MEMSIE STAKES - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

$400,000 1400m WFA

HISTORY: First run in 1899 at one mile (1600m). Given Group One status in 2013

NOTABLE WINNERS: Phar Lap won in 1931 at nine furlongs (1800m); Makybe Diva resumed to win in 2005 and four starts later won her third Melbourne Cup

TALKING POINTS:

* This year's field has six Group One winners - Happy Trails, Boban, Moment Of Change, Super Cool, Dissident and Silent Achiever

* There is only one last-start winner, the Gai-Waterhouse-trained Sweet Idea. Waterhouse hasn't won a Memsie but she used the race to launch Fiorente's successful Melbourne Cup campaign last year

* Early favourites Boban and Messene have been switched from Sydney in search of firmer footing

* Boban, who has attracted the most early support, chasing his third Group One win after 2013 Epsom Handicap and Emirates Stakes

* Major Cups contenders: Super Cool, Sertorius, Puissance De Lune, Silent Achiever

* Silent Achiever an early Cox Plate favourite

* Since 2002, six Cox Plate winners ran in the Memsie, including So You Think in 2010