The Ingham (Villiers Stakes) 2024

The Ingham winner earns a ballot exemption into the next year’s Doncaster Mile field! 

The Villiers Stakes – now known as The Ingham – is an end-of-year Group 2 Sydney showdown run in early to mid-December at Royal Randwick Racecourse.

The Summer Racing Carnival in Sydney features a number of top stakes races including the newly revamped The Ingham Stakes, which is the headline event at the meeting that also features the Listed Razor Sharp Handicap (1200m), Listed ATC Cup (2000m) for staying types, and the Restricted Listed $500,000 Inglis Nursery (1000m).

Brutality (2021) was the last Villiers Stakes winner before the event was renamed The Ingham in 2022. Photo: Steve Hart.

The Ingham now offers now $2 million in prize money after a huge boost in 2022 from $750,000, is contested over 1600m and is an open handicap clash.

Winners of the race often go on to perform well in the next year’s Sydney and Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival features and The Ingham winner earns a ballot exemption for the next year’s Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) at the same track and distance.

The last Villiers Stakes winner to finish in the money in the following year’s Doncaster Mile was upset champ Sense Of Occasion (2016) who took out the Group 2 at $31 odds before a third to It’s Somewhat in the 2017 Doncaster two runs later at an even bigger price.

The latest edition of The Ingham ran on Saturday December 14, 2024 offering $2 million in prize money and was won in a close upset by the Bjorn Baker-trained Robusto ($26) who earned a ballot exemption for the 2025 Doncaster Mile on April 5, 2025. 

2024 The Ingham Results

• 1st: #16 Robusto
• 2nd: #9 Steparty
• 3rd: #7 Encap

The Bjorn Baker-trained Churchill five-year-old Robusto ($26) poked through a furlong out from the line before showing plenty of fight in an exciting finish to narrowly deny Steparty victory with a narrow upset in the 2024 The Ingham results.

2024 The Ingham Odds

The latest The Ingham 2024 betting odds and Sydney summer racing carnival market links will be available below as soon as released so stay tuned for the best prices on your The Ingham selections.

The Ingham Race Facts

• Former Race Name: Villiers Stakes
• Date: Saturday December 14, 2024
• Track: Royal Randwick Racecourse
• Distance: 1600m
• Conditions: 3YO&Up – Quality Handicap
• Status: Group 2
• Prize Money: $2 million
• First Run: 1892

The Ingham Betting

Horses under $10 The Ingham betting had a strong recent record including the back-to-back wins by the favourites Sky Boy ($3.20 in 2018) and Quackerjack ($3.80 in 2019) in the mile showdown.

There have been a number of upsets however with the latest winners to salute at double-figures odds being All Legal ($17 in 2012), Sense Of Occasion ($31 in 2016), Kirwan’s Lane ($21) who defeated his even longer-priced stablemate Lion’s Roar ($51) in The Ingham 2022 quinella, Loch Eagle ($18) who just made the field as the third emergency, and Robusto ($26 in 2024).

The Ingham odds favour the in-form end-of-spring types getting in on the lower weights.

The Ingham Tips

Top The Ingham tips include backing the season’s Festival Stakes graduates that are backing up in the Group 3, proven performers over the Randwick mile and the better weighted runners in the handicap clash.

Robusto (2nd in 2024) was the last Festival Stakes graduate to win The Ingham next start.

Favourites didn’t have the best strike rate in the race over the past decade, so looking at in-form runners further down the markets was a good Ingham Stakes betting tip until the successive wins by Sky Boy (2018) and Quackerjack (2019) for the punters.

When doing The Ingham tips it is also crucial to back the boys over the girls with Dances On Waves (2010) was the last mare to salute before the 2020 success of Greysful Glamour a decade later, while Monton (58kg) is the only horse to have carried more than 54.5kg to victory since Utzon (57.5kg in 2006).

2024 The Ingham Tips

Our Ladbrokes’ insider The Ingham 2024 betting tips and Sydney summer racing selections will be detailed below the week of the race so bookmark this page for the runners to back in the $2 million clash this December.

Hard to knock the deserving Ciaron Maher trained favourite Gringotts chasing a hat-trick. The Kiwi bred five-year-old carries a bit of weight with 60.5kg but was so good last time out with 60kg from barrier 14 of 16 at Kembla Grange to claim The Gong over this distance by nearly a length. Tommy Berry retains the ride and they’ll get a sweet run on Saturday from gate seven. $3 million Big Dance winner two back at the Randwick track from gate 19 so is versatile and in flying form. Is a mile specialist boasting a flawless four-from-four record at the 1600m, loves the course (4:2-1-0), and is going great guns. Wins again.

The Ingham Field

The Ingham race field – formerly the Villiers Stakes field – is made up of promising end-of-season milers that have had a freshen-up off a spring campaign or that missed the spring majors in favour of a later summer – autumn campaign.

One of the premier Sydney Summer Racing Carnival clashes, the field features a host of gallopers coming off a lead-up run in the Festival Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill a fortnight earlier with the winner of that race exempt from ballot for The Ingham.

In 2015 It’s Somewhat placed in both the Festival Stakes (2nd) and Villiers Stakes (3rd). The previous year the Festival Stakes winner I’m Imposing finished second to Rudy in the 2014 Villiers Stakes. Also, in 2014 Strawberry Boy ran third in both the Festival Stakes and Villiers Stakes.

More recently, in 2021 Brutality ran second to Ellsberg in the Festival Stakes before winning the Villiers Stakes two starts later with Ellsberg finishing second in the Randwick mile feature that was subsequently renamed The Ingham the following year.

Upset 2022 The Ingham winner Kirwan’s Lane improved on a lead-up third in the Festival Stakes that summer to win the $2 million feature.

Runners in The Ingham field may also be on the quick back-up off a lead-up run the Saturday prior in Brisbane’s Group 3 George Moore Stakes (1200m).

Graduates often back-up in either the Sydney or Gold Coast Boxing Day races on December 26 like the Group 3 Summer Cup (2000m) at Randwick won in 2014 by the runner-up I’m Imposing.

The Villiers Stakes – Summer Cup double hasn’t been completed since Aqua D’Amore (2005), but in 2023 Lion’s Roar improved on a The Ingham third to win that year’s Summer Cup at his next start.  

The Ingham nominations close the Monday of race week with the final field of acceptances and barrier draw out on the Wednesday.

2024 The Ingham Field

The official The Ingham 2024 Final Field & Barrier Draw will be available below as soon as announced by Racing NSW so stay tuned to see what summer milers make the starting line-up in the lucrative Group 2 showdown.

The Ingham 2024 final field features a capacity line-up of milers led in betting by the Ciaron Maher trained Gringotts coming off wins in the Big Dance and The Gong at his latest two.

2024 The Ingham Nominations

The official The Ingham 2024 Nominations will be provided below once early entries for the $2 million summer showdown are taken the Monday of race week.

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

The Ingham Form Guide

The Villiers Stakes form guide – now known as The Ingham form guide – lists all the need-to-know information like the jockeys, trainers, barriers, track / distance records and lead-up runs of the milers in the Group 2 race field. In recent seasons the form has stacked up the following autumn in the Group 1 features.

In 2016 the upset Villiers Stakes winner Sense Of Occasion went on to run third in both the Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) and Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick the following April during Sydney’s The Championships.

The year before Happy Clapper (2015) won the Villiers Stakes before a second in the following season’s Doncaster Mile and third to super mare Winx in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Happy Clapper also ran second in the 2017 Doncaster Mile and that September’s George Main Stakes before a win in the Epsom Handicap over the Randwick mile and subsequent Group 1 second during the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

The 2021 Villiers Stakes form was franked with the runner-up Ellsberg returning in 2022 for a stellar season that included a Group 1 dead-heat win in the Epsom Handicap before his Five Diamonds Prelude – $2 million Five Diamonds double.

The 2022 Villiers Stakes third placegetter Atishu franked the form winning two Group 1s the following year taking out the Queen Of The Turf Stakes in the autumn of 2023 and the Champions Stakes over 2000m at Flemington during the 2023 Melbourne Cup Carnival.

2024 The Ingham Form Guide

A link to our comprehensive The Ingham 2024 Form Guide will be available right here the week of the race.

Villiers Stakes / The Ingham Results

The Villiers Stakes / The Ingham race results have been dominated in the past decade by Sydney gallopers coming off a lead-up run in the Festival Stakes.

Notable recent winners include Happy Clapper (2015), Ninth Legion (2013), Monton (2011), and Dances On Waves (2010).

In 2016 Sense Of Occasion ($31) became the longest-priced Villiers Stakes winner in the past decade.

In 2020 the Villiers Stakes winner Greysful Glamour won in a race record time of 1 minute 33.47 seconds.

From 2022 the successful horses in the former Villiers Stakes race are known as The Ingham winners.

Past Villiers Stakes / The Ingham Winners

Recent Villiers Stakes / The Ingham winners and placegetters dating back to the year 2000 are detailed in the below table.

FAQ

Who won the 2024 The Ingham?

The 2024 The Ingham was won by Robusto at $26 for trainer Bjorn Baker and jockey Tim Clark.

When is The Ingham 2024?

What is the prize money for The Ingham 2024?

$2,000,000

Where is The Ingham 2024?

Randwick Racecourse, Alison Rd, Randwick NSW 2031.