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The Craven Plate is a Group 3 staying event hosted by the Australian Turf Club (ATC) at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.

Held towards the end of the Sydney Spring Racing Carnival on a Saturday in mid-October, the Craven Plate is an exciting 2000m test which provides local stayers with a final run over a decent distance before heading to Victoria for the major feature days of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival.

The Craven Plate is raced under weight for age conditions and pays a lucrative $500,000 prize money as the key support act at the meeting now headlined by the country’s newest and richest race – the $15 million The Everest (1200m).

Previously held a fortnight early on Epsom Handicap Day, the Craven Plate provides a crucial lead-up for gallopers eyeing a run down south in a race like the Group 1 Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) the following weekend in Melbourne.

The Craven Plate is also one of four lead-up races that offers a $500,000 bonus to any horse that can win it plus Rosehill’s $500,000 Rosehill Gold Cup (2000m) on Golden Eagle Day. In 2019 the Craven Plate runner-up Tally went on to win the inaugural edition of the Rosehill Gold Cup.

This 2020 Craven Plate ran on Saturday October 17, 2020 and was won in an upset by Think It Over.

Craven Plate 2020
Date:	Saturday October 17, 2020
Track:	Royal Randwick Racecourse
Distance:	2000m
Race Type:	Weight-For-Age
Status:	Group 3
Prize Money:	$500,000

2020 Craven Plate Results

• 1st: #7 Think It Over
• 2nd: #8 Nettoyer
• 3rd: #11 Vanna Girl

A peach of a ride from big race specialist Glen Boss saw the Kerry Parker-trained Think It Over ($15) score a well-deserved win at big odds in the 2020 Craven Plate results.

Colour	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	7	THINK IT OVER	Kerry Parker	Glen Boss		1	59kg		$15
	2	8	NETTOYER	Wendy Roche	Nash Rawiller	1.3L	3	57kg		$18
	3	11	VANNA GIRL	Toby & Trent Edmonds	Kerrin McEvoy	1.6L	4	56kg		$5.50
	4	10	SCARLET DREAM	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Tommy Berry	1.8L	2	57kg		$15
	5	6	MORTON’S FORK	Richard Litt	Tom Sherry (a)	2.8L	6	59kg		$201
	6	4	LIFE LESS ORDINARY (IRE)	Chris Waller	Jason Collett	2.9L	9	59kg		$21
	7	12	QUINTESSA	Mark Newnham	Joshua Parr	3.1L	7	56kg		$8.50
	8	9	RONDINELLA (NZ)	John O’Shea	Ms Rachel King	3.3L	10	57kg		$13
	9	2	STAR OF THE SEAS (NZ)	Chris Waller	James McDonald	3.5L	5	59kg		$2.30F
	10	3	THE CANDY MAN	Peter & Paul Snowden	Tim Clark	6.7L	8	59kg		$10
		1	AVILIUS (GB)	James Cummings	Kerrin McEvoy		0
		5	LOOKS LIKE ELVIS	Jarrod Austin			0

Table Credit: Racing Australia. 

2020 Craven Plate Betting

The full Craven Plate 2020 betting odds available online on the Craven Plate field through Ladbrokes.com.au will be provided for race fans below as soon as announced.

2020 Craven Plate Field

The Craven Plate field attracts an increasingly high quality of spring stayers thanks to the boosted prize money on offer and its positioning on The Everest Day, now host to the richest race run on turf.

Horses may come into the Craven Plate field via a lead-up run in a race like the Group 1 Epsom Handicap (1600m) at the track a fortnight earlier or the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington. Other good lead-up races into the Craven Plate include the Group 2 Hill Stakes (1800m) on Epsom Handicap Day or the Group 1 Underwood Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield the Sunday after the Epsom. Moriarty (2014) and Classic Uniform (2017) are the latest horses to complete the Hill Stakes – Craven Plate double. In 2015 Complacent improved on a Hill Stakes third to win the Craven Plate, while the 2016 Craven Plate winner It’s Somewhat came off a lead-up Group 1 George Main Stakes (1600m) third behind Winx. The 2019 Craven Plate winner Happy Clapper also improved on a lead-up third in the George Main Stakes and had previously run second in the 2017 Craven Plate results.

The Craven Plate 2020 field and barrier draw will be released by Racing NSW on the Wednesday of race week and published in full below for punters.

The 2020 Craven Plate field is down to 11 runners after the early withdrawal of the rails-drawn Looks Like Elvis (1) with betting led by the Godolphin-raced Group 1 champion Avilius.

Update: #1 Avilius (8) has been scratched from the Craven Plate field in favour of a run in Melbourne’s $5 million Caulfield Cup (2400m).

No	Last 10	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Probable Weight	Penalty	Hcp Rating
1	x54533x462	AVILIUS (GB)	James Cummings	Kerrin McEvoy	8	59kg			113
2	3x1720x220	STAR OF THE SEAS (NZ)	Chris Waller	James McDonald	6	59kg			109
3	713116×140	THE CANDY MAN	Peter & Paul Snowden	Tim Clark	10	59kg			104
4	x66461x006	LIFE LESS ORDINARY (IRE)	Chris Waller	Jason Collett	11	59kg			103
5	32022×0735	LOOKS LIKE ELVIS	Jarrod Austin		1	59kg			98
6	126789×500	MORTON’S FORK	Richard Litt	Tom Sherry (a)	7	59kg			87
7	41448×2325	THINK IT OVER	Kerry Parker	Glen Boss	2	59kg			86
8	90x1410x00	NETTOYER	Wendy Roche	Nash Rawiller	4	57kg			108
9	8x376x6950	RONDINELLA (NZ)	John O’Shea	Ms Rachel King	12	57kg			101
10	0x20064x48	SCARLET DREAM	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Tommy Berry	3	57kg			88
11	1121111×90	VANNA GIRL	Toby & Trent Edmonds		5	56kg			96
12	4x4233x124	QUINTESSA	Mark Newnham	Joshua Parr	9	56kg			74

Table Credit: Racing Australia. 

Craven Plate History

The Craven Plate was inaugurated in 1867, making it one of the oldest races in the country. Interestingly, the Craven Plate has a fairly consistent history. Throughout the many years it has ran, it has remained around the 2000m mark. Between 1867 and 1971 the Craven Plate was held over 10 furlongs, which is approximately 2000m. In 1972, the conversion to metric saw the Craven Plate rounded to an even 2000m. In 2001, for a year, the Craven Plate was held over 1800m. In 2002, it returned to 2000m and has remained at that distance since.

From its inception to 1978 the Craven Plate was regarded as a Principal event. Strangely, in 1979 the decision was made not to hold the race. That decision held until 1984 when the Craven Plate was reintroduced as a listed event. In 1993, an upgrade saw the Craven Plate run as a Group 3 event, a status it has retained since.

Known as the Craven Plate from the outset, very few name changes have befallen this long-abiding event. Given the prefix “AJC” between 1868 and 1999, the Craven Plate was for a year known as the AJC Queen’s Cup in 2000. In 2001, it was referred to as the AJC Japan Trophy Race. From 20002 onwards, the Craven Plate has returned to its original name.

The Craven Plate has acquired a reputation as an important stepping stone in the career of great horses. Some notable Craven Plate winners include Glencoe (1869), Chester (1878), Carbine (1890), Wakeful (1902), Gloaming (1919 & 1922), Phar Lap (1929-1931), Flight (1943 & 1945) Tulloch (1960), Ming Dynasty (1978), Honorius (2013) and countless others. Craven Plate results and winning times since 2000 are provided below.

Craven Plate Results

Year	Place	Horse	Time
2020 Craven Plate	1st	Think It Over	2 minutes 02.68 seconds
	2nd	Nettoyer
	3rd	Vanna Girl
2019 Craven Plate	1st	Happy Clapper	2 minutes 0.66 seconds
	2nd	Tally
	3rd	Life Less Ordinary
2018 Craven Plate	1st	Moss ‘N’ Dale	2 minutes 7.95 seconds
	2nd	Doukhan
	3rd	Egg Tart
2017 Craven Plate	1st	Classic Uniform	2 minutes 4.34 seconds
	2nd	Happy Clapper
	3rd	McCreery
2016 Craven Plate	1st	It’s Somewhat	2 minutes 2.5 seconds
	2nd	Spiritjim
	3rd	Pinstripe Lane
2015 Craven Plate	1st	Complacent	2 minutes 1.8 seconds
	2nd	Hauraki
	3rd	I’m Imposing
2014 Craven Plate	1st	Moriarty	2 minutes 2.6 seconds
	2nd	Rising Romance
	3rd	Vilanova
2013 Craven Plate	1st	Honorius	2 minutes 3.7 seconds
	2nd	Masked Marvel
	3rd	Vaquera
2012 Craven Plate	1st	Mourayan	2 minutes 2.4 seconds
	2nd	Western Symbol
	3rd	Dare To Dream
2011 Craven Plate	1st	My Kingdom Of Fife	2 minutes 4.3 seconds
	2nd	Shootoff
	3rd	Gazza Guru
2010 Craven Plate	1st	C’Est La Guerre	2 minutes 2.2 seconds
	2nd	Purple
	3rd	Triple Honour
2009 Craven Plate	1st	Miss Marielle	2 minutes 8.3 seconds
	2nd	Nom De Jeu
	3rd	Fulmonti
2008 Craven Plate	1st	Lorne Dancer	2 minutes 6.4 seconds
	2nd	Riva San
	3rd	Ice Chariot
2007 Craven Plate	1st	Race Not Held	–
	2nd	–
	3rd	–
2006 Craven Plate	1st	Cateclipse	2 minutes 3.4 seconds
	2nd	Testafiable
	3rd	Gawne
2005 Craven Plate	1st	Mummify	2 minutes 3.1 seconds
	2nd	Wild Iris
	3rd	Natural Blitz
2004 Craven Plate	1st	Fiery Venture	2 minutes 7.8 seconds
	2nd	Restless
	3rd	Ain’t Seen Nothin’
2003 Craven Plate	1st	Shower Of Roses	2 minutes 2.8 seconds
	2nd	So Assertive
	3rd	Mon Mekki
2002 Craven Plate	1st	Manner Hill	2 minutes 3.9 seconds
	2nd	Spillway
	3rd	Forest Jim
2001 Craven Plate	1st	The Man	1 minute 49.8 seconds
	2nd	Altiero
	3rd	Viva La Vie
2000 Craven Plate	1st	Yippyio	2 minutes 5.6 seconds
	2nd	Pravda
	3rd	Freemason