Angus Armanasco Stakes

Winners and Past Results for the Angus Armanasco Stakes.

The Angus Armanasco Stakes is a Group 2 Australian horse race held under set weight conditions, for fillies aged 3 years old.

The Angus Armanasco Stakes is one of the most hotly contested Group 2 races at Melbourne's Caulfield Racecourse.

The event is a 1400 meter trek for three year old fillies that attracts prize money worth $200,000. The race is hosted by the Melbourne Racing Club on the same day as the Blue Diamond Stakes during the autumn racing carnival and is held under set weight conditions in late February.

Held since 1976, the Angus Armanasco Stakes is hosted in honour of the late Angus Armanasco, an Australian Racing Hall of Fame horse trainer. The trainer began his career as a jockey in Perth and later moved on to win seven Victorian Trainer Premierships.

Since then the Angus Armanasco Stakes has undergone a number of changes in distance and status. In 2010, the race was reduced to 1400 meters from its original 1600 meters and the race conditions from set weights to set weights and penalties. The decision was taken by the MRC in order to coincide with Victoria Racing Club's decision to reduce the distance of the Group 2 Kewney Stakes to 1400 meters, which is run a fortnight after the Angus Armanasco Stakes on Super Saturday at Flemington Racecourse.

For horses and race goers, the race is the perfect lead up to the Kewney Stakes.

Many contenders for the Angus Armanasco Stakes compete in the Group 2 Vanity Stakes at Flemington. Over the years the race has proved to be suited for more than handy fillies. Fillies that do well may move on to the Group 2 Moonee Valley Fillies Classic held the following Friday at Moonee Valley Racecourse.

Among the quality fillies to score an Armanasco/Moonee Valley Fillies Classic double are Champagne in 1998, Special Harmony in 2004, and Miss Finland in 2007. One of the most memorable Angus Armanasco Stakes was the 1994 edition where Party Time and Sovereign Appeal were locked in a furious battle ending in a dead heat. Pinker Pinker, the 2011 winner was placed third in the Kevin Hayes Stakes prior to winning the event.

The first horse to pick up the Angus Armanasco Stakes was Better Draw in 1976. Between 1976 and 1979 the event was a principal race and was then listed as a Group 3 race until 2000 when it achieved Group 2 status.

The event continues to attract the cream of the fillies during the autumn at the Caulfield Racecourse located 8 km from Melbourne's central business district.