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The Group 3 2020 Lexus Stakes – now known as the Hotham Stakes – is a 2500m staying event held at the illustrious Flemington Racecourse on Victoria Derby Day, the Saturday prior to the Melbourne Cup.

Open to horses aged three years and older, the Lexus Stakes is run under quality handicap conditions. With total prize money of $200,000, the Lexus Stakes is quite a lucrative Group 3 event and key race on the Melbourne Cup Carnival schedule.

The Lexus Stakes winner gains a ballot exemption for the Group 1 $8 million Melbourne Cup (3200m) back at the track just three days later and Shocking (2009) was the last to complete the double.

More recently the 2018 Lexus Stakes winner Prince Of Arran ran third in the Melbourne Cup trifecta next start.

Victoria Derby Day is a massive race meeting, and the Lexus Stakes shares a race program with eight other Group status races. These include the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m), Group 1 Kennedy Cantala (1600m), Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m), Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m), Group 2 Salinger Stakes (1200m) and Group 2 Wakeful Stakes (2000m).

There are a variety of paths that horses take to the Lexus Stakes. As it runs at the culmination of the spring carnival, those horses which target the Lexus Stakes may have been racing in Victoria, NSW or may even have just come out of quarantine following their trip to Australia. In the past, the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) has been a fairly popular lead-up event.

A number of horses use the Lexus Stakes as a lead up event to the Melbourne Cup, held just four days later on the first Tuesday of November. This has been a common course for international horses who are seeking ballot exemption, which the Lexus Stakes provides.

The Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) is another popular target following a Lexus Stakes run held the Saturday after on Mackinnon Stakes Day and offers a bonus to any horse that was balloted out of that year’s Melbourne Cup field should they salute.

The 2020 Lexus Stakes was held on Saturday October 31, 2020 as the Hotham Stakes and was won by the German raider Ashrun who secured a slot in the Melbourne Cup 2020 field. 

Lexus Stakes 2020
Date:	Saturday October 31, 2020
Racecourse:	Flemington Racecourse
Distance:	2500m
Conditions:	3YO&UP Quality Hcp
Status:	Group 3
Prize Money:	$200,000
Inaugurated:	1869

2020 Lexus Hotham Stakes Results

• 1st: #1 Ashrun
• 2nd: #5 Sound
• 3rd: #7 Future Score / #2 Brimham Rocks (Dead Heat)

The Andreas Wohler-trained German raider Ashrun ($5.50) became the third straight international horse to win the 2020 Lexus Hotham Stakes, the top weight winning his way into Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup field with a narrow victory over Sound on Derby Day.

Click here to read more on the impressive 2020 Lexus Stakes winner Ashrun who is into the Melbourne Cup.

	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	1	ASHRUN (FR)	Andreas Wohler	Kerrin McEvoy		2	61kg		$5.50
	2	5	SOUND (GER)	Michael Moroney	Jamie Kah	0.1L	5	59.5kg		$7.50
	3	7	FUTURE SCORE (IRE)	Matt Cumani	Fred W Kersley	1.1L	9	58kg		$12
	3	2	BRIMHAM ROCKS (GB)	Chris Waller	Hugh Bowman	1.1L	4	60kg		$6.50
	5	8	CARIF	Peter & Paul Snowden	William Pike	1.6L	1	57.5kg		$10
	6	10	SCHABAU (GER)	Robert Hickmott	Mark Zahra	3.6L	8	56.5kg		$4.80F
	7	11	ADMIRE ROBSON (JPN)	Paul Preusker	Glen Boss	4.1L	3	56kg		$5
	8	6	AZURO (FR)	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	Ben Melham	5.6L	6	58kg		$81
	9	4	PLATINUM INVADOR (NZ)	Peter G Moody	Luke Nolen	8.35L	7	59.5kg		$51
	10	3	HUSH WRITER (JPN)	Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott	Craig Williams	9.85L	10	60kg		$21
		9	ATTORNEY (FR)	Matthew Smith	Jye McNeil		0

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

2020 Lexus Stakes Betting Odds

The latest Lexus Stakes 2020 odds provided by Ladbrokes.com.au will be listed below on the stayers and potential Melbourne Cup horses.

2020 Lexus Stakes Field

The Lexus Stakes field attracts a quality line-up of spring stayers, the majority of which are chasing the Melbourne Cup ballot exemption on offer to the winner of the Victoria Derby Day race.

Good lead-up races into the Lexus Stakes field each season including Caulfield’s Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes (2400m) or even the Group 2 Moonee Valley Cup (2500m) the Saturday prior on Ladbrokes Cox Plate Day that produced the 2017 Lexus Stakes winner Cismontane (3rd) and the 2019 champion Downdraft (3rd) for Melbourne Cup winning trainer Joseph O’Brien.

The official 2020 Lexus Stakes Final Field & Barriers are announced the Wednesday of race week and will be published in full below.

Eleven stayers chase a late inclusion in the Melbourne Cup 2020 field via a win in Saturday’s Lexus Hotham Stakes 2020 including the Andreas Wohler-trained German raider and top weight Ashrun.

Click here to read about the horses chasing a Melbourne Cup start in the 2020 Lexus Hotham Stakes field.

• Scratched: #9 Attorney (3)

No	Last 10	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Penalty	Hcp Rating
1	1853x5x224	ASHRUN (FR)	Andreas Wohler	Kerrin McEvoy	2	61kg		105
2	x7691x8382	BRIMHAM ROCKS (GB)	Chris Waller	Hugh Bowman	5	60kg		103
3	x7000x3240	HUSH WRITER (JPN)	Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott	Craig Williams	11	60kg		103
4	21023×6937	PLATINUM INVADOR (NZ)	Peter G Moody	Luke Nolen	8	59.5kg		102
5	5x532x5226	SOUND (GER)	Michael Moroney	Jamie Kah	6	59.5kg		102
6	13770×7006	AZURO (FR)	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	Ben Melham	7	58kg		99
7	11x1253x61	FUTURE SCORE (IRE)	Matt Cumani	Fred W Kersley	10	58kg		99
8	0352×67807	CARIF	Peter & Paul Snowden	William Pike	1	57.5kg		98
9	x6804x2414	ATTORNEY (FR)	Matthew Smith	Jye McNeil	3	57kg		97
10	x111x7x334	SCHABAU (GER)	Robert Hickmott	Mark Zahra	9	56.5kg		96
11	1x214x7x67	ADMIRE ROBSON (JPN)	Paul Preusker	Glen Boss	4	56kg		95

Table Credit: Racing Australia. 

Lexus Stakes History

The Lexus Stakes was inaugurated in 1969 as the Hotham Handicap, it’s current registered name. One of the oldest races in Australia, the Lexus Stakes has a very prestigious history to match its age.

The Lexus Stakes is renowned for a very rare triple dead heat in 1956. Fighting Force, Ark Royal and Pandie Sun crossed together to win one of the only races ever to record three winners.

Besides its current name, the Lexus Stakes has been known by a variety of sponsor titles. For ten years prior to 2009 (when Lexus started sponsorship) it was known as the Saab Quality. Prior to that, it was the Lean Cuisine Quality, Ten News Quality, Crown Quality and The Dalgety.

Notable Lexus Stakes winners include Miss Carbine (1899), Spear Chief (1938), Foxzami (1949), Think Big (1974), Brew (2000) and Shocking (2009) who was the last Lexus Stakes winner to back-up and dominate that year’s Melbourne Cup results doing the double. Lexus Stakes results, winners and placegetters since 2000 are listed below, along with winning times.

Lexus Stakes Results

Year	First	Second	Third	Time
2020	Ashrun	Sound	Brimham Rocks / Future Score (Dead Heat)	2:37.94
2019	Downdraft	Carif	Azuro	2:38.85
2018	Prince Of Arran	Brimham Rocks	Jaameh	2:37.46
2017	Cismontane	Vengeur Masque	Pentathlon	2:35.41
2016	Oceanographer	Tom Melbourne	Tally	2.35.68
2015	Excess Knowledge	Zanteca	Havana Cooler	2:36.8
2014	Signoff	Big Memory	La Amistad	2:37.9
2013	Ruscello	Let’s Make Adeal	Araldo	2:39.8
2012	Kelinni	Dare To Dream	Exceptionally	2:37.6
2011	Niwot	Macedonian	Anudjawun	2:37.5
2010	Maluckyday	Linton	Once Were Wild	2:35.1
2009	Shocking	Hume	Irazu	2:38.3
2008	Moatise	Light Vision	Cape Cover	2:37.7
2007	Sculptor	The Fuzz	Desert Master	2:35.4
2006	Maybe Better	Irazu	Vanquished	2:35.8
2005	Strasbourg	Bush Honey	Mr Celebrity	2:40.3
2004	Don Raphael	Catchmeifyoucan	Winning Belle	2:36.6
2003	Big Pat	Fawaz	Dance On Wood	2:39.4
2002	Requiem	Miss Meliss	Piachay	2:35.3
2001	Maythehorsebewithu	Spirit Of Westbury	Touch The Groom	2:35.8
2000	Brew	Mr Nelson	Yammer	2:37.1