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The Standish Handicap is a 1200m sprint that takes place at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne in early January each summer.

It is held under handicap conditions and pays $250,000 in prize money as of 2022 when it also moved to mid-January from its traditional spot on the New Year’s Day race card at HQ and where it remains for the 2023 edition. As a Group 3 event, it attracts some fairly decent talent looking for an off-season Black-Type to either round out their summer or kick off their autumn.

Standish Handicap Day now runs on the same date as Queensland’s Magic Millions Race Day at the Gold Coast headlined by the $2 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic and $2 million Magic Millions 3YO Guineas.

It is now also part of Melbourne’s Summer Sprint Series running as the third event in the four-race series. The other races in the series are the Listed Kensington Stakes at Flemington, Listed Christmas Stakes at Caulfield and the Group 2 Australia Stakes at Moonee Valley.

The Standish Handicap is considered an important event for some horses who are gearing up for some of the few January races or the early Autumn Racing Carnival. However, many of the top sprinters in Melbourne are usually in the paddock around this time.

In 2019 the Standish Handicap winner Whispering Brook franked the form winning the Group 2 Australia Stakes (1200m) next start at The Valley.

The Standish Handicap is held down the “straight six”, which is the Flemington straight (six furlongs long).

Horses that do well in the Standish Handicap may target the Group 1 sprints of the Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival including Caulfield’s Group 1 Oakleigh Plate (1100m) in February.

Dual Standish Handicap champion Halvorsen franked the form out of the 2022 race when running second in both the Group 1 William Reid Stakes (1200m) in Melbourne and Group 1 The Goodwood (1200m) in Adelaide later that year.

The Standish Handicap winner is now also exempt from that autumn’s Group 1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) held at the same track and distance in March.

The 2023 Standish Handicap ran on Saturday January 14, 2023 offering the winner a 2023 Newmarket Handicap ballot exemption to the Michael Moroney-trained winner Snapper ($5).

Standish Handicap 2023
Date:	Saturday January 14, 2023
Track:	Flemington Racecourse
Distance:	1200m
Race Type:	Open Handicap
Status:	Group 3
Prize Money:	$250,000

2023 Standish Handicap Results

• 1st: #11 Snapper ($5)
• 2nd: #8 Rose Quartz
• 3rd: #5 Dawn Passage

The Michael Moroney-trained Snapper ($5) was too strong for his rivals in the Standish Handicap 2023 results producing a powerful late finish after a dominant front-running display to lead from barrier to box in the Group 3 summer sprint.

	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	11	SNAPPER (NZ)	Michael Moroney	Jye McNeil		7	54kg		$5
	2	8	ROSE QUARTZ	Grahame Begg	Harry Coffey	0.75L	5	54kg		$4F
	3	5	DAWN PASSAGE	Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott	Craig Newitt	1.5L	6	54kg		$9.50
	4	9	UMGAWA	Leon & Troy Corstens	Ethan Brown	2.25L	2	54kg (cd 54.5kg)		$9
	5	10	OCEAN BEYOND (NZ)	Andrew Bobbin	Ms Linda Meech	3L	4	54kg		$26
	6	4	VESPERTINE	Grahame Begg	Jordan Childs	4.25L	1	54kg (cd 54.5kg)		$5.50
	7	1	WESTERN EMPIRE (NZ)	John Leek (Jnr)	Jamie Mott	5.5L	9	59.5kg		$9.50
	8	2	HALVORSEN	Robbie Griffiths & Mathew de Kock	Blake Shinn	5.6L	8	57kg		$6.50
	9	12	CRESTANI	Pat Carey	Dean Holland	8.35L	3	54kg		$26
		6	REGARDSMAREE	Nick Ryan			0
		3	INDIAN PACIFIC	Neville Parnham	Daniel Moor		0
		7	PARSIFAL (NZ)	Will Clarken & Niki O’Shea	Damien Thornton		0

Table Credit: Racing Australia. 

2023 Standish Handicap Betting Odds

The latest available Standish Handicap 2023 odds will be listed below, pricing open at Ladbrokes.com.au where you can lock in your Standish Handicap betting tips at the hottest summer racing prices.

Sirius Suspect ($2.90 in 2021) was the last favourite in Standish Handicap betting to salute for the punters.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST 2023 STANDISH HANDICAP ODDS (Final Field)

2023 Standish Handicap Form Guide

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL 2023 STANDISH HANDICAP FORM GUIDE

2023 Standish Handicap Tips

Stay tuned for our insider Standish Handicap 2023 Tips on the summer showdown this January.

• To Win: #4 Vespertine ($6 at time of publish) 

Sticking with the resuming favourite who was last seen winning a Black-Type at headquarters on Melbourne Cup Day. The Grahame Begg-trained Epaulette mare is drawn the rails and has a quality first-up record when fresh. Proven at the track, she’s a Group 3 place-getter previously here and is in well with just 54kg.

2023 Standish Handicap Field

The Standish Handicap field attracts a quality line-up of summer sprinters each January, many coming off a lead-up run at the Flemington track and the bulk of which progress onto the Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival sprint races later in the year.

The 2023 Standish Handicap field and barriers are set for release the week before the race and will be provided in full below  as soon as made available by Racing Victoria.

The Standish Handicap 2023 final field features a small but class line-up of summer gallopers led in betting by the resuming rails-drawn mare Vespertine last seen winning the MSS Security Stakes at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day.

No	Last 10	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Penalty	Hcp Rating
1	11x112x55x	WESTERN EMPIRE (NZ)	John Leek (Jnr)	Jamie Mott	12	59.5kg		109
2	1310252×49	HALVORSEN	Robbie Griffiths & Mathew de Kock	Blake Shinn	11	57kg		104
3	6x86x03305	INDIAN PACIFIC	Neville Parnham	Daniel Moor	7	54.5kg		99
4	162453x71x	VESPERTINE	Grahame Begg	Jordan Childs	1	54kg		96
5	x0006x300x	DAWN PASSAGE	Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott	Craig Newitt	9	54kg		95
6	81199×6926	REGARDSMAREE	Nick Ryan		2	54kg		95
7	4523636×75	PARSIFAL (NZ)	Will Clarken & Niki O’Shea	Damien Thornton	6	54kg		91
8	1312×50243	ROSE QUARTZ	Grahame Begg	Harry Coffey	8	54kg		89
9	7144138×17	UMGAWA	Leon & Troy Corstens	Ethan Brown	3	54kg		88
10	2158×00665	OCEAN BEYOND (NZ)	Andrew Bobbin	Ms Linda Meech	5	54kg		86
11	31180×8917	SNAPPER (NZ)	Michael Moroney	Jye McNeil	10	54kg		84
12	5256×93362	CRESTANI	Pat Carey	Dean Holland	4	54kg		81

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

2023 Standish Handicap Nominations

Early Standish Handicap 2023 nominations are taken the Monday leading-up to the race and will be updated below once announced.

	Last 10	Horse	Sex	Age	Trainer	Hcp Rating
1	5256×93362	CRESTANI	G	5	Pat Carey	81
2	x0006x300x	DAWN PASSAGE	G	6	Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott	95
3	1310252×49	HALVORSEN	G	7	Robbie Griffiths & Mathew de Kock	104
4	6x86x03305	INDIAN PACIFIC	G	6	Neville Parnham	99
5	2158×00665	OCEAN BEYOND (NZ)	G	5	Andrew Bobbin	86
6	4523636×75	PARSIFAL (NZ)	G	8	Will Clarken & Niki O’Shea	91
7	81199×6926	REGARDSMAREE	G	6	Nick Ryan	95
8	1312×50243	ROSE QUARTZ	M	5	Grahame Begg	89
9	31180×8917	SNAPPER (NZ)	G	5	Michael Moroney	84
10	7144138×17	UMGAWA	G	4	Leon & Troy Corstens	88
11	162453x71x	VESPERTINE	M	5	Grahame Begg	96
12	11x112x55x	WESTERN EMPIRE (NZ)	G	5	John Leek (Jnr)	109
13	55783×0387	WILLIAM THOMAS	G	8	John Price	80

Table Credit: Racing Australia. 

Standish Handicap History

The Standish Handicap was inaugurated in 1884. This makes it one of the older races in Australia.

It is named after Captain Frederick Standish. He was a former VRC Chairman and also held the position of Victorian Chief Commissioner of police during the period that Ned Kelly was galloping around the scrub bush-rangering. Fred Standish passed away in 1883.

Between 1884 and 1972 the Standish Handicap was held over six furlongs. Following the conversion to metric, it was held over 1200m, right up until 2006. In that year it was held over 1100m. Since 2007 it has been raced over 1200m.

In 1997 for a year the race was held at Moonee Valley. Caulfield Racecourse hosted it in 2006.

Prior to 1979, it was a Principal race, and since then it has held Group 3 status.

Notable Standish Handicap winners include Barefoot (1892), Miss Bobby (1907, 08), Press Gang (1935), Ungar (1950, 51), Scarborough Fair (1972), Redelva (1988), Iglesia (2001), Super Impressive (2003, 05) and Flamberge (2014). Standish Handicap results, place getters and winning times since 2000 are provided below.

In 2022 Halvorsen emulated Super Impressive (2003, 2005)  winning the Standish Handicap for the second time in three years.

Standish Handicap Winners

Year	Place	Horse	Time
2023 Standish Handicap	1st	Snapper	1 minute 9.73 seconds
	2nd	Rose Quartz
	3rd	Dawn Passage
2022 Standish Handicap	1st	Halvorsen	1 minute 8.66 seconds
	2nd	It’sourtime
	3rd	The Astrologist
2021 Standish Handicap	1st	Sirius Suspect	1 minute 9.27 seconds
	2nd	Albumin
	3rd	Defiant Dancer
2020 Standish Handicap	1st	Halvorsen	1 minute 10.24 seconds
	2nd	Bold Star
	3rd	Superhard
2019 Standish Handicap	1st	Whispering Brook	1 minute 9.18 seconds
	2nd	Smart Coupe
	3rd	True Excelsior
2018 Standish Handicap	1st	Lord Of The Sky	1 minute 8.98 seconds
	2nd	Flippant
	3rd	Chamois Road
2017 Standish Handicap	1st	Odyssey Moon	1 minute 10.54 seconds
	2nd	Cavaloce
	3rd	Inspector
2016 Standish Handicap	1st	Durendal	1 minute 9.4 seconds
	2nd	Zupacharged
	3rd	Churchill Dancer
2015 Standish Handicap	1st	Decircles	1 minute 9.1 seconds
	2nd	Lord Of The Sky
	3rd	Reparations
2014 Standish Handicap	1st	Flamberge	1 minute 9.9 seconds
	2nd	Essay Raider
	3rd	Decircles
2013 Standish Handicap	1st	Adamantium	1 minute 8.2 seconds
	2nd	Catapulted
	3rd	Goldstone
2012 Standish Handicap	1st	Catapulted	1 minute 7.6 seconds
	=2nd	Rocking Force
	=2nd	Cascabel
2011 Standish Handicap	1st	Ahdashim	1 minute 9.1 seconds
	2nd	Chasm
	3rd	Eclair Mystic
2010 Standish Handicap	1st	Royal Ida	1 minute 11.1 seconds
	2nd	Beltrois
	3rd	Juggle The Books
2009 Standish Handicap	1st	King Hoaks	1 minute 10.3 seconds
	2nd	Bowhunter
	3rd	Orbit Express
2008 Standish Handicap	1st	Publishing	1 minute 9.3 seconds
	2nd	Eskaw
	3rd	Pencelaron
2007 Standish Handicap	1st	Watchyerback	1 minute 9.0 seconds
	2nd	Murray Downs
	3rd	Cocinero
2006 Standish Handicap	1st	Honalee	1 minute 3.4 seconds
	2nd	Gold Wells
	3rd	Starhere
2005 Standish Handicap	1st	Super Impressive	1 minute 9.8 seconds
	2nd	Blessum
	3rd	Savage Attack
2004 Standish Handicap	1st	Blessum	1 minute 9.2 seconds
	2nd	Monahan Tweed
	3rd	Super Impressive
2003 Standish Handicap	1st	Super Impressive	1 minute 10.3 seconds
	2nd	Confederate Kid
	3rd	The Expat
2002 Standish Handicap	1st	Lets Planet	1 minute 9.7 seconds
	2nd	Chattanooga
	3rd	Generalissimo
2001 Standish Handicap	1st	Iglesia	1 minute 7.1 seconds
	2nd	Sedation
	3rd	Major
2000 Standish Handicap	1st	Upright	1 minute 9.6 seconds
	2nd	Rain Dance Lady
	3rd	Bush Outlaw