Ladbrokes Tip: The Hill Stakes is good lead-up to Melbourne’s Ladbrokes Cox Plate

The Hill Stakes is a Group 2 race run on Epsom Handicap Day at Royal Randwick Racecourse in late September or early October each Sydney Spring Racing Carnival. The meeting is headlined by a trio of Group 1 spring races: the Epsom Handicap (1600m) for milers, The Metropolitan (2400m) for stayers and the Flight Stakes (1600m) for the three-year-old fillies.

Offering a lucrative $500,000 in total prize money, the Hill Stakes is contested over 2000m under weight-for-age conditions making it a nice lead-up into the Group 1 Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) run at Moonee Valley at the end of October. In 2016 the Hill Stakes winner Hartnell finished runner-up to the defending champion Winx in the Cox Plate quinella and also finished in the money when third in the Melbourne Cup over two miles on the first Tuesday of November.

The Hill Stakes – Cox Plate double however hasn’t been completed since Saintly (1996).

The latest edition of the Hill Stakes ran on Saturday October 3, 2020 and was won by last year’s Epsom champ Kolding.

2020 Hill Stakes Results

The official 2020 Hill Stakes Results & Finishing Order will be published below once the race takes place on Saturday October 3, 2020.

• 1st: #2 Kolding
• 2nd: #3 Avilius
• 3rd: #1 Fierce Impact

Trainer Chris Waller and jockey James McDonald combined to secure back-to-back wins in the Hill Stakes 2020 results, last year’s Epsom champ Kolding returning to emulate his stablemate Verry Elleegant with a win in the event on way to the $5 million Cox Plate.

Colour	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	2	KOLDING (NZ)	Chris Waller	James McDonald		2	59kg		$3.60
	2	3	AVILIUS (GB)	James Cummings	Hugh Bowman	2L	5	59kg		$6.50
	3	1	FIERCE IMPACT (JPN)	Matthew Smith	Nash Rawiller	2.2L	6	59kg		$2.30F
	4	8	DADOOZDART (GB)	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Tommy Berry	5.9L	1	59kg		$14
	5	9	THINK IT OVER	Kerry Parker	Glen Boss	7.2L	7	59kg		$26
	6	6	LIFE LESS ORDINARY (IRE)	Chris Waller	Jason Collett	7.7L	3	59kg		$26
	7	10	JUST THINKIN’	Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott	Tim Clark	9L	4	58kg		$9
	8	5	DANCETERIA (FR)	Kris Lees	Kerrin McEvoy	9.8L	8	59kg		$51
		11	VERRY ELLEEGANT (NZ)	Chris Waller			0
		7	SIR CHARLES ROAD	Lance O’Sullivan & Andrew Scott	Sam Clipperton		0
		4	FINCHE (GB)	Chris Waller			0

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

Hill Stakes Race Info

• Date: Saturday October 3, 2020
• Track: Royal Randwick
• Distance: 2000m
• Conditions: Weight-for-age
• Status: Group 2
• Prize Money: $500,000
• First Run: 1921

Hill Stakes Betting & Odds

Hill Stakes betting markets are led each year by in-form staying types with proven form at the distance and good records at Randwick.

Runners that come off a good run in a lead-up like the Chelmsford Stakes over the same track also sit high up the Hill Stakes odds. The short-priced favourites have a top record in the Hill Stakes in the past 10 years, but there has been upsets recorded by double-figure chances in betting including Preferment ($31 in 2015).

2020 Hill Stakes Odds

The updated Hill Stakes 2020 betting odds for this Epsom Handicap Day will be available right here leading up to the race so stay tuned for links to our top Hill Stakes markets.

Hill Stakes Tips

Good Hill Stakes tips to take are to look for local Sydney-trained runners with form at the track and distance.

The Chelmsford Stakes runners from earlier in the month also have a good Hill Stakes record as do the single-figure favourites. Checking the early markets for upcoming races like the Cox Plate for runners in the Hill Stakes can also be a good betting tip for the Group 2, with many Hill Stakes graduates going onto the weight-for-age classic in Melbourne a few weeks later.

2020 Hill Stakes Tips

Our Ladbrokes’ insider Hill Stakes 2020 betting tips and Randwick betting selections on the $500,000 Group 2 this spring will be detailed in full below the week of the race so stay tuned for the stayers to back and sack.

Hill Stakes Field

The Hill Stakes field attracts a quality line-up of the season’s top staying types, many heading towards the riches of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival and a target like the Cox Plate.

Gallopers in the Hill Stakes field may have come off an earlier spring run in a race like the Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) a fortnight before. In 2015 Preferment improved on a 12th in the Chelmsford to win the Hill Stakes. Complacent meanwhile won the Chelmsford Stakes in 2015 before his second in the Hill Stakes. In 2016 Hartnell completed the Chelmsford Stakes – Hill Stakes double.

Hill Stakes winner Hartnell (2016) went on to place in that year’s Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup down in Melbourne. Photo Credit: Steve Hart.

The Chelmsford Stakes also produced the 2014 Hill Stakes winner Junoob (6th), while Bagman ran third in both races. The year before (2013) Moriarty improved on a Chelmsford Stakes fourth to win the Hill Stakes, while in 2012 Lamasery won the Hill Stakes on the back of a Chelmsford Stakes third.

2020 Hill Stakes Field

The official Hill Stakes 2020 Final Field & Barrier draw will be released on the Wednesday of race week and published in full below so bookmark this page to see the spring stayers that are accepted into the half-a-million-dollar feature.

The Hill Stakes 2020 field features a small but class line-up of horses, many down in grade off a Group 1 lead-up, including last start Makybe Diva Stakes winner Fierce Impact.

• Scratchings: #4 Finche (11); #11 Verry Elleegant (10) – both run in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington instead; #7 Sir Charles Road (7).

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

Hill Stakes Form Guide

The Hill Stakes form guide features all the must know information like the jockeys, trainers, barriers and lead-up runs of the horses in the field. The Hill Stakes form has stacked up in better races many times in recent years, especially The Metropolitan, but now runs on the same day as that feature race.

The form has also held in Melbourne races later in the spring including in 2015 when Hill Stakes winner Preferment travelled to Flemington and won the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) next start over the same distance. In 2014 Hill Stakes runner-up Criterion also went to Melbourne next-up and crossed second in the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes (2000m).

2020 Hill Stakes Form Guide

A link to our comprehensive Hill Stakes 2020 Form Guide will be provided for punters below the week of the race.

Hill Stakes Results

Quality stayers have dominated the Hill Stakes results in the past decade. Notable recent Hill Stakes winners include Preferment (2015), Junoob (2014), Moriarty (2013), Descarado (2010) and Desert War (2005-06).

Hill Stakes Winners