Horse Racing

The Queensland Derby is a traditional 2400m event held at Eagle Farm Racecourse in Brisbane. Raced during June as part of the Brisbane Winter Racing Carnival, the Group 1 set weight event is specifically for three year old horses and offers half a million dollars in prize money.

The Queensland Derby brings a lot of interstate horses which are not quite ready for the tougher AJC Derby and Victoria Derby. The best lead-up races are the Group 3 Rough Habit Plate (2020m) at Doomben and the Group 3 Grand Prix Stakes (2100m). Empires Choice won the Rough Habit Plate / Queensland Derby double in 2007 while Ice Chariot won the Grand Prix Stakes / Queensland Derby double in 2006.

The 2012 Queensland Derby will be run on Saturday June 9th, 2012.

Queensland Derby History

First run in 1868 in Gayndah, the Queensland Derby was won by Hermit. Three years later, in 1871, the race was moved to Eagle Farm in Brisbane and has remained there ever since.

Although the race was not held from 1873-77 and again in 1942-45, the Queensland Derby has been won by many legendary horses including Tulloch in 1957, Kingston Town in 1980 and Rough Habit in 1990. When the Queensland Derby was held twice in 1870, Grafton proved just how good a horse he was by winning both races.

Since 1988, De Gaulle Lane holds the record for the fastest winning time with 2 minutes 25.2 seconds in 2001. The slowest recorded winning time was 2 minutes 39.3 seconds by Rough Habit in 1990.

Recent Queensland Derby Winners