John Thompson’s Group 1 winning mare First Seal headlines the Tristarc Stakes 2016 field of class mares facing off in the Caulfield Cup Day support act this Saturday.

First Seal races second-up in the 2016 Tristarc Stakes this weekend in her Melbourne debut at Caulfield Racecourse. Photo: Steve Hart.

Due to run as Caulfield Race 7 at 3:45pm (AEDT), this season’s $200,000 Group 2 Schweppes Tristarc Stakes (1400m) has attracted a final field of 13 runners.

The highest-rated of those is Fastnet Rock five-year-old First Seal, best known for her Group 1 Flight Stakes (1600m) win over Winx in Sydney as a three-year-old back in 2014.

Her most recent win was first-up at Rosehill in February’s Group 2 Millie Fox Stakes (1300m).

First Seal kicked off her spring at that same track and ran fifth to Tycoon Tara in the Group 2 Golden Pendant (1400m), Saturday her first ever Melbourne run.

To help prepare for her Victorian debut, Thompson ran First Seal at the Caulfield course proper on Tuesday and was happy with how she worked the Melbourne way of going.

“She seems to be getting on the right leg. She worked well this morning,” he told the media yesterday.

First Seal carries the 58.5kg top weight in Saturday’s set weights plus penalties clash and is drawn barrier eight with Blake Shinn to ride.

Her last start conqueror, the Peter & Paul Snowden-trained Golden Pendant winner Tycoon Tara came up trumps with gate three in the Tristarc Stakes barrier draw.

The flying daughter of Written Tycoon has won three of her four starts in Sydney this campaign and the six-year-old is a dual winner at the Caulfield track ahead of the weekend.

With the ideal lead-up, previous experience at the course and gun barrier Tycoon Tara is sure to sit high up the Tristarc Stakes betting markets at Ladbrokes.com.au.

Also coming off a top three Golden Pendant run and backing up in the Tristarc Stakes field this weekend is third-placed Pearls.

A four-year-old daughter of Exceed And Excel prepared by John O’Shea for Godolphin, Pearls has her first Caulfield run on Saturday and is after her second win this prep after the first-up Group 3 Toy Show Quality (1300m) win in late August.

The other impressive last start winner in the line-up is the Chris Waller-trained French Emotion who star jockey Hugh Bowman rides this weekend from a wide barrier 10 draw.

A five-year-old daughter of Snitzel, French Emotion has been racing well in Melbourne this season finishing second to Alaskan Rose two back over this track / distance before her Group 2 Blazer Stakes (1400m) win at Flemington on October 2.

French Emotion carried 55kg from barrier 11 that day, so the wider alley is a non-issue at Caulfield this weekend where she has run second in both her runs to date.

Blazer Stakes third placed Vibrant Rouge also races in the Tristarc this weekend looking to turn the tables, the Michael Kent-trained eight-year-old having won just one of her 13 starts at Caulfield to date.

Other notable hopes include the Kris Lees-trained Danish Twist coming off the Group 2 Premiere Stakes (1200m) third at Randwick first-up who has the outside barrier (13) for jockey Damien Oliver to overcome, Golden Pendant fourth placegetter Denmagic and the Darren Weir-trained Blazer Stakes fourth placegetter Telopea.

See below for the full Tristar Stakes 2016 field, barriers and jockeys before heading to Ladbrokes.com.au to access all the best Caulfield Cup Day odds.

2016 Tristarc Stakes Final Field & Barrier Draw

Caulfield Race 7 (3:45pm) – 15/10/2016