Facts and figures on the G1 Myer Classic

MYER CLASSIC – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

* Group One, 1600m, $500,000, weight-for-age, fillies and mares. Run at Flemington on Saturday, November 4, 3.05pm

HISTORY

* First run as a Listed race in 1988 and won by the Colin Hayes-trained Concordance

* Had a stint as a Group Three (1995-6) before being elevated to a Group Two in 1997 and a Group One in 2004

* Three-year-old fillies became eligible in 2002 when the race went from set weights plus penalties to weight-for-age

NOTABLE WINNERS

* Lotteria (2005), Divine Madonna (2007), Forensics (2008), Typhoon Tracy (2009) and Red Tracer (2013)

TALKING POINTS

* One of four Group One races on Derby Day but the only one with a sex restriction for fillies and mares only

* Thousand Guineas runner-up Shoals is the favourite at $4.80 while last-start G2 winner Global Glamour is at $5

* Shoals is the only filly, up against 15 mares, and could become the second filly in the history of the race to win

* Ron Quinton’s inseparable mares Dixie Blossoms ($11) and Daysee Doom ($23) are among the full field

* Melbourne jockey Ben Melham will ride Daysee Doom rather than regular Sydney apprentice Andrew Adkins

* Last year’s Myer Classic winner I Am A Star – the first filly to win – will recontest the race as a mare with 2016 runners French Emotion (second), Dixie Blossoms (fourth), Danish Twist (ninth) and Heavens Above (10th)

* The fastest Myer Classic time recorded was 1:34.20 by Market Price in 2001

WHAT SOME OF THE KEY PLAYERS ARE SAYING

“She really seems to have peaked for this Saturday. No doubt it’s the best mares race in this country, and she’s going to have to be at her very best to win it. I’m very confident she’ll run very well” – Shoals’ trainer Anthony Freedman

“It’s a really competitive race. It’s a really classy line-up. Any one of five or six could win the race and I couldn’t be happier with my two” – Ron Quinton on Daysee Doom and Dixie Blossoms

“She’s a woman with a mission … she’s the horse to beat in the Myer Classic” – Global Glamour’s co-trainer Gai Waterhouse