2008 Australian Guineas

The Australian Guineas is a three-year-old set weight race over 1600 metres run by the Victoria Racing Club. The race is held in March or February each year at Flemington during the autumn.

Race Type: Group 1 3YO SW
Distance: 1600m
Track: Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Victoria

The first Australian Guineas was run in 1986, making it a relatively new race. It is Set Weights over 1600m with a 2.5kg allowance for fillies. In 1986 it was a Group 3 race and the inaugural winner was the class horse True Version. From 1987 on it has been a Group 1 race. In 1998 the Cadbury Australian Guineas became the third leg of the inaugural Australian Triple Crown for Three Year Olds and was ran over 2000m on Australian Cup Day in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

In 2001 the Guineas reverted to its original distance and date of mid-February. In 1995 there was a re-structure of VRC autumn metropolitan race dates and programs, and the 2005 Cadbury Australian Guineas was run on Newmarket Handicap day as part of the VRC’s Super Saturday, which is the first day of the Flemington Festival of Racing, and this format is intended to remain in the future.

Prizemoney for the race is $750,000 and in 2007 it was run at Caulfield, as Flemington track was being reconstructed. In March 2008 it was won by Light Fantastic who had gone from a maiden to a Group 1 winner in a space of 33 days. Past winners include many quality horses including King’s High (1989), Triscay (1991), Mahogany (1994) and Miss Finland (2007).

It is interesting that the fastest time is held jointly by two horses 14 years apart – Apache Cat (2006) and Jolly Old Mac (1992).