17/03/2026
Celebrating 70 Years of the Golden Slipper 💛
On Saturday the 21st March the who’s who’s of the Australian racing industry will have their eyes fixed on Rosehill Racecourse for the running of the 2026 Golden Slipper Stakes, the richest Two-Year-Old race in the world, with life changing prize money of $5 million dollars.
Whilst not as old as some of the other prestigious races on the yearly racing calendar, it has become the pinnacle for two-year-olds, the race where future stallions and broodmares are made, the race that everyone wants to win. In 2026 it celebrates a remarkable 70 years of history.
The Sydney Turf Club as it was at the time (1950s) wanted to add a new feature race to its Autumn Carnival, through the suggestion of one of its founding members George Ryder, the Golden Slipper was created, a race for two-year-olds under set weights. It was 1957 when the first Golden Slipper was run. The winner that year was “Todman”, who led 8 lengths clear of his rivals for the biggest winning margin still to date in the Slipper.
By 1979 the race had achieved Group 1 status and in 1986 the prize money reached $1 million dollars making it the first race in NSW to offer a prize money purse that big. That year the race was won by the mare “Bounding Away”, her trainer Tommy Smith became the first person to be the owner, trainer, and breeder of the race winner.
Famously in the year 2000 when the classy mare “Belle Du Jour” was first past the post, her owner, racing identity John Singleton shouted free drinks at the bar, and in 2001 G*i Waterhouse become the first trainer to train all 3 place getters. The famous Tulloch Lodge stables of G*i Waterhouse would go onto to claim another 7 remarkable Slipper wins, overtaking her own father, T.J. Smiths’ record of 6.
Even during the pandemic, the race ran strong, only without the cheering crowds, glitz and glamour to sideline it. It was however in 2021 where exceptional rainfall in Sydney did the Golden Slipper shift dates, pushing back one week as conditions were deemed unsafe and unfit for racing.
And this year the Australian Turf club celebrates a tremendous 70 Years of tradition of this world capturing and career defining race. A day that hosts an incredible 5 Group 1 races; The Golden Slipper, Ranvet Stakes, George Ryder, The Galaxy and Rosehill Guineas, four of which have a prize purse of $1million or more, it truly is the pinnacle of the Sydney Autumn Carnival.
Final fields have been locked in and barriers drawn for this momentous installment just this morning, so now the nerves really start to kick in! We wish all the horses and connections safe racing and the best of luck for, what is arguably, the best day of racing in the country!
