Premiere Stakes 2023

Ladbrokes Tip: The $1 million Premiere Stakes serves as a good lead-up into the $20 million The Everest.

The Premiere Stakes is a Group 2 sprint race for quality types held at Royal Randwick Racecourse on Epsom Handicap Day in late September or early October during the Sydney Spring Racing Carnival. Epsom Handicap Day is the one of the biggest Sydney race meetings of the spring and features three Group 1 races with the running of the Epsom Handicap, The Metropolitan and the Flight Stakes.

2022 Premiere Stakes winner Lost And Running. Photo: Steve Hart.

Along with those three elite levels a host of other key events are on the card including the Premiere Stakes that runs over 1200m under weight-for-age conditions and offers a very generous $1,000,000 in total prize money as of 2022.

Many of the Premiere Stakes graduates go on to contest the Group 1 features of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival over similar distance including the Manikato Stakes at Moonee Valley, and the double was last achieved by Spark Of Life (2004). It also now serves as a final lead-up for star sprinters running in the Restricted $20 million The Everest (1200m) held back at Randwick in mid-October.

In 2020 Classique Legend improved on his Premiere Stakes second to win that year’s The Everest race.

The 2022 Premiere Stakes winner also earns a ballot exemption for the 2023 edition of the Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes held the next autumn during Sydney’s ‘The Championships’.

The 2021 Premiere Stakes form was franked with the winner Masked Crusader running second in The Everest behind Nature Strip.

Masked Crusader also run in the 2022 Premiere Stakes and finished an eye-catching third behind the favourite Lost And Running who improved on a fourth the year prior.

The latest of the $1 million Premiere Stakes took place on Saturday September 30, 2023 as a key The Everest lead-up race and saw the returning odds-on favourite Think About It ($1.85F) narrowly hold on for the punters. 

2023 Premiere Stakes Results

The official Premiere Stakes 2023 results and finishing order will be detailed below once the race is run and won on Saturday September 30, 2023.

2023 Premiere Stakes winner Think About It ran a good The Everest trial ahead of the $20 million feature on October 14. Photo: Steve Hart.

• 1st: #2 Think About It
• 2nd: #6 Hawaii Five Oh
• 3rd: #9 Bella Nipotina

Joe Pride’s returning Kingsford Smith Cup / Stradbroke Handicap double winner from the winter, Think About It ($1.85F), was brave first-up narrowly holding on for the punters to win the 2023 Premiere Stakes results ahead of the fast-finishing Hawaii Five Oh who is now looking to join Think About It as a confirmed The Everest contender in the $20 million event on October 14.

2023 Premiere Stakes Odds

The updated Premiere Stakes 2023 betting odds and links to our markets on the lucrative Group 2 Epsom Handicap Day sprint feature will be provided below the week of the race so stay tuned for the top Randwick racing odds online.

Premiere Stakes Race Info

• Date: Saturday September 30, 2023
• Track: Royal Randwick Racecourse
• Distance: 1200m
• Conditions: Weight-for-age
• Status: Group 2
• Prize Money: $1,000,000
• First Run: 1972

Premiere Stakes Betting

Premiere Stakes odds favour proven Sydney runners with good form from the winter or a lead-up win in a local race like The Shorts at the same track earlier in the month.

Runners in the top half of the Premiere Stakes betting market have a strong strike-rate in the race over the past decade and tipping the favourite has proven a winning formula many times in recent years.

Masked Crusader ($2.50 in 2021), Lost And Running ($2.25 in 2022) and Think About It ($1.85 in 2023) are the last Premiere Stakes betting favourites to get the job done.

Premiere Stakes Tips

Good Premiere Stakes tips to consider include looking for proven performers at the Randwick track, sprinters with good form over the 1200m distance and local hopes coming off a lead-up run in The Shorts.

Mares also have a decent recent record in the race with wins by the likes of Red Tracer (2012), Arinosa (2013), In Her Time (2017) and Libertini (2020) so tipping the in-form mares is another Premiere Stakes betting tip.

Checking the form of races like The Shorts and the early The Everest betting markets for any horses in the Premiere Stakes field is also a nice tip to take to the bookies on Epsom Day.

2023 Premiere Stakes Tips

Our Ladbrokes’ insider Premiere Stakes 2023 betting tips and Randwick racing selections will be detailed below the week of the race so bookmark this page for the spring sprinters to get behind at the best price this season.

• To Win: #2 Think About It ($2.15 at time of publish) – BET NOW

Tipping a winning return from Joe Pride’s confirmed The Everest contender Think About It who is deserving favourite to salute in the traditional lead-up fresh at a near odds-on quote. The ultra-consistent So You Think five-year-old boasts an impressive nine wins from 10 starts to date. His latest two in the winter produced back-to-back Group 1 wins in Brisbane when completing the Kingsford-Smith Cup – Stradbroke Handicap double. He has a flawless three-from-three first-up record, looked the goods in a couple of recent trials, is a two-time Randwick winner from as many starts, and also has a 100% strike-rate at the distance. These are imposing stats. He’s a star and think he’ll continue to prove that here on way to the world’s richest turf race on October 14.

Premiere Stakes Field

The Premiere Stakes race field attracts the season’s most promising local Sydney sprinters and interstate runners from Melbourne warming up for the Group 1 spring sprints.

Horses often come off a lead-up run at Randwick in the Group 2 The Shorts (1100m) and in 2015 The Shorts winner Rebel Dane ran second in the Premiere Stakes next start. Rebel Dane also went on to run third at Moonee Valley in the Group 1 Manikato Stakes (1200m) later that month. The following year Takedown (2016) completed The Shorts – Premiere Stakes double.

The Shorts form also held up in 2014 when Famous Seamous improved on his third to win the Premiere Stakes, which he had run third in the previous year. In 2012 Satin Shoes ran second in both The Shorts and the Premiere Stakes.

More recently, the 2018 Premiere Stakes winner Santa Ana Lane went on to win that year’s Group 1 VRC Sprint Classic (1200m).

In 2021 Masked Crusader atoned for a lead-up fifth in The Shorts to win the Premiere Stakes before a second in The Everest results, while in 2022 Lost And Running won the Premiere Stakes on the back of third in that year’s The Shorts results.

Premiere Stakes winner Takedown (2016) went on to win that year’s Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes in Perth. Photo Credit: Steve Hart.

The Premiere Stakes nominations are taken the Monday before the race runs on the Saturday with the final field of acceptances and barriers out on the Wednesday followed by the odds opening at bookmakers around the country.

2023 Premiere Stakes Field

The official Premiere Stakes 2023 field and barriers are set for release on the Wednesday leading-up to Epsom Handicap Day 2023 and will be listed below so stay tuned to see the sprinters that make the line-up, including a host of early The Everest contenders.

The 2023 Premiere Stakes final field features a smart line-up of The Everest hopefuls led by the returning Group 1 Kingsford-Smith Cup – Stradbroke double winner Think About It chasing his impressive 10th win from 11 career starts.

2023 Premiere Stakes Nominations

The early Premiere Stakes 2023 nominations are taken on the Monday leading-up to Epsom Handicap Day with the list of original entries to be published below.

The 2023 Premiere Stakes nominations have been extended until 11am on Tuesday with 14 early entries for The Everest lead-up led in all-in betting by Joe Pride’s returning Kingsford-Smith Cup – Stradbroke Handicap double winner Think About It.

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

Premiere Stakes Form Guide

The Premiere Stakes form guide lists all the crucial information and statistics from the jockeys and barriers to the track / distance records of the runners in the field.

In recent years the Premiere Stakes form has stacked up in tougher spring races including in 2015 when the winner Rebel Dane ran third in the Group 1 Darley Classic (1200m) – now known as the Champions Sprint – at Flemington two runs later during the Melbourne Cup Carnival. The Premiere Stakes – VRC Sprint Classic (Darley Classic) double was last completed by Santa Ana Lane (2019). In 2020 the Premiere Stakes winner went on to run third in that year’s VRC Sprint Classic results.

Also keep an eye on the Premiere Stakes form guide for The Shorts graduates who will appreciate the extra 100m and those proven at the Royal Randwick track.

Mazu franked the 2022 Premiere Stakes form with the runner-up finishing third in The Everest that year and second in the $3 million Winners Stakes. He also returned in the autumn of 2023 and was third in the TJ Smith Stakes.

2023 Premiere Stakes Form Guide

A link to our comprehensive Premiere Stakes 2023 Form Guide will be available for punters below the week of the race.

Premiere Stakes Results

The Premiere Stakes race results have been dominated by Sydney sprinters coming out of The Shorts in the past decade as well as the quality mares taking on the boys in the Group 2.

Notable recent Premiere Stakes winners include Think About It (2023), Lost And Running (2022), Masked Crusader (2021), Santa Ana Lane (2017), Terravista (2015), Famous Seamus (2014), Red Tracer (2012), and Hot Danish (2010).

Libertini (2020) was the last Premiere Stakes winning mare.

Integra (1990) was the last Premiere Stakes winning three-year-old.

Santa Ana Lane holds the current Premiere Stakes race record winning over 1200m in 2018 in a time of 1 minute 07:45 seconds.

Past Premiere Stakes Winners

Recent Premiere Stakes winners and place-getters dating back to the year 2000 are detailed in the below table.