One of the Group races sponsored by the Tasmanian Racing Club is the Group 3 Vamos Stakes, a weight-for-age middle distance race of 1400 metres contested by fillies and mares aged three years and above. The race is staged at the Launceston Racecourse in the suburb of Mowbray.
The prizemoney for the race is $150,000 as of early 2023.
Vamos Stakes Race Details
Date: 21/2/24
Time: TBA
Racecourse: Launceston
Race Distance: 1400m
Conditions: TBA
Prize Money: $150,000
How To Bet On The Vamos Stakes
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When Is The Vamos Stakes: 21/2/24
What Time Is The Vamos Stakes: TBA
Where Is The Vamos Stakes: Launceston Racecourse
How To Live Stream The Vamos Stakes
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More Details About The Vamos Stakes
The 2022 jump of the race went to Take The Sit.
The now six-year-old mare is northern hemisphere on the side of her sire, a U.S. stallion named Tough Speed. The dam was Tula, with ties to Encosta De Lago.
Take The Sit has won a bit over $260,000 from 23 jumps for eight wins and six placings.
She earned $90,000 for the win and she might win more, as she is still active, but she has not been off the island and her trainers, Bill and Monica Ryan, seem to be doing their best Chris Waller impersonation, having sent Take The Sit out for 25 barrier trials.
The Vamos Stakes is run in February at the meeting that also features the Group 3 Launceston Cup, the Tasmanian Oaks and the Mowbray Stakes.
Prior to being elevated from Listed to Group 3 grade in 2014, prizemoney for the race was lower, so it would be tempting to assume that the more recent winners won more money by winning the race.
That temptation and assumption would prove wrong though, because Lady Lynette won the race in 2009, 2011 and 2012, earning a combined $180,250, more than 30,000 above what the race currently offers in total prizemoney.
History of the Vamos Stakes
The race is a newer one, having started in 2007.
We assume the race name is in honour of a good racer by that name that raced in Tasmania and possibly had some success on the mainland.
We found 16 horses with the name Vamos. Six of those came along after the inception of the race, so we can eliminate those. We can eliminate another 10 for being European, South American or Asian racers. That leaves us with a 1947 foal with Australian, New Zealand and northern hemisphere lines that could be the only choice. Vamos is a Spanish origin word that translates as “Let’s Go! Come On!” which sound like a good horse name. We are more familiar with the Spanish word vamamos, which means more or less the same thing.
We could not find a racing record for Vamos, as she was likely a handy type only. We located one foal, a 1956 mare by Great Britain’s High Peak named Allez En that was credited with being a mare that supplied black type offspring. Allez is a French word that means the same thing as Vamos, so that is how we know we got our gal Vamos for the race name.
The race made its debut in 2007 and no one can deny that Tasmania needed another Group race.
It began as Listed grade, though, and only lifted to Group 3 in 2014.
The race has never been over any trip other than 1400 metres and the race has always jumped at Launceston Racecourse.
Venue for the Vamos Stakes
Launceston Racecourse is located in the suburb of Mowbray, about three kilometres from the CBD of Tasmania’s second largest city.
The course has a unique diamond shape with four rounded points for turns, none of which is precisely identical to any of the others.
If you hear someone mentioning Mowbray Racecourse or Mowbray Park, they are talking about the same place.
There are about 25 meeting staged annually, but without a Group 2 or a Group 1 race, it is hard for us to call the track a metro venue, but no one cares what difficulties we endure, so there’s that.
The Vamos Stakes is part of the Tasmanian Summer Racing Carnival, held when it is so as not to step on the toes of any autumn or spring racing carnivals.
For 1400-metre races, the gallopers start in the middle of a straight and run three of the sweeping turns to hit the home straight and finish at the spectator stands on the western side of the facility.
Racing History of the Vamos Stakes
Often, when we look at racing histories, we are confronted with more information than we can use especially when it comes to horse racing tips.
This is not the case with the Vamos Stakes. The race has made only 16 jumps as of the lead up to the 2023 edition. A second factor is that the race is open only to female horses. A third factor is that one winner of the race, Lady Lynette, accounts for three wins, leaving just 14 discrete winners.
Finally, as a Tasmanian race, we would not expect to find the better fillies and mares from the big states on the mainland to make the float to Tasmania for the relatively small prizemoney purse offered by the Vamos Stakes.
We will work our way through the list, hoping to capture lightning in a bottle or a genie in the lamp, either with a horse that made an impact on the mainland, won a lot of money, or supplied progeny that exceeded the exploits of the sire and dam.
The winner of the first race in 2007 was Lekitama.
She won six races and placed in five from 18 jumps. She earned a little above $155,000. She had four tries at Caulfield in Victoria, finishing 13th of 16 in the Listed Northwood Plume Stakes, 9th of 10 in the Group 3 Frances Tressady Stakes, 9th of 11 in an unrated mares’ handicap and 10th of 12 in another mares’ handicap a month later.
Lekitama supplied six named foals, but the only one that seems to have left any record is Demons Run, a 2011 gelding by Savoire Faire. Demons Run earned less than his mum did despite making 42 jumps. His best wins were in Benchmark races.
The next winner in 2008 was Blazonry. She was less than average in our view, even if Lekitama is used for an example of average. After winning in 2008, she tried again in 2009, but she was three lengths back in sixth position.
Blazonry did some racing at Caulfield and Moonee Valley, but those were low-grade races and we have her as one second placing in a fillies and mares handicap at Moonee.
She supplied five foals, one filly and four colts. A 2016 gelding by Choisir named Big Teddy, but he only won one race, yet seems to be the best out of Blazonry.
Three-time winner Lady Lynette saluted for the first time in 2009, adding two more Vamos Stakes victories in 2011 and 2012.
Her lines almost spur us to ask what she was doing in this race, or what was she doing in Tasmania, as she was far more talented that what we expected. Some of the names in her lines include Bletchingly, Danehill, Biscay and Star Kingdom, so Lady Lynette was no roughie.
We mentioned earlier that her three wins combined added well above the current $150,000 prizemoney for the race. The Vamos Stakes, Listed grade at the time, was her first good win. She won another Listed race at Caulfield and took the Group 3 Tesio Stakes next up.
She ran second in the 2009 Group 1 Myer Classic, but she was barely in view of the winner, Typhoon Tracy. She followed that with a third in the Group 2 Matriarch Stakes. She won the Group 3 Tesio Stake again in 2010, the Bow Mistress Listed back in Hobart.
Her next jump supplied the 2011 Vamos Stakes win and this period of her racing often found her close to the front in Group 2 races.
Her best win was the Group 2 Blazer Stakes at Flemington and her final win was her third win in the Vamos Stakes.
Lady Lynette certainly had the better type of stallions.
She dropped two by Medaglia D’ Oro, with one by I Am Invincible, another by Street Cry and a final gelding by Written Tycoon.
None of her offspring accomplished anything from racing. None earned above $100,000, with just the 2017 filly by I Am Invincible, a certain Rosa Moyessi, coming close, with $94,000 in stakes.
Sandwiched in between Lady Lynette’s three Vamos Stakes win, the 2010 winner of the race was I'm A Hussy.
Her earnings from racing were similar to those of some of the previous winners, but she needed only 19 jumps to win seven times and place 5 times. This record earned her a bit above $272,000.
The Vamos Stakes was her first graded win, still Listed in 2010.
She lost the Listed Bow Mistress Trophy to Lady Lynette by a sizeable margin, but in the Group 3 How Now Stakes at Caulfield, only the nose of Valentine Miss crossed ahead of I'm A Hussy.
She supplied two foals, neither of which bears mention.
The 2013 winner, Beautiful Buns, won four races for under $100,000 in stakes. Her output as a breeder was insignificant, two fillies and two colts, one of which has done much.
The first year the Vamos Stakes was graded as a Group 3 race, the winner was Rebel Bride.
Her form line of 32 jumps for 14 wins and 13 places looks good on the screen, but there were no better wins that the Vamos Stakes.
She beat Lady Lynette in the Group 3 Bow Mistress Trophy, but Lady Lynette served up some revenge next up when she won her third Vamos Stakes in 2012.
Rebel Bride’s win in the 2014 race had just her and six others, but she won by almost two lengths. Her one try in a Group 3 at Flemington found her 9th of 14.
One foal is all that is credited to her, a 2017 gelding by The Factor named Rebel Factor that won more than $150,000 from just 10 jumps for seven wins and two placings.
The 2015 winner was Vibrant Rouge.
A 2008 filly by Written Tycoon out of Mirage Rouge, Vibrant Rouge was one of the better winners we have encountered in terms of prizemoney. She earned $456,000 from 40 jumps for eight wins and nine placings. She won four of her first five jumps and finished second in the other.
Vibrant Rouge did race and win on the mainland, but like most of the earlier winners, it was minor races only that she won, predominantly in races restricted to her gender. She never won above Group 3, but ran third in the 2016 Group 2 Rose Of Kingston Stakes and the Group 3 Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes.
A 2017 filly by Written Tycoon named Yangarra Rose won $80,000 by racing.
The 2016 winner of the Vamos Stakes, I Love It, followed the pattern of earlier winners for the most part. The Vamos Stakes was the best of her five wins, but the same thing might be said of her 2015 win in the Group 3 Bow Mistress Trophy.
The 2017 winner was Kiss Me Ketut.
The Vamos Stakes was her best and last win, but she did some racing in South Australia and Victoria, so we presume she might have had stronger fields trying to beat her.
The 2018 winner, Life On The Wire, won above $375,000 from 21 jumps for eight wins and seven placings. She was third to 2019 winner Twitchy Frank when she tried the Vamos Stakes a second time.
The other good win by Life On The Wire was the 2018 Bow Mistress Trophy.
Twitchy Frank won the race in 2019.
She won above $560,000 from 27 jumps for seven wins and nine placings. She raced and won at Flemington and Moonee Valley before she won the Vamos Stakes.
In 2020, the victory went to Deroche.
She was marginally better than many of the other winners, with prizemoney of $562,000 from 26 jumps for 13 wins and 6 placings.
Normally, a form line like that would get us excited, but none of her wins was particularly impressive. The Vamos Stakes was her best win, and in 2021, she won the Listed Newmarket Stakes on the same course.
We found a replay of Deroche winning the race and it can be viewed at the following link.
Still A Star was the 2021 winner.
She has made just 19 jumps for 10 wins, 7 placings and over $873,000 in prizemoney.
She is still racing and like other winners of the race, she is prepared by Bill and Monica Ryan, so it was no surprise that Still A Star has navigated 19 barrier trials.
She is currently spelling as of early 2023, but we notice that she has not jumped since October of 2021, when she joined 13 others and finished 12th in the Group 1 Empire Rose at Flemington. She did win the Group 2 Rose of Kingston at Flemington. We are not sure what her connections were thinking when they sent her out in the All-Star Mile at Moonee Valley in March of 2021, where she beat only two of the gallopers in the field.
Conclusion
The Vamos Stakes is one of the better races in Tasmania, but when we look at the racing there, it often seems as though the winners of the race were taking turns with the other fillies and mares to see which would get to win the better Tasmanian races.
Vamos Stakes Past Winners
Year | Winner |
2023 | Jaja Chaboogie |
2022 | Take The Sit |
2021 | Still A Star |
2020 | Deroche |
2019 | Twitchy Frank |
2018 | Life On The Wire |
2017 | Kiss Me Ketut |
2016 | I Love It |
2015 | Vibrant Rouge |
2014 | Rebel Bride |
2013 | beautiful Buns |
2012 | Lady Lynette |
2011 | Lady Lynette |
2010 | I'm A Hussy |
2009 | Lady Lynette |
2008 | Blazonry |
2007 | Lekitama |