Black Caviar Lightning 2024

Ladbrokes Tip: Sprinters with good straight track and first-up form are perfectly suited to resume in the Black Caviar Lightning.

The Black Caviar Lightning, formerly the Lightning Stakes, is the second Group 1 race off the annual Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival and lights up Flemington Racecourse on a Saturday in mid-late February.

Home Affairs and Nature Strip ran one-two for Waller in the 2022 Black Caviar Lightning results. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

It is not to be confused with the Listed SAJC Lightning Stakes (1050m), a race for two and three-year-olds held at Morphettville in Adelaide during the winter.

The sprint classic is now known as the Black Caviar Lightning in honour of triple Lightning Stakes winner Black Caviar (2011-13).

Run down the famous Flemington straight over 1000m the short distance clash offers $1 million in prize money as of 2022 and is run under weight-for-age conditions.

The Group 3 CS Hayes Stakes (1400m) for Australian Guineas hopefuls, the Group 3 The Vanity (1400m) for fillies, and the Group 3 Frances Tressady Stakes (1400m) are the key support races on Black Caviar Lightning Day.

The Black Caviar Lightning Stakes is the first of the three leg Autumn Sprint Series Triple Crown that also features Caulfield’s Group 1 Oakleigh Plate (1100m) the following Saturday and Flemington’s Group 1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) in March.

Having held Group 1 status since 1987, the Lightning Stakes is also the opening leg of the Global Sprint Challenge and so attracts the season’s top class stayers who could be internationally-bound.

Reigning Australian Racehorse of the Year Nature Strip won the 2021 Black Caviar Lightning and would go on to take out that year’s now $20 million The Everest (1200m) in Sydney at his third attempt.

Nature Strip returned as favourite in the 2022 Black Caviar Lightning but after blowing the start and subsequently suffering interference, he could only manage to run second behind his three-year-old stablemate Home Affairs.

Nature Strip was disappointing in 2023 coming back as the odds-on favourite only to run sixth.

The latest edition of the Black Caviar Lightning ran on Saturday February 17, 2024 and was won in a narrow thriller by Mark Walker’s classy Kiwi expat Imperatriz ($1.60F) who got her neck in front to become a nine-time Group 1 winning mare. 

2024 Black Caviar Lightning Results

The official Black Caviar Lightning Stakes Results 2024 and Finishing Order will be known on Saturday February 17, 2024 and published below as soon as the autumn feature is run and won.

2024 Black Caviar Lightning winner Imperatriz. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

• 1st: #4 Imperatriz
• 2nd: #1 Private Eye
• 3rd: #5 Espiona

The race goers were treated to a thrilling two-horse battle to the line in the Black Caviar Lightning 2024 results with Mark Walker’s odds-on favourite Imperatriz ($1.60F) fighting off Private Eye to post her ninth career Group 1 victory.

2024 Black Caviar Lightning Odds

The latest Black Caviar Lightning 2024 betting odds will be available below as soon as released so stay tuned for the best autumn racing odds on the season’s top sprinters.

Black Caviar Lightning Stakes Race Info

• Date: Saturday February 17, 2024
• Track: Flemington Racecourse
• Distance: 1000m
• Conditions: Weight-for-age
• Status: Group 1
• Prize Money: $1,000,000
• First Run: 1955

Black Caviar Lightning Betting

Black Caviar Lightning betting markets are usually led by sprinters with previous Group 1 winning form at Flemington including the VRC Sprint Classic over 1200m at the track the November before.

Imperatriz (2024) is the last Black Caviar Lightning winner to have taken out the Sprint Classic – run as the Champions Sprint in 2023 – in her final lead-up.

The other latest horses to complete the double are Redkirk Warrior (2018) and Nature Strip (2021). Nature Strip also won the 2019 VRC Sprint Classic and was runner-up in the 2020 edition of the famous autumn sprint feature. He was narrowly denied completing the VRC Sprint Classic – Black Caviar Lightning double a second time when beaten first-up as the favourite in the 2022 edition of the latter.

Black Caviar (2011) also went on to win the Newmarket after the first of her three Lightning Stakes wins for the punters, the mighty mare saluting as the favourite in Lightning Stakes betting three years in a row.

Black Caviar Lightning odds favour proven straight performers and mares also feature prominently in betting with eight of the winners from 2006 – 2024 being female gallopers, most recently the filly Coolangatta (2023) who was the first three-year-old filly to win since Regimental Gal (2004) and Imperatriz (2024).

Black Caviar Lightning Field

The Black Caviar Lightning race field features the season’s best sprinters and is often the first-up run for the Oakleigh Plate and Newmarket Handicap hopefuls.

The race typically attracts a smallish field with only one edition of the Lightning Stakes drawing more than a dozen starters in the past 20 years when 15 lined up in the 2002 race won by Spinning Hill.

Many horses in the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes field had their final runs at the track the previous spring in the VRC Sprint Classic during the Melbourne Cup Carnival and all but four winners from 2009-22 ran in the top three in their lead-up run.

In 2023 Coolangatta won the race first-up having finished fifth the November prior at the track in the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m).

The Lightning Stakes field also attracts horses that could head to Royal Ascot in England later in the year with the likes of Choisir (2003), Takeover Target (2006), Miss Andretti (2007) and Scenic Blast (2009) all winning the Lightning Stakes – King’s Stand Stakes dual country double.

In 2022 Nature Strip ran second in the Black Caviar Lightning but went on to dominate that year’s King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot by over four lengths.

The 2024 Black Caviar Lightning winner Imperatriz made it six straight Melbourne wins on the trot having won the Group 1 William Reid, Group 2 McEwen, Group 1 Moir, Group 1 Manikato, and Group 1 Champions Sprint in the lead-up the previous year.

2024 Black Caviar Lightning Field

The Black Caviar Lightning field and barrier draw is set to be released on the Wednesday before the race and will be published below.

The 2024 Black Caviar Lightning final field and betting markets are dominated by resuming star mare Imperatriz drawn barrier two as she chases her ninth career Group 1 trophy.

2024 Black Caviar Lightning Nominations

The official Black Caviar Lightning 2024 nominations are taken by Racing Victoria on the Monday of the race and the full list of early entries will be available here once announced.

Mark Walker’s eight-time Group 1 champion mare Imperatriz headlines the diminutive but classy Black Caviar Lightning 2024 nominations for Melbourne on Saturday.

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

Black Caviar Lightning Tips

Black Caviar Lightning tips traditionally favour horses that have winning form down the testing Flemington straight and any horse that ran top three in the Champions Sprint the previous November is worth a look at.

A top Lightning Stakes tip is to look at runners drawn in single digits as just one winner from 2005-24 has saluted from wider than gate nine in the race.

Single digit hopes in Black Caviar Lightning odds also have a stellar recent record in the race with the only four winners paying over $10 from 2002-2024 being 20/1 shot Scenic Blast who scored the upset in 2009, Terravista upset his rivals first-up at $15 in 2017, Redkirk Warrior ($10) who ran down the $1.80 favourite Redzel in 2018, and Gytrash ($21 in 2020) who upset a field of previous Group 1 winners.

2024 Black Caviar Lightning Tips

The top Black Caviar Lightning 2024 betting tips from our insider team of form experts will be published below the week of the race so stay tuned for the sprinters to get behind in the early autumn feature.

• To Win: #4 Imperatriz ($1.90 at time of publish) – BET NOW

Impossible to tip against the returning Mark Walker-trained Imperatriz who is odds-on to kick off her autumn right where she left off in the spring – in Group 1 winning form in Melbourne. This brilliant daughter of I Am Invincible has amassed over $5.36 million in stakes thanks to a host of victories at elite level both here and in New Zealand. Overall she is a 17-time winner from 23 starts including eight Group 1 successes. Last time in she won five on the trot four of which were Group 1 Melbourne races. Moir, Manikato, and the VRC Champions Sprint here at headquarters. She is talented, imposing, proven at Flemington, and two-from-two at this shorter distance. Will win fresh and keep winning.

Black Caviar Lightning Form Guide

The Black Caviar Lightning form guide features valuable information for punters including the saddlecloth numbers, barriers, jockeys and trainers of each runner in the field.

The form guide for the Lightning Stakes can be used to determine the best value horses in the field by studying their lead-up performances and records at Flemington over 1000m.

The Black Caviar Lightning 2022 form was franked with Nature Strip improving on his second as the beaten favourite to win a record-equalling third TJ Smith Stakes in Sydney before a successful international bid winning Royal Ascot’s Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes in 2022 by a big margin.

The 2023 Black Caviar Lightning runner-up I Wish I Win franked the form when third in the Newmarket Handicap trifecta at his next start before taking out the TJ Smith Stakes in Sydney. He was also excellent in the spring finishing third in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes trifecta and second in the 2023 The Everest results.

The Black Caviar 2023 form was further franked by the third placed mare Bella Nipotina who ran top three in a host of other events including a third in the first edition of Perth’s $4 million The Quokka slot race. She also won the $3 million Winners Stakes in Sydney that spring.

Black Caviar Lightning Stakes Form Facts

• In the 14 years from 2011 – 2024 five of Lightning Stakes winners came off a last start victory most recently Home Affairs (2022) who won the previous spring’s Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes and Imperatriz (2024) who saluted in the previous November’s Champions Sprint at the track.
• The VRC Sprint Classic (now Champions Sprint) produced nine winners from 2010 – 2024 including Imperatriz (2024) who completed the double.
• From 2011 – 2024 six editions of the Lightning Stakes have been won by mares – a fact boosted by triple champion Black Caviar and one by the filly Coolangatta in 2023 – with Imperatriz (2024) the latest.
• Favourites have a top record in the race with seven wins from 2006 – 2024.
• Home Affairs (2022) was the first three-year-old Lightning Stakes winner since Fastnet Rock (2005) 17 years earlier. In 2023 Coolangatta became the first three-year-old filly to win in 19 years.
• Only one winner has jumped from double-digits since 2005 with Nicconi (11 of 11 in 2010).

2024 Black Caviar Lightning Form Guide

A link to our comprehensive Black Caviar Lighting Stakes 2024 Form Guide will be provided for punters here the week of the race.

Black Caviar Lightning Results

The Black Caviar Lightning Stakes race results and finishing order are out in February when the race runs as the only Group 1 at Flemington during the meeting.

Along with the Black Caviar Lightning winner the results also show the successful quinella, trifecta and margins between each horse that finished the race.

Lightning Stakes results have been dominated by the favourites in the past decade and notable recent Lightning Stakes winners include Fastnet Rock (2005), Miss Andretti (2007), Black Caviar (2011-13), Chautauqua (2016), Redkirk Warrior (2018),  Nature Strip (2021), the filly Coolangatta (2023), and champion mare Imperatriz (2024).

Past Lightning Stakes Winners

Winners and place-getters of the Black Caviar Lightning going back to 2006 can be found in the below table.