For decades, the Cox Plate has carried the title as the weight-for-age championship of Australia. With big prize money, classic contests and select fields, the race is steeped in history and prestige.
When Racing NSW announced the creation of The Championships, they hoped to challenge the title with the Queen Elizabeth Stakes and its whopping $4 million purse. But it could be the TJ Smith Stakes which steals the show, possibly within a matter of years.
Today’s running is clearly the highest in terms of overall quality and depth. While there’s no Black Caviar or Hay List, there are ten individual Group 1 winners, including the internationally-performed galloper in Gordon Lord Byron, the warhorse in Buffering, the rising star in Lanken Rupee and the three-year-old boom colt in Zoustar.
For a country hell-bent on producing sprinters, it is hard to believe this is the first open sprint worth more than $1 million – especially considering the status of the Golden Slipper. The TJ Smith now provides us with a defining race to decide the fastest horse in the land.
In the past, our best sprinters have raced in Melbourne’s big sprints, before taking a break to prepare for the Royal Ascot carnival. While I’m all for showcasing our sprinters on an international stage, it is fantastic to see our best sprinters assembled together. The $2.5 million purse puts Royal Ascot and all of Europe’s sprints to shame – a fact which should entice more internationals in the years to come.
If colts and entires can score victories over the next few years, the TJ Smith could also become a stallion-making race. While it is always disappointing to see a young colt retire to the breeding barn at three, this may give studs further motivation to continue racing their stud prospects in Australia as four-year-olds.
In time, the TJ Smith Stakes will rank alongside the Hong Kong International Sprint as the world’s highest-rated sprints. For a country obsessed with speed, it is only a matter of time before this becomes not just the biggest race of The Championships, but Australia’s weight-for-age championship.
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