The Doncaster Handicap is a Group 1 race held each year at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney. This 1600 metre event is an important part of the Sydney autumn racing carnival, and has been raced in the city since 1866. With such a long and distinguished history in Australian racing, the Doncaster Handicap has been won by many of Australia’s most notable horses.
Special Offer: $650 FREE BET – Sportsbet
The Doncaster Handicap was originally run in 1866, with Dundee taking out the inaugural race. The 1892 edition of this event was also a famous race, with a record 30 starters fighting to make it home in first place. Tragedy struck the Doncaster Handicap in 1930, with a fall 1 1/2 furlongs from the winning post taking out the favourite and destroying another horse.
Some of the biggest names in the history of Australian racing have won this event over the years, including Wakeful in 1901, Blue Legend in 1946-47, Slogan Hill in 1956-57, Tudor Hill in 1959-60, Fine And Dandy in 1961 and 63, Gunsynd in 1972, Emancipation in 1983, Super Impose in 1990-91, Sunline in 1999, Grand Armee in 2003, and Haradasun in 2007.
In recent years, winners of the Doncaster Handicap include Vision and Power in 2009, Rangirangdoo in 2010, Sacred Choice in 2011, More Joyous in 2012, and Sacred Falls in 2013. The Group 1 George Ryder Stakes has proven to be a good lead-up event for this race in recent years, with Vision And Power in 2009, Haradasun in 2007, Racing To Win in 2006, and Grand Armee (2nd in 2003) all winning this race after winning the George Ryder.
The Spring equivalent of the Doncaster Handicap is the Epsom Handicap, with champion Super Impose making history in 1990-91 by winning both races on two occasions. Legendary trainer T.J. Smith managed to win the Doncaster Handicap seven times, with the race record set by Belmura Lad in 1979 with a time of 1:33.70. The Doncaster Handicap is also known as the Doncaster Mile, and is now run on ‘The Championships’, the newly introduced two-day $18 Million highlight of the Sydney autumn racing carnival.
In the news:
Glen Boss knows better than most what it takes to win the $3 million Doncaster Mile.
The champion jockey has won Sydney’s showpiece handicap a record five times and is convinced he has secured the ride on a horse with the right profile to add to that haul at Randwick on Saturday.
“It’s been a good race to me over the years. I’ve won five times and been dead-set unlucky twice,” Boss said.
“I should have nearly won seven of them.”
After winning on Sprint By in 1996 and Private Steer in 2004, Boss’s three most recent wins have been on three-year-olds in consecutive years from 2006 to 2008.
And it’s a three-year-old Boss has again pinned his hopes on having chased the ride on New Zealand colt El Roca after his close second two starts ago in the Randwick Guineas.
“That (Randwick Guineas run) was the one that said to me `well you can win a Doncaster’,” Boss said.
“And he’s done nothing up to date to change my mind that he could win it or he can’t.”
Triple Honour was beaten in a photo finish to the Randwick Guineas two starts before he won the Doncaster with Boss aboard in 2008.
Racing To Win (2006) and Haradasun (2007) both won the George Ryder Stakes before their Doncaster wins, and El Roca was a game third in this year’s renewal of the weight-for-age race last start.
“El Roca fits the profile of a lot of those horses that have run well and have won it,” Boss said.
“Being a three-year-old that has been running really well at a good level, at weight-for-age, and now he drops back to the handicaps with a light weight.”
Messene and Weary are the market leaders and while Boss respects that pair, he rates El Roca’s form line as stronger and pinpointed Hawkspur as the horse he fears most.
Hawkspur was fourth in the Ranvet Stakes last start, won by Silent Achiever, and has been freshened for the Doncaster.
“He is coming off a run behind the best horses in Australia. He’s coming out of a better form line than any of them,” Boss said.
“For mine he’s the horse to beat, and I thought El Roca can be right there.”
