Crystal Mile 2023

Ladbrokes Tip: The Crystal Mile is the perfect lead-up to the Champions Mile held on Stakes Day at Flemington

The Crystal Mile is a Group 2 weight-for-age race held at Moonee Valley Racecourse on Ladbrokes Cox Plate Day in late October during the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival. One of the season’s premier race days, the meeting is highlighted by the Group 1 Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) and features four Group 2 support acts.

2022 Crystal Mile winner My Oberon. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

Along with the Crystal Mile (1600m) the other Group 2s on the card are the Moonee Valley Fillies Classic (1600m) and the Moonee Valley Vase (2040m).

Offering $300,000 in total prize money the Crystal Mile is the ideal lead-up to the Group 1 Champions Mile (1600m) – formerly the Kennedy Cantala – run at Flemington Racecourse.

Formerly run as the Emirates Stakes seven days later, the Champions Mile was moved forward a week and gives the Crystal Mile graduates a quick back-up to handle if they are to complete the double last achieved by Turn Me Loose (2015) when the Longines Mile, now the Champions Mile, ran as the Emirates Stakes.

The latest edition of the Crystal Mile took place on Saturday October 28, 2023 as part of the bumper Ladbrokes Cox Plate Day program at The Valley and was won by two-time Group 1 winning New Zealand-trained mare Prowess ($4.80). 

2023 Crystal Mile Results

The official Crystal Mile 2023 Results & Finishing Order will be detailed below once the race is run and won on Saturday October 28, 2023.

2023 Crystal Mile winner Prowess was too good late in the Cox Plate Day showdown. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

• 1st: #6 Prowess
• 2nd: #4 Antino
• 3rd: #1 Tuvalu

The Roger James & Robert Wellwood-trained New Zealand mare Prowess ($4.80) returned to winning form with a stunning upset over Antino in the 2023 Crystal Mile results on Cox Plate Day. The autumn’s Vinery Stud Stakes champ returned down under, getting the gap on the turn for home and powered home off a perfectly-timed ride by jockey Mark Zahra.

2023 Crystal Mile Odds

The season’s best Crystal Mile 2023 betting odds and links to our markets on the Group 2 support act on Cox Plate Day will be detailed below once released so stay tuned for the top Crystal Mile prices this spring.

The official Crystal Mile 2023 Results & Finishing Order will be detailed below once the race is run and won on Saturday October 28, 2023.

• 1st: TBD
• 2nd: TBD
• 3rd: TBD

Crystal Mile Race Info

• Date: Saturday October 28, 2023
• Track: Moonee Valley Racecourse
• Distance: 1600m
• Conditions: Weight-for-age
• Status: Group 2
• Prize Money: $300,000
• First Run: 1982

Crystal Mile Betting

The Crystal Mile betting markets are released on the Wednesday of Cox Plate week following the final acceptances revealing the field. Crystal Mile odds are led by in-form spring milers with proven form over the distance (1600m) and those that have previous experience at the notoriously tight Moonee Valley track.

Sydney raiders have a top recent record in the race and the Epsom Handicap graduates from Randwick earlier in the month also sit high up the Crystal Mile betting odds each year.

Favourites have plenty of recent wins in the race with the last Crystal Mile winner to salute at double-figures in betting being French raider Chief Ironside ($26 in 2019).

Crystal Mile Tips

Crystal Mile tips to take to the bookies during the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival include looking at runners with a good record over the mile, proven Group 1 and 2 performers and any top three graduates out of lead-ups like the Toorak Handicap and Epsom Handicap.

Taking runners under $10 in betting is also a good Crystal Mile tip as favourites have at top record in the past decade and only a few horses have saluted at double-figures in the past decade.

2023 Crystal Mile Tips

Our Ladbrokes’ insider Crystal Mile 2023 betting tips will be detailed in full below the week of the race so bookmark this page for the Kennedy Mile-bound milers to back and sack.

• To Win: #6 Prowess ($3.70 at time of publish) – BET NOW

Small but quality field for the Crystal Mile and tipping Prowess to return to winning form. This four-year-old New Zealand-trained mare won five on the trot over her stunning summer – autumn campaign including the Group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m) in Sydney. Back at home the winning streak came to an end first-up on October 7 when she went down a length as the odds-on favourite over 1400m. She’ll be fitter now and relishing the extra distance. First time in Melbourne but rails draw and Mark Zahra put her as a leading hope.

Crystal Mile Field

The Crystal Mile race field attracts a line-up of the season’s best milers, many heading towards a run in either the new-look Group 1 Champions Mile (1600m) or Group 1 Champions Stakes (2000m) held at Flemington during the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

A key lead-up into the Crystal Mile field is the Group 1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) held a fortnight earlier at Caulfield Racecourse.

Crystal Mile nominations close the Monday before the race takes place that Saturday followed by the release of the final field and barriers on the Wednesday.

2023 Crystal Mile Field

The official Crystal Mile 2023 Final Field & Barriers are announced on the Wednesday of Cox Plate week and will be detailed in full below, so stay tuned to see what milers make the Group 2 field this spring.

The Crystal Mile 2023 final field features just six acceptors led in betting by the Tony Gollan-trained Queensland Antino coming off a Toorak second, last year’s Toorak champ Tuvalu who comes off a second to Alligator Blood in the Underwood, and Vinery Stud Stakes winning mare Prowess back down under second-up.

2023 Crystal Mile Nominations

The early Crystal Mile 2023 Nominations are taken the Monday before the event and will be updated here once confirmed by the Moonee Valley Racing Club (MVRC).

2023 Crystal Mile nominations extended until 10:00am (AEDT) 24/10/2023 

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

Crystal Mile Form Guide

The Crystal Mile form guide shows all the relevant information and statistics for punters like the jockeys, trainers, barriers and lead-up runs.

Looking at the form it is important to find runners with a good record at the distance (1600m), and the Epsom Handicap has been the best Crystal Mile form line to follow in the past decade producing a host of winners and place-getters in the Melbourne Group 2 on Cox Plate Day.

The Crystal Mile form has stacked-up in better races many times over the years including when the 2020 winner Homesman went on to win the following autumn’s Group 1 Australian Cup.

The 2022 Crystal Mile form was franked with the winner My Oberon returning in the autumn of 2023 to finish second to Mr Brightside in Sydney’s Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m).

2023 Crystal Mile Form Guide

A link to our exclusive Crystal Mile 2023 Form Guide will be provided for punters below the week of the race.

Crystal Mile Results

The Crystal Mile race results have been dominated by Group 1 performers and those under $10 in betting over the past decade or so.

Notable recent Crystal Mile winners include Homesman (2020), Turn Me Loose (2015), Hooked (2014), Silent Achiever (2012), and Rangirangdoo (2009).

The last back-to-back Crystal Mile champion was Weasel Will (2000-2001).

Ark Regal holds the current 1600m Crystal Mile race record winning in 1990 in a time of 1 minute 33:2 seconds.

Prowess (2023) was the last Crystal Mile winning mare.

Past Crystal Mile Winners

Recent Crystal Mile winners and place-getters dating back to the year 2000 are detailed in the below table.