The T.J Smith Stakes is a Group 1 race held on the first day of ‘The Championships’ event each autumn at Randwick Racecourse. The T.J Smith Stakes is a weight for age event run over a distance of 1200 metres, and takes place on the same day as the Doncaster Handicap, ATC Australian Derby, and ATC Sires Produce Stakes. This special event is a relatively new inclusion on the Australian racing calendar, having been run since 1997.
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The inaugural T.J Smith Stakes was known as the Endevour Stakes, before being renamed in honour of legendary trainer Thomas John Smith in 1999. T.J Smith has the amazing record of winning 33 racing titles in Sydney, and is the nation’s most well known thoroughbred trainer of the 20th century. The T.J Smith stakes was a Listed race for its first year, graduating to a Group 3 event in 1998, a Group 2 event in 2002, and a Group 1 event in 2005.
The T.J Smith Stakes has been won by some of Australia’s greatest horses, including Mahogany in 1997, Apache Cat in 2008, Takeover Target in 2009, Melito in 2010, and Black Caviar in 2011 and 2013. The level weight conditions generally favour the best horses in the race, with two of the most important lead up events being the Group 2 Canterbury Stakes and the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes.
The T.J Smith Stakes has become an important part of the Sydney autumn racing carnival, where it rounds out the first Saturday of ‘The Championships’ event. The $1,000,000 prizemoney of 2013 has been increased to $2,500,000 in 2014, with the stature of this race sure to grow even more over the next few years due to its inclusion in the inaugural ‘Championships’ series.
In the news:
Trainer Tony Gollan will wait until race morning to make a final call but says Spirit Of Boom will be scratched from the TJ Smith Stakes if the track is heavy.
The last-start William Reid Stakes winner is at his best on dry ground and Gollan does not want to run the sprinter on heavy going.
“We’ll wait and see what happens with the weather overnight,” Gollan said.
“He won’t run if it’s heavy. If it looks like being a genuine heavy track and not improving to the better side of slow, we’ll be out.”
Gollan hoped the track would improve from its heavy (8) rating on Friday and will wait until hearing a track report early on Saturday.
Spirit Of Boom is in career-best form having finished second to TJ Smith Stakes favourite Lankan Rupee in the Oakleigh Plate and Newmarket Handicap in his first two starts this campaign before breaking through for a Group One win in the William Reid Stakes at Moonee Valley last month.
“He is spot on,” Gollan said of Spirit Of Boom.
“He’s in really good shape. He’s just not as good on the rain-affected going. He does find it hard getting through it so we’re not interesting giving him a hard run in a race he couldn’t win if it was wet.”
If Spirit Of Boom does not run in the $2.5 million TJ Smith (1200m), Gollan said the entire would head home to Brisbane and could possibly run in the Group Two Victory Stakes in two weeks or wait until the Group One BTC Cup.
