Emirates Stakes Day takes place at Flemington this Saturday featuring an elite line up of Group races including the $300,000 Group 2 Matriarch Stakes (2000m), the last major feature for mares at the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival.

The 2010 Matriarch Stakes has attracted a capacity final field of 16 mares, plus three emergencies, with Peter Snowden’s Purple the pronounced favourite to win.

Five-year-old Commands mare Purple has opened at the top of the Matriarch Stakes betting markets paying $3.70 through Luxbet.

Despite drawing wide with barrier 16 and ignoring her eighth place finish to Maluckyday in The Lexus Stakes last start, Purple looks a top pick against a mares-only field and the drop back in distance will suit her.

Prior to The Lexus, Purple finished a gallant second in both the Craven Plate and Coogny Handicap in open company over 2000m and looks hard to beat on Saturday.

Other Matriarch Stakes runners that are among the top fancies for tomorrow’s showdown are consistent Kiwi galloper Keep The Peace ($4.60) having her first up Australian start for the season, Tesio Stakes winner Lady Lynette ($8) and six-year-old Moment In Time ($9) coming into contention with a nice drop back in weight from her last few runs.

All three mares have drawn wide with barriers 19, 18 and 12 respectively, but have the ability to sit back and come home strongly.

For more value in the Matriarch Stakes field look at including Anthony Cummings’ promising Fastnet Rock four-year-old Lovemelikearock ($13) and the Mark Kavanagh-trained Zantelagh into your exotics through Luxbet.

Zantelagh opened at $8.50 in the early Matriarch Stakes betting but has drifted out to $10. However the Zabeel grey is tipped to improve on Saturday and has the ability to finish in the money.

The 2010 Matriarch Stakes is scheduled as Race 7 at Flemington on Saturday and is due to jump at 3:40pm (AEDST).

For the best odds on the race and to get the Tote + 20% on every Group feature on the Emirates Stakes Day card head to Luxbet today!

2010 Matriarch Stakes Final Field, Barrier Draw & Weights

#	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight
1	PURPLE	Peter Snowden	Kerrin McEvoy	16	57.5
2	LADY LYNETTE	David & Scott Brunton	Nicholas Hall	18	55.5
3	KEEP THE PEACE (NZ)	Shaune Ritchie	Michael Walker	19	55.5
4	MARHETA	Michael Moroney	Mark Zahra	14	54.5
5	LOVEMELIKEAROCK	Anthony Cummings	Glen Boss	15	54.5
6	STARMON (NZ)	Michael Kent	Brad Rawiller	3	54.5
7	MOMENT IN TIME	Mick Huxtable	Nash Rawiller	12	54
8	MUSIC REVIEW (GB)	John O’Shea	Craig Williams	17	54
9	DELTA GEE	Michael Grant	Corey Brown	8	53
10	LADY AVACAN	Sue Jaensch	Holly McKechnie	1	53
11	GOLDEN CHARMER	Dan O’Sullivan	Dean Yendall	11	53
12	PICALERO	Barbara Marshman	Michelle Payne	4	53
13	ASHLEE’S JEWEL	Jason Coyle	Dwayne Dunn	5	53
14	ZANTELAGH	Mark Kavanagh	Michael Rodd	13	53
15	WELL ROUNDED	Lee Freedman	Ben Melham	6	53
16	RIVER BYPASS	Luke Oliver	Danny Nikolic	10	53
17e	PLATINUM PASSION	Michael Moroney	–	9	53
18e	BELLE OF DUBAI	Ken Williams	Garry Murphy	7	53
19e	OUR TIGRESS	Michael Moroney	Craig Newitt	2	53