The 2017 Gilgai Stakes is a Group 2 event held at the beginning of October every year at Flemington Racecourse during the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival. The contest is over 1200m and $200,000 is paid out to the winning connections.

The Gilgai Stakes is run under set weights plus penalties and is open to all sexes and ages. The Gilgai Stakes is on the same day as the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes and has fast become a real crowd favourite.

The Gilgai Stakes is always an outstanding spectacle with an exciting mix of talent charging down the Flemington straight. It’s a route that seems easy but horses that have only run around a bend can often struggle to hit top gear when they are asked to by the jockey.

Horses often move from this event into the Group 1 Darley Classic, the feature sprint event later in the spring.

Swick (2008) and All Silent (2009) both managed to win the Group 1 after triumphing in the Gilgai Stakes.

There are a few options for lead up races before the event including races such as the Group 3 McEwen Stakes or even Group 1 level in the Manikato Stakes.

There have been some fantastic winners on the Gilgai stakes in recent years with the quality of competitors probably getting better every event.

Redelva won the race in 1988 before an amazingly unlucky streak where he finished second in 1989, 1990 and 1991 despite running faster times.

Poetic King won in 1996 and Fallkirk put in a blistering run to win in 2005.

Recently All Silent claimed the 2009 event and champion sprinter Hay List blew away the field with his 2010 victory. The Gilgai Stakes was once known as the Baguette Stakes and was run under set weights conditions for horses aged three years and older.

2017 Gilgai Stakes Field

The Gilgai Stakes field routinely contains a number of top horses. Open to all comers and held under set weights plus penalties, the Gilgai Stakes field often contains quite a mixture of talents and racing backgrounds.

When the 2017 Gilgai Stakes is finalised on Wednesday, October 4th, the field will be published here.

2017 Gilgai Stakes Nominations

The Gilgai Stakes nominations are conventionally packed out with some pretty solid sprinters. Horses which love the 1200m distance and are very familiar with the Flemington straight tend to find their way into the Gilgai Stakes nominations as a matter of course.

When the 2017 Gilgai Stakes nominations will close on Monday, October 2nd, the full list will be displayed here.

Gilgai Stakes Results

Gilgai Stakes results and winning times since 2000 are below.