Of Australia’s four Group 1 derbies, the South Australian version arguably holds the best slot on the calendar.

Run late in the autumn, it gives slow-maturing three-year-old stayers the maximum time to get ready for 2400 metres, without wiping out their four-year-old spring like the Queensland Derby usually does.

Accordingly, the race enjoyed a golden age from 1991 (when Shiva’s Revenge won) to 2003 (Mummify).

Of those 13 winners, only Markham (1997) failed to win a race subsequently — and he managed third behind Might And Power and Doriemus in that year’s Melbourne Cup.

Six of the other 12 (Subzero, Our Pompeii, Count Chivas, Showella, Pantani and Mummify) won Group 1s after taking the SA Derby. Four more won Group 2s.

Mummify was the best of them, winning six more races including an Underwood Stakes, Caulfield Cup, Caulfield Stakes and Singapore International Cup. (Of course, Subzero deserves at least an honourable mention.)

From there, however, a drought set in. The frequent and substantial juicing of prizemoney for three-year-old features in other states saw the SA Derby fall behind.

None of the 16 winners from 2004 to 2019 went on to win another Group 1 race, though Delicacy (2016) surely would have done so but for her untimely death.

Twelve of the 16 failed to win any black-type race after taking the SA Derby, including six who never won again at all.

Happily, the race has had a resurgence this decade. Russian Camelot (2020) went on to win the Underwood the next spring. The 2021 SA Derby winner, Explosive Jack, was beaten at his next nine starts before coming good at $26 in the 2023 Sydney Cup.

With its prizemoney doubled and a full field packed with lightly raced promise, the 2024 SA Derby should also produce strong form.