The 2017 Hill Stakes is a Group 2 race run at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in Sydney during September of the spring racing season. It’s around the time the distance starts to be wound out with 1800m the trek in this one with $500,000 in prize money on offer as well.

The Hill Stakes is a weight-for-age contest open to three year olds and above with a field of fluctuating quality. There have been some fantastic individuals to contest the event but the depth of the field isn’t always quite as impressive as it could be.

There’s no specific lead up event to the Hill Stakes but the Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes is one option for horses willing to make the jump from 1600m.

Much like lead up events there’s no clear follow up event either but some horses may drop down in grade to run in the Group 3 Craven Plate over 2000m on Epsom Handicap Day under the same race conditions.

The 2009 winner Miss Marielle did follow that path with a second in the Chelmsford before winning both this race and the Craven Plate.

Descarado was even more impressive in 2010 after winning the Hill Stakes and going on to claim the Group 1 Caulfield Cup.

After looking through the winners list you could argue that the Hill Stakes are somewhat of an under-rated event.

Champion horses like Saintly (1996), Tie The Knot (1999) and Excellerator (2003) all have this race on their resume.

Desert War won this race back-to-back in 2005 and 2006 while Yippyio (1998) and Platinum Scissors (2003) could only manage second placed finishes.

2017 Hill Stakes Field

The Hill Stakes field is usually comprised of stayers that had great two and three year old campaigns, as well as some veteran weight for agers. Punting on the Hill Stakes field is usually an interesting test of form of knowledge, as you really need to know the racing history of the horses involved and whether the two and three year olds have the skill to take advantage of their lesser weight. The 2017 Hill Stakes field has now been released and be seen published below.

2017 Hill Stakes Nominations

The Hill Stakes nominations play an important role for punters in terms of understanding where each horse is aimed at during their campaign. The Hill Stakes nominations usually include a very decent selection of horses who have all had extensive black-type success.

The Hill Stakes Winners & Results

Winners and placers in the Hill Stakes since 2000 with winning times.