, they are certainly worth checking out.

WellBet’s mobile app is on fire! It is as slick as they come and don’t forget to keep an eye out for any betting sites bonuses that may be on offer. You never know when something is going to pop up and there’s no worse feeling than missing out on a good promotion.

We think Dabble is one of the best betting apps because of its social betting offering. They offer social betting features that others don’t (and that others are copying!). If you like the social side of betting, then you’ll love Dabble.

There you have it, dear readers, our top three recommended bookies for the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. We’ve got several more bookies on our bookmaker review page, so if you want more, check out our “Betting Sites” section earlier on this page!

You may have already discovered that there are many different Queen Elizabeth Stakes bet types available. We go through all the main bet types in this section to give you an idea of which bet you should place on this Group 1.

Take a look at the range of bet types available for the Queen Elizabeth Stakes:

The field for the 2026 Queen Elizabeth Stakes is not available just yet. While we don’t know which runners will grace us with our presence, if history is anything to go by, we will see a high-quality field. On top of this, we will also list the Queen Elizabeth Stakes odds if they are available in our “Odds” section later on this page. 

Some of the important dates you should know for the Queen Elizabeth Stakes:

As the field is not available, we expect the odds for the potential Queen Elizabeth Stakes runners to fluctuate constantly. Throughout the year, when more information comes to light about how each potential runner is performing and if they are indeed going to target this Group 1 race, you’ll see the odds change.

While we wait to see who lines up in 2026, let’s take a look at the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Stakes field here:

For the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Stakes, we saw a field of 15 runners confirmed with no emergencies listed. In the end, we did see two pre-race scratchings with Fangirl and Full Count Felicia both not taking part in the race, so the final field size was reduced to 13 runners.

While scratchings can be pretty annoying, they are fairly common, even in major races like the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. There are a fair few reasons as to why a runner is scratched and it can happen at any time before the race. If you’ve bet on a horse that ends up being scratched, you don’t have to stress as you’ll get your stake back (hopefully in time for you to bet on another runner in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes!).

Something else you should look at when going through the final field is the barrier draw. The barrier each runner starts from can play a major role in race tactics. Some barriers produce more winners than others as well, so the connections of runners want to land a successful starting barrier.

We already know that some barriers produce more winners than others in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, but which barriers are they? Have a look at the table in this section, as we list the best and worst barriers of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (from 2000 onwards):

Due to the layout of the track and the starting position, we find that those runners with an inside barrier will tend to have more success. This is reflected in the data as barriers one through four have seen 15 winners, as opposed to barriers seven through 10, which have seen just seven.

Barriers five and eight have only seen one winner since 2000 and five of the last six winners have come from barrier four or less. This includes the 2025 winner of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Via Sistina, who jumped from barrier one.

Before you go running off to place your Queen Elizabeth Stakes bets, we think it’s a good idea to look at the form guide and find any key form indicators that might guide you in the right direction. While going through pages upon pages form isn’t the funnest thing, you don’t have to do that, because we’ve done all the hard work for you!

We have gone through all the data and found some key form indicators that you should be aware of before placing any bets. With a race like the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, there is a lot of data to sift through and we’ve found some good patterns that could point to the next winner of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. 

Before we get started it’s important to note that a lot of these form indicators are influenced by Winx’s three victories in the race, from 2017 to 2019. She was in a class of her own and her victories have majorly shaped the data. So, without further ado, let’s take a look!

The winner of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes almost always comes into the race in red-hot form. From 2010 until now, all but three winners have either won their previous race or finished second. In 2025, Via Sistina won the Ranvet Stakes before winning the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

When looking at the favourites, they have a pretty good record, especially considering the record of favourites in other major Group 1 races. Since 2005, the favourite has won 10 times, including in 2025 and 2023 when Via Sistina and Dubai Honour won as favourites. Winx won all three of her Queen Elizabeth Stakes as the heavy favourite.

The age of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner has a decent spread year-to-year, but one age you don’t want to bet on is 3YOs. The last 3YO to win the Queen Elizabeth Stakes was Intergaze, in 1997! In 2025, Via Sistina won the Queen Elizabeth Stakes as a 7YO.

Despite Winx winning the Queen Elizabeth Stakes three years in a row, there have only been nine mares who have won the race since 1987. Before Winx, the last mare to win the Queen Elizabeth Stakes was More Joyous back in 2012. Pride Of Jenni won the race as a 6YO mare in 2024 and the Via Sistina won in 2025 as a 7YO mare.

Lastly, if you want to look at some specific lead-up races, then we recommend you check out the Tancred Stakes (run two weeks before) or the Doncaster Mile (run one week before). We have seen that 22 of the last 40 winners have come from one of those two races.

The Queen Elizabeth Stakes has been run since 1851 and has undergone different name changes over that time due to a change in monarchs. As such, there has been enough of a storied history to include some of Australia’s greatest-ever champions in the long list of Queen Elizabeth Stakes victors.

Some of these great champions that have won the Queen Elizabeth Stakes include Phar Lap, Winx, Tulloch, Might and Power, Peter Pan and many more. While we cannot include all the best Queen Elizabeth Stakes horses in this section, we have hand-picked a couple that we want to talk about in further detail.

Check out six of the key Queen Elizabeth Stakes horses that have won this great race here:

Archer - 1862

Famously known as the inaugural winner of the Melbourne Cup (as well as the second edition of the race that stops the nation), Archer also won the Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 1862. He ended his career with a record of 17:12-0-3 and in 2017 he claimed his rightful place in the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.

Phar Lap - 1930

We can’t have a list of the best Queen Elizabeth Stakes horses and not mention Phar Lap! The gelding has a long list of Group 1 victories, including; the Melbourne Cup, the Victoria Derby and the Cox Plate (twice), just to name a few. He was inducted into both the Australian and New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame as well.

Tulloch - 1958, 1960 & 1961

This Tommy Smith-trained gelding won the Queen Elizabeth Stakes on three separate occasions and much like Phar Lap, he was inducted into the Australian and the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame. Some of his other notable wins include; the Caulfield Cup, the Cox Plate and the Chipping Norton Stakes. 

Might And Power - 1998

Might And Power was very dominant in 1998, winning races like the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the Doomben Cup, the Caulfield Stakes and the Cox Plate. If we take things back to 1997, the gelding won the biggest race of them all, the Melbourne Cup. He ended his career with a record of 33:15-7-1 and over $5 million in prize money!

Lonhro - 2003

Lonhro’s amazing career and number of Group 1 wins means the stallion certainly deserves a place on this list. Along with the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the John Hawkes-trained Lonhro won Group 1 races like the Australian Cup, the George Ryder Stakes (twice), Caulfield Guineas and the Caulfield Stakes (twice). He ended his career with an amazing record of 35:26-3-2.

Winx - 2017-2019

Winx has become the most famous horse of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, winning the race three times in a row. Crowds were packed each year she ran in the race, just to catch a glimpse of the great mare. We could go on and on about this one-of-a-kind racehorse but we just don’t have the time! Winx was so dominant when she was racing and she was named Australian Horse of the Year from 2015 until 2019.

Sometimes, if you find a runner you want to bet on in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, but the odds are too low, then you don’t have any value in that runner. The odds are critical to finding value in this major race. 

With a race like the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, you’ll find that all the big horse racing betting apps will provide betting markets months in advance. As of right now, PlayUp hasn’t released their market for the 2026 Queen Elizabeth Stakes. When this information becomes available, we will provide it in this section.

The odds in these horse racing markets will fluctuate in the lead-up to the race, as more information about the potential runners becomes available. If you’re going to bet on the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, we think you should do so as soon as possible, when the market is “Before Noms”.

This means you’ll get your funds back if your chosen horse doesn’t make the final field. Betting in futures markets also means you could find the eventual favourite for better odds, therefore giving you more value and bang for your buck! 

While you’re here, take a look at where each runner for the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Stakes stacks up here (we will replace this information with the 2026 odds soon):

*Odds correct as of 10/04/2025.

The Queen Elizabeth Stakes is steeped in history, which means there are a lot of stats and interesting facts about the race that have emerged over the years! There are so many aspects that make the Queen Elizabeth Stakes the race it is today.

Here are some stats associated with the Queen Elizabeth Stakes to hype you up for the upcoming race:

• There have been multiple two-time champions in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes’ long and storied history, however, there have only been five three-time winners.
  • First was Carbine in the Queen’s Plate from the year 1889 to 1891. 
  • Next was Trafalgar in the 1909, 1911 and 1912 Queen Elizabeth Stakes races. 
  • David won the Queen Elizabeth Stakes three times on the trot from 1921 to 1923. 
  • Then, Tulloch claimed the 1958, 1960 and 1961 Queen Elizabeth Stakes. 
  • There was an almost 60-year drought for this achievement before the legendary Winx won the Queen Elizabeth Stakes from 2017 to 2019.
• When looking at trainer victories at the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Etienne L de Mestre has claimed victory as the horse trainer in a whopping nine different Queen Elizabeth Stakes races.
  • These victories include 1862, 1868, 1870, 1871, 1873, 1874, 1876, 1878 and 1879!
• George Moore is the most successful jockey in the history of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, claiming victory six times.
  • This is one more than the famous Damien Oliver, Peter Cook and Neville Selwood.
• Hugh Bowman, made famous for jockeying Winx to three successive titles from 2017 to 2019, has won four different Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
• In 1873, when the Queen Elizabeth Stakes was still the Queen’s Plate, Dagworth ran a dead heat with Reprieve. 
• As was common practice with dead heats back then, there was a rerun between Dagworth and Reprieve to decide the 1873 champion of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
  • Dagworth edged out Reprieve to claim a famous victory in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes’ celebrated history.
• In a shock disqualification in the 1868 Queen Elizabeth Stakes, The Barb was stripped of his title although being the first horse past the finish line due to carrying more than the assigned weight.
  • As a result, Tim Whiffler was crowned the 1868 Queen Elizabeth Stakes champion.

How’s that for some interesting stats about the great race? There have been some epic editions of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes over the years, that’s for sure. While these are just some interesting stats, if you're looking for more information about form indicators, head on to our “Form Guide” section on this page.

The Queen Elizabeth Stakes races at Randwick Racecourse and is one of Australia’s most prestigious thoroughbred races on the racing calendar. It’s no secret that Randwick Racecourse is one of the top tracks in Australia and it is home to several Group 1 races each year.

The three years and up weight for age race was initially run and named in honour of the late Queen Victoria, as it was the Queen’s Plate back in 1851. Since then, many iterations of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes have been run but the quality and prestige have remained at the highest level. The race is run each year during the Autumn Racing Carnival, which just happens to be one of the biggest horse racing carnivals in Australia!

The Queen Elizabeth Stakes is the third richest race on the Australian racing calendar after The Everest at Randwick Racecourse and the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley Racecourse. The Queen Elizabeth Stakes will offer its participants a share of a gigantic $5 million, thanks in large part to Racing New South Wales’ pledge to pour over $20 million into the prize money for the season, back in 2023. 

Through the years, the Queen Elizabeth Stakes has undergone a series of name changes since its inception in 1851. Its first 20 years of running were under the name Queen’s Plate, as previously mentioned in honour of the late Queen Victoria. 

Following this, the AJC Plate was run from 1873 to 1954 with the only differences being in 1928 and 1934 where the Queen Elizabeth Stakes went by the AJC King’s Cup. Since 1954, the Queen Elizabeth Stakes has been named as such.

Initially starting as a three-mile race, the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, has progressively shortened its distance to accommodate for the shift in entertainment value inscribed in shorter distance races. The race has dropped in distance dramatically.

What was once an approximately 4,800m race in 1851 has now been run at 2,000m since 1986. However, the talent of the field of runners for the Queen Elizabeth Stakes has always remained top shelf due to its large prize money offering and sheer prestige.

As you may already know, the Queen Elizabeth Stakes is just one of many races on the Australian racing calendar. So, if you want to learn more about some of the other Group 1s, you’re in luck! All you need to do is visit our pages with the Group One races list and choose the next race you want to investigate.

Want to know the full Queen Elizabeth Stakes results? Well, once again, we have you covered here at OnlyRacing! We’ve got the full results table listed right here in this section, as well as a full race replay video.

The pre-race favourite, Via Sistina, won the Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 2025. It was a gritty win by Via Sistina, who was struggling to find a gap in the closing stages. However, a gap finally opened up and she won by 1.75L. Dubai Honour finished in second place in that race, after jumping from barrier 11.

Filling in the final minor placings was Tom Kitten, who finished 2.5L. The James Cummings-trained gelding jumped from barrier four. In the end, there was a total of 24.12L that split the first and last runners across the finishing line and the race was run in a time of 2:00.41.

Check out the full Queen Elizabeth Stakes results here:

As promised, we also have the race video for your viewing pleasure! Click play to see the full race replay of the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Stakes:

Want to know which horses have won the Queen Elizabeth Stakes in the past? Check out the table to see all the most recent winners (up until 2010) of this great race:

The Queen Elizabeth Stakes is one of the richest races on the Australian calendar. With so much prize money on offer, all runners down to 12th get a share in the cash. The winner of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes gets the lion’s share of the prize.

There is a total of $5 million on offer, so let’s see how it’s split between the top 12 runners here:

You’ve reached the last section on our Queen Elizabeth Stakes page. You are now an expert on the race! But before you go, if you have any lingering questions about the race, take a look at our FAQs. Hopefully, we have answered them here: