New Sportsbet Up & Coming Stars Series kicks off on Wednesday

The inaugural Sportsbet Up & Coming Stars Series, featuring the four richest maiden races held in Victoria this season, will be launched this Wednesday (4 March) at the Caulfield Heath.

At $925,000, which includes a $25,000 prize pool for the Sportsbet Jockey Contest, the Up & Coming Stars will officially become Australia’s richest race series for maiden horses when it kicks off with the $100,000 Sportsbet Up & Coming Stars Series Heat 1 (1200m) at 4.50pm on Wednesday.

Following the series opener, six more heats will be staged at Sportsbet-sponsored racetracks before the inaugural winner of the $300,000 Up & Coming Stars Final is crowned at Caulfield on Saturday, 11 April. The 1st and 2nd placegetters in each heat will progress through to the Final.

Riders competing across the Up & Coming Stars Series will have an additional incentive with the winner of the Sportsbet Jockey Contest set to collect $15,000, whilst $7,500 will be on offer to the runner-up and $3,500 goes to the third placegetter.

Points are awarded to the first five placegetters in each of the seven heats on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis, with double points up for grabs for jockeys contesting the grand finale.

Jockeys can also nominate one ride throughout the heats as a ‘Power Play’ where they will be eligible for double points. Jockeys must nominate Power Plays with Racing Victoria’s (RV) Racing Operations Department no later than 8am on the morning of that race.

Power Plays will be promoted by RV and Racing.com across their digital channels on the day of each heat, and on the broadcast channel on the day of the final, while RV will publish a weekly leaderboard for the Sportsbet Up & Coming Stars Jockey Contest via its X channel.

Wednesday's series opener has attracted many of the state's leading riders including Jamie Melham, Craig Williams and Michael Dee with anticipation building as to whether any riders choose to nominate their Power Play by race morning in the inaugural heat of the Sportsbet Up & Coming Stars Series.

The series follows hot on the heels of the 2026 Future Stars Series which saw Enver Jusufovic’s unbeaten four-year-old Plunger crowned champion at Southside Pakenham on Thursday night, and the second edition of the Emerging Stars Series which concluded in early December.

Following a $5,000 prize money increase to all professional country maidens for the 2025/26 racing season, RV has continued its commitment to ensuring the strength of the industry at grassroots level and now boasts three maiden series worth at least $900,000.

The full program for the inaugural Sportsbet Up & Coming Stars Series is as follows: