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The Aurie’s Star Handicap is a Group 3 sprint hosted at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne every year around early August. Run over 1200m under open handicap conditions, the Aurie’s Star Handicap pays a total of $160,000 prize money.

The Aurie’s Star Handicap is one of the first group races of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival, and as a result tends to attract punting attention in excess of its status. Keep a close eye on the Aurie’s Star Handicap results, as they can provide a good indicator for later form in Group 1 races including the Manikato Stakes at The Valley that the 2017 Aurie’s Star winner Hey Doc went onto win.

More recently the 2019 Aurie’s Star Handicap winner So Si Bon, who won at 20/1, went on to run second next start in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m).

The Aurie’s Star Handicap 2020 ran on Saturday August 8, 2020 and saw jockey Damien Oliver win a record fifth time aboard the Godolphin-raced Home Of The Brave. 

Aurie’s Star Handicap
Date:	Saturday August 8, 2020
Track:	Flemington Racecourse
Distance:	1200m
Race Type:	Open Handicap
Status:	Group 3
Prize Money:	$160,000

2020 Aurie’s Star Handicap Results

• 1st: #2 Home Of The Brave
• 2nd: #5 Great Again
• 3rd: #10 Game Keeper

Jockey Damien Oliver celebrated a record fifth win in the Aurie’s Star Handicap 2020 results saluting aboard the brave James Cummings-trained Home Of The Brave ($5) who narrowly held off the beaten favourite Great Again ($4.40) and the eye-catching Game Keeper ($9).

Colour	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	2	HOME OF THE BRAVE (IRE)	James Cummings	Damien Oliver		7	59kg		$5
	2	5	GREAT AGAIN	Lindsey Smith	Declan Bates	0.75L	8	57kg		$4.40F
	3	10	GAME KEEPER	Tony & Calvin McEvoy	Damian Lane	1.15L	4	55kg		$9
	4	1	SO SI BON	Tom Dabernig & Ben Hayes	Mark Zahra	2.15L	2	60kg		$6.50
	5	7	YULONG JANUARY	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	Ben Melham	2.65L	5	56kg		$10
	6	9	HIGHTAIL	Peter & Paul Snowden	Dean Yendall	3.65L	1	55kg		$10
	7	4	WIDGEE TURF	Patrick Payne	Billy Egan	4.05L	3	57.5kg		$5.50
	8	8	TROPE	Julius Sandhu	Jye McNeil	10.05L	6	55.5kg		$12
		11	THE CRUSHA	Mark C Webb	Jamie Kah		0
		3	REYKJAVIK	Lindsey Smith	John Allen		0
		6	SIGNORE FOX	Peter & Paul Snowden	Luke Nolen		0

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

2020 Aurie’s Star Handicap Odds

Betting on the Aurie’s Star Handicap 2020 opens as soon as nominations are out the Monday of race week, the latest Aurie’s Star Handicap betting odds to be published below complete with market links to Ladbrokes.com.au.

2020 Aurie’s Star Handicap Field

Many horses come into the Aurie’s Star Handicap field off the winter lead-up races held in Melbourne including the Group 3 Sir John Monash Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield in mid-July and the Group 3 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) a fortnight later. In 2018 Voodoo Lad won the Sir John Monash Stakes – Aurie’s Star Handicap double and finished runner-up in Caulfield’s Bletchingly Stakes in between.

The 2020 Aurie’s Star Handicap field and barriers are announced the Wednesday of race week and the full list of acceptances will be available below once released.

Eleven gallopers make-up the official Aurie’s Star Handicap 2020 final field including the 60kg topweight So Si Bon drawn well in barrier three and the in-form favourite Great Again, coming off a Group 3 third in the Bletchingly Stakes, jumping from out in gate 10.

Update: #3 Reykjavik (6), #6 Signore Fox (11) and #11 The Crusha (1)  have been scratched leaving eight runners in the Aurie’s Star Handicap. Team Snowden’s Ramornie Handicap winner Signore Fox has also been withdrawn from Sydney’s Group 2 $200,000 Missile Stakes (1200m) due to a Heavy (9) Rosehill track rating today.

Click here to read more on the key horses in the 2020 Aurie’s Star Handicap field and betting market.

No	Last 10	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Penalty	Hcp Rating
1	x84644116x	SO SI BON	Tom Dabernig & Ben Hayes	Mark Zahra	3	60kg		106
2	24720×3734	HOME OF THE BRAVE (IRE)	James Cummings	Damien Oliver	9	59kg		104
3	x710x38156	REYKJAVIK	Lindsey Smith	John Allen	6	58.5kg		103
4	17x539265x	WIDGEE TURF	Patrick Payne	Billy Egan	4	57.5kg		101
5	211x0x1623	GREAT AGAIN	Lindsey Smith	Declan Bates	10	57kg		100
6	x1515x0801	SIGNORE FOX	Peter & Paul Snowden	Luke Nolen	11	56kg		98
7	2x4111124x	YULONG JANUARY	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	Ben Melham	7	56kg		98
8	72x229x00x	TROPE	Julius Sandhu	Jye McNeil	8	55.5kg		97
9	8x213x1108	HIGHTAIL	Peter & Paul Snowden	Dean Yendall	2	55kg		94
10	0x06x1111x	GAME KEEPER	Tony & Calvin McEvoy	Damian Lane	5	55kg		81
11	5x41140x32	THE CRUSHA	Mark C Webb	Jamie Kah	1	55kg		70

Table Credit: Racing Australia. 

2020 Aurie’s Star Handicap Nominations

The early Aurie’s Star Handicap 2020 nominations are taken by the VRC on the Monday of race week with the full list of entries to be announced below.

The 2020 Aurie’s Star Handicap nominations attracted a dozen hopefuls including Peter & Paul Snowden’s last start Ramornie Handicap winner at Grafton Signore Fox, last October’s Group 1 Ladbrokes Stakes champion Cape Of Good Hope and Godolphin’s veteran nine-year-old Home Of The Brave.

Click here to read more on the key Aurie’s Star Handicap 2020 nominees this season.

	Last 10	Horse	Sex	Age	Trainer	Hcp Rating
1	83x100x80x	CAPE OF GOOD HOPE (IRE)	H	5	Tom Dabernig & Ben Hayes	108
2	0x06x1111x	GAME KEEPER	G	4	Tony & Calvin McEvoy	81
3	211x0x1623	GREAT AGAIN	G	8	Lindsey Smith	100
4	8x213x1108	HIGHTAIL	G	4	Peter & Paul Snowden	94
5	24720×3734	HOME OF THE BRAVE (IRE)	G	9	James Cummings	104
6	3×56404728	MISS IANO	M	7	Mark C Webb	85
7	x710x38156	REYKJAVIK	H	6	Lindsey Smith	103
8	x1515x0801	SIGNORE FOX	H	5	Peter & Paul Snowden	98
9	x84644116x	SO SI BON	G	7	Tom Dabernig & Ben Hayes	106
10	72x229x00x	TROPE	H	5	Julius Sandhu	97
11	17x539265x	WIDGEE TURF	G	7	Patrick Payne	101
12	2x4111124x	YULONG JANUARY	G	5	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	98

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

Aurie’s Star Handicap History

The Aurie’s Star Handicap was inaugurated in 1996 as an unlisted event, with Homestead taking out the first edition of the race. In 2005, the Aurie’s Star Handicap was upgraded to a listed event and given a boost in prize money. In 2010, it was ran as a Group 3 event, however was downgraded to listed status for the 2011 edition. In 2012, the Aurie’s Star Handicap was again upgraded to Group 3 and has remained at that status since.

The Aurie’s Star Handicap was held for a year at Moonee Valley Racecourse in 2007, but is now certainly a Flemington race. Although the Aurie’s Star Handicap only has a brief history, it has played an important role in the preparation of many sprinters for the spring campaigns.

In 2020 jockey Damien Oliver won the Aurie’s Star Handicap for a record fifth time taking out the race aboard Home Of The Brave who, in 2018, ran second to the Oliver-ridden winner Voodoo Lad when debuting down under.

Notable Aurie’s Star Handicap winners include Homestead (1996), Fields Of Omagh (2002), Sports (2003), Temple Of Boom (2011) and Voodoo Lad (2018) who went on to win Perth’s Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes (1200m) later in the year.

Aurie’s Star Handicap Results

Year	Place	Horse	Time
2020 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Home Of The Brave	1 minute 10.58 seconds
	2nd	Great Again
	3rd	Game Keeper
2019 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	So Si Bon	1 minute 11.07 seconds
	2nd	Malibu Style
	3rd	Sesar
2018 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Voodoo Lad	1 minute 9.64 seconds
	2nd	Home Of The Brave
	3rd	Brave Song
2017 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Hey Doc	1 minute 9.9 seconds
	2nd	Cannyescent
	3rd	Grande Rosso
2016 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Sooboog	1 minute 10 seconds
	2nd	Dibayani
	3rd	Tashbeeh
2015 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Shiraz	1 minute 09.4 seconds
	2nd	Play Master
	3rd	Le Bonsir
2014 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Tiger Tees	1 minute 09.9 seconds
	2nd	Mr Chard
	3rd	Zamorar
2013 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Broken	1 minute 12.5 seconds
	2nd	Temple Of Boom
	3rd	Cavallo Nero
2012 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Shanghai Warrior	1 minute 11.4 seconds
	2nd	Golden Archer
	3rd	Zamorar
2011 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Temple Of Boom	1 minute 10.7 seconds
	2nd	Rekindled Interest
	3rd	Offenders
2010 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Elusive Touch	1 minute 11.1 seconds
	2nd	Leica Larrikin
	3rd	Beltrois
2009 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Mic Mac	1 minute 09.7 seconds
	2nd	All American
	3rd	El Segundo
2008 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Grand Duels	1 minute 10.5 seconds
	2nd	Stavka
	3rd	Valedictum
2007 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Monet Rules	1 minute 12.0 seconds
	2nd	Orange County
	3rd	El Segundo
2006 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Bel Danoro	1 minute 09.9 seconds
	2nd	El Segundo
	3rd	Apache Cat
2005 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Niconero	1 minute 02.8 seconds
	2nd	Valedictum
	3rd	Tszyu
2004 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	General Bayton	1 minute 11.2 seconds
	2nd	Deprave
	3rd	Via De Lago
2003 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Sports	1 minute 10.2 seconds
	2nd	Naden
	3rd	Prince Rubiton
2002 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Fields Of Omagh	1 minute 09.4 seconds
	2nd	Pindi Ridge
	3rd	Gypsy Lad
2001 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Sound The Alarm	1 minute 08.9 seconds
	2nd	Slalom
	3rd	Le Zagaletta
2000 Aurie’s Star Handicap	1st	Roktzar	1 minute 10.8 seconds
	2nd	Le Zagaletta
	3rd	Mystic Morse