That was the first year of the post-jumps era, the Grand National Steeplechase and B R Smith Hurdle that were once features of the day replaced by the finals of other winter series introduced by Racing Victoria and the Victoria Racing Club.
Finals Day has since proven a launching pad to even greater riches, with some of those who have used it to springboard their career listed below.
1 – NATURE STRIP
There is no better advertisement for Finals Day than Nature Strip.
The Nicconi gelding won feature races on either side of the equator, the first of them in the Listed A.R Creswick Stakes (1200m) in 2018.
He would later win a Listed Lightning Stakes (1050m) in Adelaide and Group 2 McEwen Stakes (1000m) for Darren Weir before joining Chris Waller and winning nine times at the highest level, including a trio of T J Smith Stakes (1200m) and the King Charles III Stakes (1006m) at Royal Ascot.
He also won The Everest (1200m), but before the world’s richest turf race officially gained Group 1 status.
Nature Strip ran to 130 on the Racing And Sports rating scale on five occasions, a mark bettered by only four horses since 2009 – Black Caviar (136), Winx (134), So You Think (133) and Via Sistina (132).
He retired a winner of half his 44 starts with a further nine placings helping him amass $20,765,008 in stakes.
2 – DUKE DE SESSA
Duke De Sessa isn’t a name many associate with the VRC-CRV Winter Championship Final (1600m) and his only appearance in Finals Day’s signature event resulted in a seventh placing, beaten more than four lengths by Munhamek in 2024.
But it proved the launching pad to major success for the Ciaron Maher-trained import.
He built fitness through handicap events in winter before Group 1 fourth placings in the Underwood Stakes (1800m) and TAB Turnbull Stakes (2000m), which preceded victory in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m).
3 – TUVALU
There haven’t been many more popular winners of the Winter Championship than Tuvalu, who capped a stellar winter campaign with victory at $2.20 in 2022 – the second shortest-priced favourite to win in race’s history behind Doubtful Jack (who we’ll get to later).
But that was just a stepping stone to even bigger victories later in the year for the Lindsey Smith-trained son of Kermadec.
The gelding was next seen in the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m), in which he finished third, before winning the Group 1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) ahead of a second placing to Alligator Blood at weight-for-age in the Group 1 VRC Champions Mile (1600m).
Tuvalu later won a Listed Wangoom Handicap (1200m) and was runner-up in an Underwood Stakes, again to Alligator Blood, in a career that finished with nine wins and as many placings from 25 starts for a tick over $2 million in stakes.
4 – JOHNNY GET ANGRY
The Taj Rossi Series Final (1600m) is often a target for trainers with horses they think will make quality staying three-year-olds and Johnny Get Angry confirmed himself in that category in the 2020 edition.
He ran third at $101, beaten less than two lengths by Cherri Tortoni, at just his second start.
Those two were both there when the whips were cracking in the VRC’s premier staying test for three-year-olds, the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m), four months later.
Johnny Get Angry scored a famous win for Denis Pagan in that Derby, while Cherry Tortoni, who seven days earlier won the Group 2 Moonee Valley Vase (2040m), in which Johnny Get Angry ran third, just 1-1/2 lengths away third.
5 – MID SUMMER MUSIC
Peter Moody and Mid Summer Music’s owners had to settle for second placing to Perturbo in the 2011 All Victorian Sprint Series Final (1200m), which is now the Santa Ana Lane Series, but she secured much bigger prizes in the ensuing 12 months.
The daughter of Oamaru Force won the Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) and Cockram Stakes (1200m) at Group 3 level at her next two starts before Group placings, including a third to champion stablemate Black Caviar in the race now known as the Champions Sprint (1200m).
Mid Summer Music scaled even greater heights the following campaign, highlighted by a win in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) in Brisbane.
6 – DOUBTFUL JACK
Mid Summer Music carried the same colours as another Moody-trained galloper, Doubtful Jack, who scored arguably the most memorable Winter Championship Final win.
The son of Not A Single Doubt strolled home by 6-1/2 lengths as a $1.60 favourite in the 2010 edition.
It is the highest-rating performance on the Racing And Sports data base by a horse on Finals Day since it was reshaped in 2009.
Doubtful Jack won his Winter Championship in a RAS rating of 116, which is three points superior to the next best, shared by Tuvalu and 2024 Santa Ana Lane Final winner It’sourtime.
He won the Group 3 Bobbie Lewis Quality (1200m) at his next start, which turned out to be his biggest success, but he was placed twice behind Black Caviar, in the Moir Stakes when it was a Group 2 run over 1200m on Cox Plate Day and the Group 2 Australia Stakes (1200m).
