Linlithgow Stakes (The Damien Oliver) 2023

The Linlithgow Stakes has been renamed The Damien Oliver ahead of the 2023 edition

The Linlithgow Stakes, currently run as The Damien Oliver, is a Group 2 race run on the Saturday prior to the Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse on Victoria Derby Day. VRC Derby Day is the first of four meetings making up the Melbourne Cup Carnival held at the tail-end of the wider Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival in late October or early November each year, and features three Group 1 features.

2022 Linlithgow Stakes winner Old Flame. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

The highlights on the bumper race card are the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m), Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) and Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m). There are also two Group 2 support acts on the program with the Wakeful Stakes (2000m) for fillies and The Damien Oliver run over 1200m by sprinters.

Open to horses aged three-years-old and over, the race is an open handicap event offering $500,000 in total prize money as of 2022. It can serve as a lead-up to the following Saturday’s Group 1 VRC Sprint Classic (1200m) – now run as the Champions Sprint – over the same track and distance, a double last achieved by Glamour Puss (2005), while in 2015 Delectation improved on a lead-up fourth in the Salinger Stakes to win the VRC Classic a week later.

The latest edition of the Linlithgow Stakes ran on Saturday November 4, 2023 as part of Flemington’s bumper VRC Derby Day card having been renamed The Damien Oliver in honour of retiring hoop Damien Oliver and was won in an upset by four-year-old Cause For Concern ($12). 

2023 Linlithgow Stakes (The Damien Oliver) Results

The official The Damien Oliver 2023 Results & Finishing Order will be available below once the sprint takes place at Flemington on Saturday November 4, 2023 .

2023 The Damien Oliver winner Cause For Concern scored a well-deserved upset in the Group 2 on Derby Day. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

• 1st: #17e Cause For Concern
• 2nd: #3 Bandersnatch
• 3rd: #8 Munhamek

Shawn Mathrick’s Worth Cause four-year-old Cause For Concern ($12) finally got a well-deserved Group victory improving on a lead-up third in the Moonga Stakes to narrowly take out the 2023 The Damien Oliver results off a gun ride by Jamie Kah in the last on Derby Day.

2023 The Damien Oliver Odds

The latest The Damien Oliver 2023 betting markets and links to the Victoria Derby Day odds online will be provided below so stay tuned for the best markets on the hopeful sprinters down the Flemington straight this Melbourne Cup Carnival.

The Damien Oliver Race Info

• Former Race Names: Linlithgow Stakes, Salinger Stakes
• Date: Saturday November 4, 2023
• Track: Flemington Racecourse
• Distance: 1200m
• Conditions: Handicap
• Status: Group 2
• Prize Money: $500,000
• First Run: 1868

Linlithgow Stakes (The Damien Oliver) Betting

Linlithgow Stakes odds are led by horses with a good 1200m record and those proven down the Flemington straight. Some gallopers are more suited to turning track like Moonee Valley, so Linlithgow Stakes betting favours those that have previous experience at Flemington Racecourse and those also proven in similar Group company over the season.

Upsets are not uncommon in the race and recent winners to salute at double figures in the Linlithgow Stakes betting markets include Éclair Choice ($18 in 2015) and Illustrious Lad ($12 in 2016).

Other recent upsets include the back-to-back victories of Fontelina ($17 in 2012 and $11 in 2013) and Kemalpasa ($11 in 2019). In 2020 Kemalpasa returned to become the race’s latest dual champion saluting at $4.60 in the markets.

There was another upset in the 2021 event with Justacanta narrowly winning at $17 just denying dual defending champ Kemalpasa a third consecutive win, while in 2023 Cause For Concern won the renamed race at The Damien Oliver odds of $12.

Linlithgow Stakes (The Damien Oliver) Tips

Top Linlithgow Stakes tips include backing horses coming off a last start win over a similar distance, getting behind graduates of a race like the Caulfield Sprint and backing runners proven down the testing Flemington straight.

Favourites only have a mediocre recent strike rate in the race so another good Linlithgow Stakes betting tip is to look at the horses with good lead-up form at $10 or over in the markets.

2023 The Damien Oliver Tips

Our Ladbrokes’ insider The Damien Oliver 2023 betting tips and Flemington sprint racing selections will be provided below the week of the race so stay tuned for the horses to back and sack this VRC Derby Day.

• To Win: #6 Zoutori ($31 at time of publish) – BET NOW

Far from a vintage edition of the recently renamed The Damien Oliver and inclined to have a little something on a former Flemington track specialist with Zoutori at 30/1. The now veteran eight-year-old son of Zoustar has a strong strike-rate at the straight course (20:5-1-3) including a Group 1 Newmarket Handicap triumph from a couple of years ago when at his peak. He hasn’t won a race since that victory in March of 2021 however. He has been going around at blow out odds and not that far beaten including a last start sixth in the Group 2 Gilgai Stakes here. Just think with the right run from a good gate he could just return to some better form to surprise a few.

Linlithgow Stakes (The Damien Oliver) Field

The Linlithgow Stakes race field features a quality line-up of sprinters, although the top tier short-distance runners are often saved for the following Saturday’s Group 1 VRC Champions Sprint (1200m). Runners in the Linlithgow Stakes field may come off lead-up spring runs in a race like the Group 2 Caulfield Sprint (1000m) on Caulfield Cup Day or a start in the world’s richest turf race – the $20 million The Everest (1200m) at Randwick that produced the 2018 Salinger winner Osborne Bulls.

Delectation (4th in 2015) improved on his Salinger Stakes results to win the Group 1 Darley Classic next-up that spring. Photo Credit: Ultimate Racing Photos.

Linlithgow Stakes nominations close the Monday before the race runs that Saturday on Derby Day and the final acceptances and barriers are out on the Wednesday.

2023 The Damien Oliver Field

The official The Damien Oliver 2023 Final Field & Barriers are due for release on the Wednesday of race week and will be detailed in full below so stay tuned to see what sprinters make the starting line-up.

The Damien Oliver 2023 final field features a quality line-up of spring sprinters led in betting by the rails-drawn Tamerlane for Godolphin who comes off a Listed win here from early October.

2023 The Damien Oliver Nominations

The early The Damien Oliver 2023 Nominations are taken on the Monday of Derby Day week and will be updated below once confirmed by Racing Victoria.

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

Linlithgow Stakes (The Damien Oliver) Form Guide

The Linlithgow Stakes form guide gives punters crucial information needed to place a well-informed wager like the track / distance records of the runners, their jockeys / trainers and lead-up performance.

The form has held up in tougher Group races later in the spring a number of times in recent years including in the Darley Classic – now run as the Champions Sprint – run seven days later. In 2013 Fontelina won the Salinger for the second year on the trot before a fourth to Buffering in the Darley Classic. Spirit Of Boom also ran second in both the 2012 and 2013 edition.

In 2012 Spirit Of Boom (2nd) went on to run third in the Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes (1200m) in Perth two runs later and fourth in the same Ascot elite level on the back of his 2013 Salinger Stakes second placing. In 2015 the Salinger Stakes produced that year’s Daley Classic winner Delectation (4th).

The four out of the 2020 Salinger Stakes held Kemalpasa and Order Of Command ran first and second in the race for the second time before also running the quinella in the Group 3 Kevin Heffernan Stakes on Zipping Classic Day. Order Of Command would also go on to run second in the next year’s Group 1 The Galaxy behind Eduardo in Sydney.

In 2022 the Linlithgow Stakes winner franked the form running third next start in the $1 million The Gong (1600m) at Kembla Grange.

2023 The Damien Oliver Form Guide

A link to our insider The Damien Oliver 2023 Form Guide will be provided for punters below the week of the race.

Salinger Stakes / Linlithgow Stakes Results

The Salinger Stakes / Linlithgow Stakes results over the past decade have been a mixed bag between favourites and double-figure winners scoring an upset.

The last favourite to salute was Rich Charm (2017), while the last back-to-back champ was Fontelina (2012-2013). Other notable recent Salinger Stakes / Linlithgow Stakes winners include Eagle Falls (2009), Hot Danish (2008), Dance Hero (2006), and Takeover Target (2004).

Phar Lap is one of the most famous past winners of this event back in 1930 during the Melbourne Cup Carnival. He won an event on all four days of that year’s Carnival including of course the iconic Melbourne Cup race.

Fastnet Rock (2004) was the last three-year-old Linlithgow Stakes winner.

Sister Madly (2011) was the last Linlithgow Stakes winning mare.

From 2023 the event was run as The Damien Oliver.

Past Salinger Stakes / Linlithgow Stakes Past Winners

Recent winners of the race now known as The Damien Oliver along with the place-getters and winning times dating back to the year 2000 are detailed in the below table.