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The Hill Stakes is a Group 2 weight-for-age race held at Sydney’s Randwick Racecourse in late September or early October and now offers an impressive $2 million in total prize money as of 2023.

Ahead of the 2023 edition the Hill Stakes distance was dropped from 2000m to 1900m with the event now taking place at Rosehill Gardens on its own feature race meeting.

The event makes a nice race for spring staying types starting to warm-up towards a possible Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival bid and a target race like the Group 1 $5 million Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley at the end of October. Saintly (1996), however, was the last horse to do the Hill Stakes – Cox Plate double.

Horses may come into the Hill Stakes field via a lead-up run in the Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) at Randwick – a double recently completed by Trusting (2011),  Hartnell (2016) and Think It Over (2021). Hartnell went on to run second to superstar mare Winx in the Cox Plate results of 2016 and third in that year’s Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m).

The Group 1 George Main Stakes previously served as a lead-up and Kolding (2020) was the last horse to complete the George Main Stakes –  Hill Stakes double, while in 2021 Think It Over improved on George Main third to win the Hill Stakes. In 2023 the George Main Stakes was moved to later in the month and renamed the King Charles III Stakes.

The Hill Stakes is also one of four lead-up races that offers a $500,000 bonus to any horse that can win it plus Rosehill’s $750,000 Rosehill Gold Cup (2000m) on Golden Eagle Day. Think It Over (2021) was the latest horse to complete the Hill Stakes – Rosehill Gold Cup double.

Think It Over further franked the form out of the 2021 Hill Stakes enjoying an outstanding autumn the following year including his Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) success at 40/1 in 2022.

The 2021 Hill Stakes form was franked with the winner Cascadian continuing his spring campaign with a next-up win as the odds-on favourite in the Group 3 Craven Plate on Caulfield Cup Day. He would return the following autumn and run second in the All-Star Mile before winning the Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington in 2023.

This spring the $2 million Hill Stakes 2023 ran on Saturday October 7, 2023 over 1900m at Rosehill Gardens and was won by class Group 1 mare Montefilia ($3.40F) who saluted for the punters with a swooping run. 

2023 Hill Stakes
Date:	Saturday October 7, 2023
Track:	Rosehill Racecourse
Distance:	1900m
Race Type:	Weight-for-age
Status:	Group 2
Prize Money:	$2,000,000

2023 Hill Stakes Results

• 1st: #11 Montefilia ($3.40F)
• 2nd: #7 Hoo Ya Mal
• 3rd: #6 Protagonist

The now Chris Waller-trained Kermadec mare Montefilia ($3.40F) sliced into the clear a furlong out from the line before coming home with a swooping late run to salute for the punters in the 2023 Hill Stakes results and return to winning form for the first time since the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes in March of 2022.

	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	11	MONTEFILIA	Chris Waller	Nash Rawiller		2	57kg		$3.40F
	2	7	HOO YA MAL (GB)	Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott	Adam Hyeronimus	0.52L	6	59kg		$4.80
	3	6	PROTAGONIST (FR)	Kris Lees	Dylan Gibbons (a)	0.87L	1	59kg		$6.50
	4	2	ZEYREK (FR)	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Tommy Berry	1.94L	7	59kg		$9.50
	5	5	NO COMPROMISE (NZ)	Chris Waller	Tyler Schiller	2.07L	14	59kg		$61
	6	3	YOUNG WERTHER (NZ)	Danny O’Brien	Billy Egan	2.56L	12	59kg		$15
	7	12	HINGED	Chris Waller	Brett Prebble	2.68L	5	57kg		$13
	8	4	LUNCIES (GB)	Kris Lees	Tim Clark	2.89L	3	59kg		$51
	9	1	NUMERIAN (IRE)	Annabel Neasham	Ryan Maloney	3.5L	13	59kg		$16
	10	8	SKY LAB	Paul Perry	Ms Kathy O’Hara	3.73L	4	59kg		$26
	11	13	MAGICAL LAGOON (IRE)	Chris Waller	Kerrin McEvoy	4.06L	9	57kg		$91
	12	14	FIREBURN	Gary Portelli	Jason Collett	5.26L	11	56kg		$15
	13	10	MOUNT POPA (IRE)	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Koby Jennings	6.75L	10	59kg		$201
	14	9	HOSIER (IRE)	Mark Minervini	Ms Rachel King	7.2L	8	59kg		$21
		16e	IRONCLAD (GB)	Will Clarken & Niki O’Shea			0
		15e	HEZASHOCKA (NZ)	Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr)	Zac Lloyd (a)		0

Table Credit: Racing Australia. 

2023 Hill Stakes Betting

Hill Stakes betting is traditionally led by gallopers coming off an earlier Sydney run in races held over the Randwick mile.

The latest Hill Stakes 2023 odds and betting links to the markets at Ladbrokes.com.au will be available below as soon as released.

Think It Over ($1.75 in 2021) and Montefilia ($3.40 in 2023) are the latest favourites in Hill Stakes betting to salute for the punters.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST 2023 HILL STAKES ODDS (Final Field)

2023 Hill Stakes Tips

Stay tuned for our insider Hill Stakes 2023 Tips on the potential Group 1-bound gallopers to back and sack in the $2 million showdown.

• To Win: #11 Montefilia ($3.80 at time of publish) – BET NOW

Open edition of the now very lucrative Hill Stakes and it has been a long time between drinks for the favourite Montefilia. Still, after her eye-catching run last time out the now Chris Waller-trained Kermadec mare looks like she could be ready to return to winning form. We have to go back to March 22 to find her last victory when defeating Melbourne Cup winning mare Verry Elleegant home in the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes (2000m) at the Rosehill track in the wet. She ran third to Cascadian in this race last year over the 2000m before a Caulfield Cup fourth. It is 1900m this year and she has the Spring Cups in sight again. Strong autumn included Group 1 seconds in the Ranvet and Tancred here. Right track, distance may be a little short, but she is fourth-up and rock hard fit. Big run when third to Just Fine in the Group 3 Kingston Town back on September 16. That form was franked with the winner proving all class to salute in the Group 1 The Metropolitan last weekend. Now it is Montefilia’s turn.

2023 Hill Stakes Form

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL 2023 HILL STAKES FORM GUIDE

2023 Hill Stakes Field

The Hill Stakes field attracts a quality line-up of gallopers each spring, many of which head south later during the carnival to contest the Melbourne majors like the Cox Plate.

The official 2023 Hill Stakes field of final acceptances and barrier draw will be released on the Wednesday leading-up to the race and will be published in full below.

The Hill Stakes 2023 final field features a bumper line-up of Caulfield and Melbourne Cup bound stayers led in betting by last year’s third placed mare Montefilia.

Click here to read more on the key runners in the 2023 Hill Stakes field and betting markets.

No	Last 10	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Probable Weight	Penalty	Hcp Rating
1	50x426256x	NUMERIAN (IRE)	Annabel Neasham	Ryan Maloney	15	59kg			110
2	x121735x45	ZEYREK (FR)	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Tommy Berry	7	59kg			107
3	6746×40311	YOUNG WERTHER (NZ)	Danny O’Brien	Billy Egan	14	59kg			106
4	22x22418x9	LUNCIES (GB)	Kris Lees	Tim Clark	3	59kg			105
5	07x20480x4	NO COMPROMISE (NZ)	Chris Waller	Tyler Schiller	16	59kg			105
6	102x100x24	PROTAGONIST (FR)	Kris Lees	Dylan Gibbons (a)	1	59kg			105
7	3223180×57	HOO YA MAL (GB)	Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott	Adam Hyeronimus	6	59kg			104
8	x67521x405	SKY LAB	Paul Perry	Ms Kathy O’Hara	4	59kg			103
9	0x6x824193	HOSIER (IRE)	Mark Minervini	Ms Rachel King	8	59kg			101
10	3x9x0050x8	MOUNT POPA (IRE)	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Koby Jennings	10	59kg			101
11	0x5229x863	MONTEFILIA	Chris Waller	Nash Rawiller	2	57kg			113
12	8x26844x40	HINGED	Chris Waller	Brett Prebble	5	57kg			108
13	115x0x06x9	MAGICAL LAGOON (IRE)	Chris Waller	Kerrin McEvoy	9	57kg			104
14	x694341x88	FIREBURN	Gary Portelli	Jason Collett	11	56kg			101
15e	3x05420x80	HEZASHOCKA (NZ)	Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr)	Zac Lloyd (a)	12	59kg			101
16e	402369×901	IRONCLAD (GB)	Will Clarken & Niki O’Shea		13	59kg			100

Table Credit: Racing Australia. 

2023 Hill Stakes Nominations

The early Hill Stakes nominations for 2023 close the Monday of race week and will be listed in full below once announced by Racing NSW.

The 2023 Hill Stakes nominations attracted a bumper line-up of potential Spring Cups-bound staying types led in all-in betting by the likes of Chris Waller’s Queen Of The Turf Stakes winning mare Atishu and the Edward Cummings-trained Duais who caught the eye with a last start third in Melbourne’s Group 1 Underwood Stakes (1800m) behind Alligator Blood.

	Last 10	Horse	Sex	Age	Trainer	Ballot	Weight	True Weight	Penalty	Hcp Rating
1	291x2570x4	GOLD TRIP (FR)	H	7	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	1	59kg			115
2	0x5229x863	MONTEFILIA	M	6	Chris Waller	2	57kg			113
3	23x216Px52	ATISHU (NZ)	M	6	Chris Waller	3=	57kg			111
4	880x43x793	DUAIS	M	6	Edward Cummings	3=	57kg			111
5	50x426256x	NUMERIAN (IRE)	G	8	Annabel Neasham	5	59kg			110
6	3x3x907x00	EL BODEGON (IRE)	G	5	Chris Waller	6=	59kg			109
7	42x1442x36	HOPE IN YOUR HEART	M	5	Kerry Parker	6=	57kg			109
8	8x26844x40	HINGED	M	5	Chris Waller	8	57kg			108
9	x121735x45	ZEYREK (FR)	G	7	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	9	59kg			107
10	1111121×25	RIGHT YOU ARE	G	7	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	10=	59kg			106
11	6746×40311	YOUNG WERTHER (NZ)	G	6	Danny O’Brien	10=	59kg			106
12	x51761x573	OSIPENKO (NZ)	H	4	Chris Waller	10=	58kg			106
13	22x22418x9	LUNCIES (GB)	G	7	Kris Lees	13=	59kg			105
14	07x20480x4	NO COMPROMISE (NZ)	G	7	Chris Waller	13=	59kg			105
15	102x100x24	PROTAGONIST (FR)	G	7	Kris Lees	13=	59kg			105
16	52x131x8x0	DUKE DE SESSA (IRE)	H	5	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	16=	59kg			104
17	3223180×57	HOO YA MAL (GB)	G	5	Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott	16=	59kg			104
18	115x0x06x9	MAGICAL LAGOON (IRE)	M	5	Chris Waller	16=	57kg			104
19	x67521x405	SKY LAB	G	6	Paul Perry	19=	59kg			103
20	x51210x048	LINDERMANN	H	4	Chris Waller	19=	58kg			103
21	3x05420x80	HEZASHOCKA (NZ)	G	6	Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr)	21=	59kg			101
22	0x6x824193	HOSIER (IRE)	G	7	Mark Minervini	21=	59kg			101
23	3x9x0050x8	MOUNT POPA (IRE)	G	9	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	21=	59kg			101
24	x694341x88	FIREBURN	M	4	Gary Portelli	21=	56kg			101
25	402369×901	IRONCLAD (GB)	G	8	Will Clarken & Niki O’Shea	25	59kg			100
26	13183×4602	MISSION PHOENIX	G	7	Joseph Pride	26	59kg			90

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

Hill Stakes History

First held in 1921 and won by Beauford, the Hill Stakes was originally a 10 furlong race which was then changed to 1750m up until 1990 and again in 2001. In 2011 the race began to be run over 2000m. The race was not held in 2007 however there have been plenty of double winners in this event including Phar Lap.

In 2021 the Hill Stakes prize money was doubled to $1 million in stakes.

Hill Stakes double winners: Desert War (2005-06), Toi Port (1963-64), Redcraze (1956-57), Hydrogen (1952-53), Yaralla (1942-43), Gold Rod (1938-39), Chatham (1933-34), Peter Pan III (1932, 35), Phar Lap (1930-31), Limerick (1927-28), and The Hawk (1923,25).

In 2023 the Hill Stakes was moved from Randwick over 2000m to Rosehill over 1900m with stakes increased to an impressive $2 million.

Recent Hill Stakes Winners

Year	Place	Horse	Time
2023 Hill Stakes	1st	Montefilia	1 minute 55.88 seconds (Held over 1900m)
	2nd	Hoo Ya Mal
	3rd	Protagonist
2022 Hill Stakes	1st	Cascadian	2 minutes 6.61 seconds
	2nd	Numerian
	3rd	Montefilia
2021 Hill Stakes	1st	Think It Over	2 minutes 3.12 seconds
	2nd	Shared Ambition
	3rd	Cepheus
2020 Hill Stakes	1st	Kolding	2 minutes 1.26 seconds
	2nd	Avilius
	3rd	Fierce Impact
2019 Hill Stakes	1st	Verry Elleegant	2 minutes 5.03 seconds
	2nd	Samadoubt
	3rd	Life Less Ordinary
2018 Hill Stakes	1st	Ace High	2 minute 2.57 seconds
	2nd	It’s Somewhat
	3rd	Egg Tart
2017 Hill Stakes	1st	Classic Uniform	1 minute 49.98 seconds (over 1800m)
	2nd	Embley
	3rd	Mackintosh
2016 Hill Stakes	1st	Hartnell	2 minutes 4.11 seconds
	2nd	Who Shot Thebarman
	3rd	Storm The Stars
2015 Hill Stakes	1st	Preferment	2 minutes 6.81 seconds
	2nd	Magic Hurricane
	3rd	Complacent
2014 Hill Stakes	1st	Junoob	2 minutes 6.12 seconds
	2nd	Criterion
	3rd	Bagman
2013 Hill Stakes	1st	Moriarty	2 minutes 3.62 seconds
	2nd	Glencadam Gold
	3rd	Masked Marvel
2012 Hill Stakes	1st	Lamasery	2 minutes 6.25 seconds
	2nd	Mourayan
	3rd	Lights Of Heaven
2011 Hill Stakes	1st	Trusting	2 minutes 2.93 seconds
	2nd	Hawk Island
	3rd	Tullamore
2010 Hill Stakes	1st	Descarado	1 minute 56.48 seconds
	2nd	Triple Honour
	3rd	Purple
2009 Hill Stakes	1st	Miss Marielle	1 minute 56.13 seconds
	2nd	Pacino
	3rd	Roman Emperor
2008 Hill Stakes	1st	Fiumicino	1 minute 57.38 seconds
	2nd	Dealer Principal
	3rd	Hurrah
2007 Hill Stakes	Race Not Held
2006 Hill Stakes	1st	Desert War	1 minute 56.28 seconds
	2nd	Eremein
	3rd	Grand Zulu
2005 Hill Stakes	1st	Desert War	1 minute 56.67 seconds
	2nd	Portland Singa
	3rd	Dizelle
2004 Hill Stakes	1st	Natural Blitz	1 minute 56.62 seconds
	2nd	Vouvray
	3rd	Just Polite
2003 Hill Stakes	1st	Excellerator	1 minute 56.84 seconds
	2nd	Platinum Scissors
	3rd	Carnegie Express
2002 Hill Stakes	1st	Dress Circle	1 minute 56.63 seconds
	2nd	Bedouin
	3rd	Republic Lass
2001 Hill Stakes	1st	Mulan Princess	1 minute 47.02 seconds
	2nd	Altiero
	3rd	Dottoressa
2000 Hill Stakes	1st	Pasta Express	1 minute 57.83 seconds
	2nd	Pravda
	3rd	Padfoot Charlie