The Ingham (Villiers Stakes) News

Gringotts Heads 2024 The Ingham Field & Odds

• Late Runner Loch Eagle Scores Thrilling The Ingham 2023 Win
• 2023 The Ingham Race Field & Odds Update: Detonator Jack Favourite
• $2 million The Ingham 2022 Field & Betting Update
• The Gong 2022 Results: Riodini Breaks 1077 Day Drought Ahead of $2 mill The Ingham
• 2021 Villiers Stakes Results: Winner Brutality Wins Spot in Doncaster Mile Field

The Ingham– formerly known as the Villiers Stakes – is a $2 million Group 2 event that takes place at the Royal Randwick Racecourse during the end-of-year Sydney Summer Racing Carnival.

2024 The Ingham Results

• 1st: #16 Robusto ($26)
• 2nd: #9 Steparty
• 3rd: #7 Encap

The Bjorn Baker-trained Churchill five-year-old Robusto ($26) poked through a furlong out from the line before showing plenty of fight in an exciting finish to narrowly deny Steparty victory with a narrow upset in the 2024 The Ingham results.

Conducted in mid to late December, it is an open handicap event run over the middle distance of 1600m,

The Ingham is now worth a lucrative $2 million in prize money following a huge stakes increase ahead of the revamped and renamed edition in 2022.

Held just before Christmas each year, The Ingham Stakes is a strong race and a quality black type event on the New South Wales racing calendar. It attracts a good field of fine gallopers and suits horses with experience and proven ability in the mile events.

Although not held in as high regard as the famous Randwick milers, the Epsom Handicap and Doncaster Mile, which occur earlier in the year, it is still a great race for punters to get in on some late betting action in the year at Ladbrokes.com.au.

The Ingham winner also earns a ballot exemption into the following autumn’s Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) at the track and distance making for a highly competitive summer miler showdown.

The above average types contesting the newly renamed Villiers Stakes may have previously contested the Group 3 Festival Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens a fortnight earlier and often back-up in the Group 3 Summer Cup (2000m) on Boxing Day back at Randwick Racecourse.

Upset 2024 The Ingham winner Robusto was the last Festival Stakes graduate to win the event improving on a lead-up second.

The Festival Stakes winner also earns a ballot exemption into The Ingham Stakes field each summer.

The $1 million The Gong held at Kembla Grange in late November also now serves as a nice lead-up with Quackerjack (2019) improving on a second in the million-dollar feature to win the Randwick Group 2 next start.

Rosehill’s Listed ATC Cup (2000m) held a fortnight prior is another good lead-up and Greysful Glamour (2020) was the last to do the double.

The 2022 The Ingham form was franked with the third placed mare Atishu returning the next year to win the autumn’s Group 1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m) in 2023. She further franked the form in the spring of 2023 running second in the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on Derby Day before claiming the Group 1 Champions Stakes (2000m) on the quick back-up over the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

In 2023 The Ingham winner Loch Eagle just made the field as the third emergency and won in an upset at $18 on the back of a second in The Gong.

The Ingham 2023 form was franked with the third placed Lion’s Roar winning the Group 3 Summer Cup (2000m) at his next start.

The 2024 The Ingham ran on Saturday December 14, 2024 offering $2 million in prize money and was won by the Bjron Baker-trained Robusto ($26) in a close upset. 

2024 The Ingham Finishing Order

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

2024 The Ingham Betting

The latest The Ingham 2024 betting odds will be open at Ladbrokes.com.au and provided here at Races.com.au once released for you to back your The Ingham Stakes Tips at the right price this summer.

Quackerjack ($3.80 in 2019) was the last favourite in Villiers Stakes betting (now Ingham Stakes) to salute for the punters.

In 2020 the Villiers Stakes favourite Criaderas ($3.90) finished third having made up plenty of ground from the back. Criaderas returned to run third in the 2021 Villiers Stakes trifecta as a 10/1 shot before the race was renamed The Ingham in 2022.

There was a notable upset in 2022 with Kirwan’s Lane saluting at The Ingham odds of $21 and his stablemate Lion’s Roar running second as a $51 outsider in The Ingham betting.

There was another upset The Ingham result in 2023 with Loch Eagle saluting at $18, and again in 2024 with Robusto winning as a $26 outsider.

2024 The Ingham Form Guide

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL 2024 THE INGHAM FORM GUIDE

2024 The Ingham Tips

Stay tuned for our inside The Ingham 2024 Tips on the recently upgraded $2 million mile showdown this summer.

• To Win: #2 Gringotts ($3.90 at time of publish) – BET NOW
  

Hard to knock the deserving Ciaron Maher trained favourite Gringotts chasing a hat-trick. The Kiwi bred five-year-old carries a bit of weight with 60.5kg but was so good last time out with 60kg from barrier 14 of 16 at Kembla Grange to claim The Gong over this distance by nearly a length. Tommy Berry retains the ride and they’ll get a sweet run on Saturday from gate seven. $3 million Big Dance winner two back at the Randwick track from gate 19 so is versatile and in flying form. Is a mile specialist boasting a flawless four-from-four record at the 1600m, loves the course (4:2-1-0), and is going great guns. Wins again.

2024 The Ingham Field

The Villiers Stakes / The Ingham Stakes field usually attracts a a high-quality line-up of milers.

Because it’s raced over 1600m, quite a few specialists over the distance target the Villiers Stakes (now The Ingham) field. As a Group 2 event held in December, there are a variety of different horses in the field, including Group 1 types and a few that are probably pushing it by stepping up to Group 2 level.

The 2024 The Ingham field will be provided here once released by Racing NSW the week of the race.

The Ingham 2024 final field features a capacity line-up of milers led in betting by the Ciaron Maher trained Gringotts coming off wins in the Big Dance and The Gong at his latest two.

Click here to read more on the key runners in the 2024 The Ingham field and betting markets.

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

2024 The Ingham Nominations

The early Ingham Stakes nominations are released on the Monday before the race. Because it’s a fairly major feature event for Sydney during the Summer, the nominations draw some pretty decent horses, including some that may have previously contested some big events in Western Australia over the Perth Summer Racing Carnival.

The 2024 The Ingham nominations will be published below the week of the race.

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

Villiers Stakes / The Ingham Stakes History

First run in 1892 when Two Up claimed victory, the event was originally a principal race run over six furlongs. The race length was increased in 1902 to eight furlongs and remained the same until 1972 when the distance was converted to 1600 metres. Not long after in 1979 the event was elevated to Group 3 status before finally becoming a Group 2 race in 1986. In the rich and extensive history of the Villiers Stakes, there has only been one year when the race was not held, 2007 due to the equine flu.

Notable recent Villiers Stakes / The Ingham Stakes winners include Monton (2011), Rudy (2014) and Happy Clapper (2015).

In 2020 Greyesful Glamour set a new Villiers Stakes race record time of 1 minute 33.47 seconds.

There was a notable upgrade to the event in 2022 with the Villiers Stakes renamed The Ingham and prize money increased from $750,000 in 2021 to $2 million with the John O’Shea-trained roughies Kirwan’s Lane ($21) and Lion’s Roar ($51) running the quinella.

Recent Villiers Stakes / The Ingham Stakes Winners