South Australian Derby
Australia | FEATURE RACE GUIDE
History
The South Australian Derby is a Group 1 race for three year olds conducted by the South Australian Jockey Club at Morphettville.
The South Australian Derby was first run in 1860 and was won by Midnight.
The South Australian Derby is run over 2500m under Set Weights conditions.
Fillies don't run often but when they do they are usually competitive (Femminile, Coco Sun, Qafila, Delicacy, Scratchy Bottom/Zarita/Showella/Mapperley Heights/English Wonder) have run well when contesting.
Over the year's Bart Cummings was the hero of the training ranks with ten wins. Cliff Brown had a run of three in six years some 20 years ago. Darren Weir trained three winners of the Derby in a row as well.
Ben Melham, Greg Childs and Danny Nikolic had a couple of wins each in the last 30 years but the jockeys had shared it around. That was until John Allen came along and he has won 4 of the last 11 editions plus just missed in 2026.
Six horses have won the Chairman's Stakes/SA Derby double - Markham (1997), Mummify (2003), Rebel Raider (2009), Howard Be Thy Name (2016), Leicester (2018) and Jungle Magnate (2022).
Tails of Triomphe won the 2005 SA Derby despite never having previously set foot on a metropolitan racetrack to race in eleven starts.
The Derby has produced some decent Melbourne Cup form over the years.
Russian Camelot won brilliantly coming from last in 2020. He was a European bred youngster so gave away six months in experience to his rivals. He was a big player the following Spring too becoming the first SA Derby winner in a long time to win an open age G1 (Underwood Stakes).
Explosive Jack added the South Australian Derby to his Tasmanian and Australian Derby wins with a demolition in 2021. Dunkel was another Tassie Derby winner to win this race in 2023.
Coco Sun's win gave Jamie (Kah) Melham her first ever Adelaide G1 win. It also gave The Autumn Sun his third G1 staying win as a sire in a four week period.
Femminile's added her name to Aeliana (Australian) and Machine Gun Gracie (West Australian) as filly winners of Derbies in the 24/25 season.
The 2026 edition was run for prize money of $1,000,000.
Notable winners of the South Australian Derby include Gatum Gatum (1961), Ziema (1964), Shiva's Revenge (1991), Subzero (1992), Count Chivas (1995), Showella (1999), Mummify (2003), Rebel Raider (2009), Delicacy (2015), Russian Camelot (2020), Explosive Jack (2021) and Dunkel (2023).
The 2026 South Australian Derby was won by Wigmore from Strictly Business and Autumn Mystery.
Previous South Australian Derby Winners
| Date | Horse | Jockey | WT | Trainer | BP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
WIGMORE
(NZ)
3G SWEYNESSE (AUS) - DEL MONDO (USA) MORE THAN READY (USA) |
TEODORE NUGENT | 56.5 | PHILLIP STOKES | 5 |
|
|
FEMMINILE
(AUS)
3F DUNDEEL (NZ) - FEMME FIREBALL (AUS) PIERRO (AUS) |
LACHLAN NEINDORF | 54.5 | PHILLIP STOKES | 2 |
|
|
COCO SUN
(AUS)
3F THE AUTUMN SUN (AUS) - MISS HUFFLEPUFF (AUS) ENCOSTA DE LAGO (AUS) |
JAMIE MELHAM | 54.5 | T & C MCEVOY | 8 |
|
|
DUNKEL
(NZ)
3G DUNDEEL (NZ) - KUDAMM (AUS) CAPE CROSS (IRE) |
BILLY EGAN | 56.5 | PATRICK PAYNE | 7 |
|
|
BEAUTYVERSE
(NZ)
3G TARZINO (NZ) - THE LOVE OF MONEY (AUS) CASINO PRINCE (AUS) |
M J ZAHRA | 56.5 | M PRICE & M KENT | 9 |
|
|
EXPLOSIVE JACK
(NZ)
3C JAKKALBERRY (IRE) - EXTRA EXPLOSIVE (NZ) EKRAAR (USA) |
J ALLEN | 56.5 | C MAHER & D EUSTACE | 10 |
|
|
RUSSIAN CAMELOT
(IRE)
3C CAMELOT (GB) - LADY BABOOSHKA (GB) CAPE CROSS (IRE) |
J ALLEN | 56.5 | DANNY O'BRIEN | 7 |
|
|
QAFILA
(AUS)
3F NOT A SINGLE DOUBT (AUS) - ZIGHY BAY (USA) TAPIT (USA) |
C J PARISH | 54.5 | D & B HAYES & T DABERNIG | 6 |
|
|
HELENE LEADINGSTAR
(AUS)
3G WANTED (AUS) - DEFY THE ODDS (GB) GALILEO (IRE) |
DAMIAN LANE | 56.5 | DARREN WEIR | 7 |
|
|
VOLATILE MIX
(NZ)
3C PENTIRE (GB) - UTOPIA (NZ) HIGH CHAPARRAL (IRE) |
J ALLEN | 56.5 | DARREN WEIR | 11 |
|
|
HOWARD BE THY NAME
(AUS)
3C REDOUTE'S CHOICE (AUS) - BELLINI ROSE (NZ) FALTAAT (USA) |
J ALLEN | 56.5 | DARREN WEIR | 6 |
|
|
DELICACY
(AUS)
3F AL MAHER (AUS) - SIMPLY WICKED (AUS) SCENIC (IRE) |
P HALL | 54.5 | GRANT WILLIAMS | 11 |
|
|
KUSHADASI
(AUS)
3G CHOISIR (AUS) - SHANGHAI MOON (NZ) CARNEGIE (IRE) |
S W ARNOLD | 56.5 | RICHARD JOLLY | 3 |
|
|
ESCADO
(AUS)
3G CASINO PRINCE (AUS) - SECRET CAUSE (AUS) GIANT'S CAUSEWAY (USA) |
B MELHAM | 56.5 | MATT LAURIE | 1 |
|
|
ZABEELIONAIRE
(NZ)
3G ZABEEL (NZ) - KISUMU (AUS) CARNEGIE (IRE) |
DAMIEN OLIVER | 56.5 | LEON CORSTENS | 1 |
|
|
SHADOWS IN THE SUN
(AUS)
3G DANE SHADOW (AUS) - BEST OUT WEST (AUS) BEST WESTERN (AUS) |
B MELHAM | 56.5 | ANTHONY CUMMINGS | 10 |
|
|
KIDNAPPED
(AUS)
3G VISCOUNT (AUS) - YOUTHFUL PRESENCE (AUS) DEHERE (USA) |
K MCEVOY | 56.5 | PETER SNOWDEN | 16 |
Related News
Track report for Morphettville this Saturday the 2nd of May 2026
We roll onto South Australian Derby Day for the second day of the Adelaide Carnival.
With four fillies in this year’s SA Derby, Brad Bishop looks into their record in the race, thanks to TABtouch.
We haven’t seen the South Australian Derby run at Morphettville on Saturday produce a really big name for some time.
The Derby lead up is the Chairman’s Stakes run at Morphettville on Saturday.
South Australia unearthed a genuine homegrown contender for Saturday week’s Group 1 Australasian Oaks (2000m) when Dan Clarken and Oopy MacGillivray’s filly Mating Call won the Group 3 Auraria Stakes in brilliant style.
As some of the country’s most progressive middle-distance fillies prepare to do battle in the main lead-up to the G1 Australasian Oaks, it’s timely to reflect on the iron filly the race is named in honour of.
