Saturday night will be one of the last chances for Victorians to see champion mare Ladies In Red in action.

The curtain will come down on the millionaire’s stellar career at Queensland’s rich Constellations carnival in July.

Ladies In Red’s build-up for that raid, headed by the $150,000 Group 1 Golden Girl at Albion Park on July 20, will be Saturday night’s Richmond Lass Mares’ free-for-all (1720m) at Melton.

Emma Stewart’s six-year-old, who boasts 25 wins from just 33 career starts, has made Melton her own for the past four years with 18 starts at the track for 14 wins and four seconds.

She’s won six Group1 races at Melton, starting with the 2YO Breeders Crown on November 21, 2020 and through to her second successive Queen of the Pacific win on November 4, last year.

Ladies In Red finds herself in a very rare position of needing to “bounce back” after a surprise defeat in Australia’s biggest mare’ race, the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Mile (formerly Ladyship Mile), at Menangle on May 4.

Boom Kiwi-bred mare Aardies Express did what many thought impossible by giving away a huge start to Ladies In Red, who led, and gunning her down late.

The pair are slated for a return bout in the Golden Girl at Albion Park.

Stewart felt a lack of race fitness cost Ladies In Red at Menangle.

“As she’s got older, she’s just taken a bit more racing to get to her very top and it’s not easy finding suitable races for a mare like her,” she said.

“You don’t want to run her in just normal free-for-alls against the boys, because she'd normally have to draw badly and have a hard run for not a lot of prize money.

“She was only second-up in that Menangle race and it probably just cost her a bit late.”

Mindful of that, Stewart is keeping Ladies In Red up to the mark with a race that would normally be “beneath” her on Saturday night.

Ladies In Red is part of a powerhouse team Stewart and co-trainer Clayton Tonkin have pencilled-in for Queensland.

Recent NSW Oaks winner Very Pretty, NSW Derby runner Bay Of Biscay, Australia’s most exciting juvenile The Highlight Reel and top class four-year-old The Lost Storm are some of the other big names.

Ladies In Red has been backed from $1.30 into $1.20 to make light of her wide draw (gate seven). Clear second pick is the Jess Tubbs-trained Rakero Rebel (gate two, $4), who has beaten Ladies In Red at Melton before.

Another highlight of the Melton meeting will be Captain Hammerhead’s quest for a hat trick of wins in the Lennytheshark free-for-all.

David Moran’s classy four-year-old ran ninth in the inaugural $2.1mil TAB Eureka as a three-year-old last year and is aiming to impress for another slot the world’s richest harness race again on September 7 at Menangle.

He is a $7 chance from outside the back row (gate 13) with rejuvenated veteran Triple Eight (gate eight, $2.90), Heza Son Of Agun (two, $4.40) and Helluva (one, $6) the key rivals.