Race History and background for the 2018 Australia Stakes at Moonee Valley on Friday featuring Brave Smash.

Nine have been nominated for the 2018 Australia Stakes at Moonee Valley on Friday with the Darren Weir-trained Brave Smash clearly the class runner amongst them.

2018 Australia Stakes: Race History & Background

The Australia Stakes is a Group 2 race for open sprinters conducted by the Moonee Valley Racing Club at Moonee Valley.

The Australia Stakes was first run in 1988 and was won by Special. It is registered as the Stanley Wootton Stakes but was the Norman Carlyon Stakes from 1998 to 2009.

The Australia Stakes is run over 1200m under Weight For Age conditions. It is worth $200,000 in 2018. Run in late January (around Australia Day), it is the first of the feature sprints of the New Year.

Originally a Listed race, it was Group 3 from 1990 to 1993 then Group 2 onwards.

When Moonee Valley was out of action for renovations in 1995, it was won that year at Flemington by Hareeba in one of the great victories.

The great Black Caviar won the race twice with her first win in 2010 part of her injury riddled three-year-old season.

Three-year-olds have a decent record in the race with Holler the most recent in 2016.

Mares haven’t been so good with Black Caviar the only winner in the last decade.

Notable winners of the Australia Stakes include Special (1988), Redelva (1990), Schillaci (1993), Hareeba (1995), All Our Mob (1996), Flavour (1998), Sports (1999), Piavonic (2001), Yell (2003), Super Elegant (2005), El Segundo (2007), Let Go Thommo (2008), Black Caviar (2010/2012), Holler (2016) and Malaguerra (2017).

The 2017 Australia Stakes was won by Malaguerra from Black Heart Bart with Sirbible third.