The All Aged Stakes is a Group 1 horse race held each year at Randwick Racecourse under weight for age conditions.  This 1400 metre event has become an important part of the Sydney autumn racing carnival, and has a long history that stretches back to 1865.  The All Aged Stakes is worth $400,000 in prizemoney and has attracted champions from every era of Australian racing.

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The All Aged Stakes was originally held over 1 mile, changing to a 1600 metre event in 1973 and a 1400 metre event in 2004.  This classy sprint race always manages to attract a top field of competitors, with many of the countries best horses having won this event over the years.  The All Aged Stakes is run together with the Group 1  AJC Champagne Stakes, on the final day of the Sydney autumn racing carnival.

Some of the notable names to have won the All Aged Stakes in recent times include All Too Hard in 2013, Hay List in 2011, Sunline in 2000 and 2002, Intergaze in 1999, All Our Mob in 1997, Rough Habit in 1992-93, and Shaftesbury Avenue in 1991.  In earlier times, notable winners included Glencoe in 1869, Carbine in 1889-90, Ajax in 1938-40, Tulloch in 1958, and Sky High in 1961.

Competitors in the All Aged Stakes often come from the Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes, an event also run at Randwick over 1200 metres earlier in the carnival.  In recent times, Bentley Biscuit in 2007 and Shamekha in 2005 have both claimed the TJ Smith and All Aged Stakes double, with winner Hot Danish in 2010 and Melito (2nd place in 2010) reversing their positions in the two events.

The 2013 edition of the All Aged Stakes was won by All Too Hard, with Rain Affair in second place and Fiorente in third.  All Too Hard won the Group 1 Futurity Stakes over 1400 metres at Caulfield before winning this event as a three-year-old.  Rain Affair also placed second in the 2012 race, behind Atlantic Jewel in first place.

In the news:

Two internationally trained horses made the trip to Sydney for the autumn carnival and both will leave as Group One winners if Hana’s Goal can land Saturday’s All Aged Stakes at Randwick.

Irish horse Gordon Lord Byron upstaged the locals in the George Ryder Stakes and Japanese mare Hana’s Goal will get a final chance to follow his lead in the All Aged, a race reduced to nine runners with the defection of Snitzerland and Politeness.

Nash Rawiller has picked up the mount, replacing Japan’s Kyosuke Maruta who made a hit-and-run mission to ride the five-year-old when she closed late for sixth in the Doncaster Mile.

The top Sydney jockey tested Hana’s Goal for the first time this week and came away satisfied she still had something to offer this preparation.

“I had an opportunity to ride her on Tuesday morning and she seems to be holding her form very well,” Rawiller said.

“There’s not a lot of her but she’s put the writing on the wall and if a few things fall in her favour she’s up to winning a Group One for sure.

“The Japanese lad the other day rode her very quiet and that’s the best way for her to be ridden, she finishes a lot better.”

The top jockey heads into Saturday as the autumn carnival’s leading Group One rider with four elite victories and has two great chances to add to that on Saturday when he also partners favourite Peggy Jean in the Champagne Stakes.

Hana’s Goal, a specialist miler, is an $11 chance with bookmakers to win over 1400m for the first time in more than two years.

Rawiller doesn’t expect the sharper distance to be a concern.

“I was able to get her to relax in her work the other morning so she didn’t do too much,” he said.

“They’ve kept a bit of spring in her step.”

Weary is the only other All Aged Stakes runner with a Doncaster formline after trainer Chris Waller opted not to extend him to the 2000m of last weekend’s Queen Elizabeth Stakes at his first racing preparation in Australia.

“He wasn’t ready for that yet,” Waller said.

“He’s done well since the Doncaster. I’ve kept him fresh and haven’t worked him too hard.”

Weary and Hana’s Goal will have to break a 10-year hoodoo for Doncaster runners in the All Aged with Private Steer in 2004 the last horse to claim the sprint after contesting the feature Mile.