Midnight Martini has claimed her first Group win in the 2012 Matriarch Stakes in Melbourne today.

The five-year-old mare caused an upset by beating hot favourite Silent Achiever in the race.

Midnight Martin won the 2012 Matriarch Stakes by three quarters of a length ahead of Lake Sententia, who placed in second, and Crafty Irna, who finished third.

Secret Admirer had to be content with fourth placing in the $300,000 race.

Midnight Martini has now won seven of her 19 race starts and has earned more than $515,000 in prize money during her horse racing career.

It was the second victory this spring for the mare, who was paying odds of $8 to win the 2012 Matriarch Stakes at bookmaker.com.au.

Jockey Michael Rodd was in the saddle for today’s 2012 Matriarch Stakes win.

“She’s just such an honest mare this one,” Rodd said.

“We had a really soft run. I didn’t have to move on her till about the 250 (metre mark).

“The favourite was out the back and we were up on the speed.”

Rodd has had a long running affiliation with trainer Mark Kavanagah.

“Mark and I have been a team for about five years now and it’s going well,” the jockey said.

Kavanagh was pleased to have claimed his first feature race this Melbourne Cup Carnival.

“It was a bit of a tricky draw,” Kavanagh said of today’s race.

“She’s a good mare and she’s on the way up.

“Certainly we’re more than happy with today’s effort.

“It’s pretty exciting to have a winner out of the carnival.”

Be sure to open a bookmaker.com.au account in order to back a winner this spring racing carnival.

Bookmaker.com.au will offer great betting opportunities on all the best races this spring, including the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes next race.

So sign up and place your bets with bookmaker.com.au today.

2012 Matriarch Stakes Race Results & Finishing Order

Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Starting Price
1	3	MIDNIGHT MARTINI	Mark Kavanagh	Michael Rodd	–	7	56.5kg	$8
2	7	LAKE SENTENTIA	Darren Weir	Glen Boss	0.75L	1	55kg	$7.50
3	4	CRAFTY IRNA	Ron Quinton	Damien Oliver	0.95L	2	55.5kg	$8
4	1	SILENT ACHIEVER (NZ)	Roger James	Hugh Bowman	1.45L	4	57.5kg	$2F
5	9	KHANDALLAH	Mathew Ellerton & Simon Zahra	Kerrin McEvoy	2.7L	6	54kg	$26
6	8	MANILA JEWEL	David Hayes	Chad Schofield (a)	2.8L	3	54kg	$41
7	10	ROCK HIT	Peter G Moody	Vlad Duric	4.8L	8	54kg (cd 54.5kg)	$31
8	6	FULL OF SPIRIT	Roger James	Steven Arnold	5.2L	5	55kg	$9