The 10 Greatest Thousand Guineas Winners of All Time

Who are the greatest Thousand Guineas winners of all time? From Atlantic Jewel, Miss Finland and Wenona Girl to Alinghi, Guelph and Toy Show, The Sporting Base ranks the top 10 fillies to win Caulfield’s classic, ahead of the 2026 running on Caulfield Cup Day.

The Stow Storage Thousand Guineas is Australia’s premier Group 1 mile for three-year-old fillies, run over 1600m at Caulfield. First staged in 1946 and won by Sweet Chime, it reached Group 1 status in 1979, races.com.au notes. The 2026 edition is on Saturday 17 October — Caulfield Cup Day — and is worth $1.5 million.

The honour roll is packed with champions who went on to dominate the spring and autumn. Our order is TSB’s opinion. Every year, jockey, trainer and career fact below is drawn from official results and reputable reporting. For form on this year’s field, open TSB’s free Racing Form Guide or the racing hub.

How we ranked them

We weighed how each filly won the Guineas, what she achieved over the rest of her racing career, her place in racing history — including Australian Racing Hall of Fame membership where it applies — and lasting influence. Comparing a 1960s champion with a modern Group 1 filly is never exact, so this is a judgement call rather than a formula.

10. Flit (2019)

Trainer: James Cummings
Jockey: Hugh Bowman
Guineas result: Narrow win over Missile Mantra and Southbank
Career note: First Group 1 for the Godolphin filly

Flit looked beaten until the final strides. Bowman sat and waited, then got up in the last metres to beat Missile Mantra and Southbank, as racing.com reported. Trainer James Cummings praised the ride in the $1 million feature and said winning a Group 1 with so little winning experience said a lot about her future. She opens our countdown as a modern Guineas heroine who delivered when it mattered most.

9. Joliestar (2023)

Trainer: Chris Waller
Jockey: James McDonald
Guineas result: Won by one and a half lengths from Kimochi
Career note: First Group 1; later won the Arrowfield 3YO Sprint

The Zoustar filly took her first Group 1 in the $1.5 million Thousand Guineas at Caulfield, beating Kimochi by one and a half lengths with Skybird third, Widden Stud reported. McDonald steered her for Waller after placings in the Reginald Allen and Desirable Stakes. She later franked the form by winning the Group 2 Arrowfield 3YO Sprint in Sydney the following autumn — proof the Guineas win was no one-day wonder.

8. Global Glamour (2016)

Trainer: Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott
Jockey: Kerrin McEvoy
Guineas result: Led throughout; beat I Am A Star by a length
Career highlight: Flight Stakes–Thousand Guineas double in seven days

Seven days after winning the Flight Stakes in Sydney, Global Glamour backed up and led all the way to give Waterhouse her first Thousand Guineas, races.com.au reported. McEvoy, who had also ridden Guelph to Guineas glory in 2013, kept her in a lovely rhythm. She became the first filly since Guelph to complete the Flight Stakes–Thousand Guineas double.

7. Toy Show (1975)

Trainer: T.J. Smith
Guineas result: Completed the Golden Slipper–Thousand Guineas double
Career note: One of only two fillies to win that double

Only two fillies in history have won the Golden Slipper and the Thousand Guineas: Toy Show in 1975 and Miss Finland in 2006, TTR AusNZ notes. Tommy Smith’s speed machine won the Slipper from barrier 14 under Kevin Langby, then led home stablemate Denise’s Joy again in the Guineas. Langby later said that without her back problems she could have been anything.

6. Special Harmony (2003)

Trainer: Lee Freedman
Jockey: Damien Oliver
Guineas result: Won the 2003 Thousand Guineas
Career highlight: Thousand Guineas–VRC Oaks double

Special Harmony belongs to a select club of fillies to win both the Thousand Guineas and the VRC Oaks, a double TTR AusNZ lists alongside Miss Finland, Magical Miss and others. Oliver, who has won the race five times, partnered her in 2003 before adding Alinghi the following year. Freedman’s filly proved she could stretch from the mile to Flemington’s Oaks trip in the same spring.

5. Guelph (2013)

Trainer: Peter Snowden
Jockey: Kerrin McEvoy
Guineas result: Won by one and three-quarter lengths as a $1.45 favourite
Career highlight: Flight Stakes–Thousand Guineas double; multiple Group 1s

Guelph dictated from the front and put one and three-quarter lengths on May’s Dream, ABC News reported, becoming the first filly since Dashing Eagle in 1996 to complete the Flight Stakes–Thousand Guineas double. McEvoy called her the best filly he had ridden, The Sydney Morning Herald noted. Snowden also trained that spring’s Caulfield Guineas winner Long John — a rare Caulfield–Thousand Guineas training double.

4. Alinghi (2004)

Trainer: Lee Freedman
Jockey: Damien Oliver
Guineas result: Won the 2004 Thousand Guineas
Career: 10 wins from 16 starts, four Group 1s

Alinghi won the Blue Diamond as a two-year-old, then the Thousand Guineas, Newmarket Handicap and Robert Sangster Stakes as a three-year-old — four Group 1s from 10 wins in 16 starts, racing.com recorded. Freedman called her probably the best two- and three-year-old he ever trained. Breednet later recalled her as up with the best Guineas winners since the race began in 1946.

3. Wenona Girl (1960)

Trainer: Maurice McCarten
Guineas result: Won the VATC One Thousand Guineas in 1960
Career: 27 wins from 68 starts; 15 races now classified as Group 1
Honour: Australian Racing Hall of Fame (2008)

Wenona Girl is the historical giant of this list. She won 27 races from 68 starts, with 15 of those victories now graded as Group 1, Newhaven Park notes, including the Flight Stakes, Rosehill Guineas and One Thousand Guineas. TTR AusNZ calls her a champion across six seasons and the greatest stakes-earning female in Australian turf history at retirement. She is a member of the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.

2. Miss Finland (2006)

Trainer: David Hayes
Jockey: Craig Williams
Guineas result: Won the 2006 Thousand Guineas en route to the VRC Oaks
Career: 11 wins from 26 starts, five Group 1s; champion 2YO and 3YO filly

Miss Finland is the only Golden Slipper winner to train on and win the VRC Oaks, and the first filly to complete that double, Arrowfield records. She added the Thousand Guineas, Australian Guineas and Arrowfield Stud Stakes among five Group 1s, and Williams steered her to an emphatic Oaks after an unlucky Cox Plate run, The Age reported. She died at Arrowfield in February 2026 aged 22, racing.com reported.

1. Atlantic Jewel (2011)

Trainer: Mark Kavanagh
Jockey: Michael Rodd
Guineas result: Won by three lengths from Mosheen, charging from near last
Career: 10 wins from 11 starts, four Group 1s

Atlantic Jewel produced one of the great Guineas performances, sweeping from third last to beat Mosheen by three lengths and stretch her unbeaten run to four, ABC News reported. Kavanagh called her something else; Rodd said the stable thought she was a freak after trackwork. She finished with 10 wins from 11 starts — Thousand Guineas, All Aged Stakes, Memsie Stakes and Caulfield Stakes among four Group 1s — before injury cut her career short, as Kavanagh and Rodd later reflected. Her half-sister Commanding Jewel won the race the following year.

Honourable mentions

Commanding Jewel (2012): half-sister to Atlantic Jewel; won the Guineas for Leon Corstens and Damien Oliver a year after her sibling.
Stay With Me (2015): daughter of Miss Finland; won for David Hayes, Tom Dabernig and Dwayne Dunn.
Yosei (2010): won for Stuart Webb with Michelle Payne aboard.
Ole Dancer (2025): most recent winner, for Peter Moody & Katherine Coleman and Blake Shinn.

The 2026 Thousand Guineas

The 2026 Stow Storage Thousand Guineas is Race 7 on Caulfield Cup Day, Saturday 17 October, over 1600m for $1.5 million. A field of 13 fillies has been drawn, all carrying 56kg, according to Neds and races.com.au. Ciaron Maher’s Edward Manifold winner Saintly Dancer has drawn barrier four with Blake Shinn; Regal Ambition (Ben, Will & JD Hayes) is out in 11 with Michael Dee; Over The Bridge (also Maher) jumps from the outside. Chris Waller has three runners. The same card features the Caulfield Cup, so it is a huge day for spring racing form.

Follow every Guineas and Cup runner with TSB’s free Racing Form Guide, enter our free Everest and Caulfield Cup Day tipping competitions, or download the TSB app on iPhone or Android. For more spring rankings, see the greatest Caulfield Cup winners, greatest Caulfield Guineas winners and greatest Melbourne Cup winners.

Gamble responsibly.

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