Country Championships Final
Country Championships
Betting Guide
| Date: | Saturday, April 5, 2025 |
| Location: | Royal Randwick Racecourse – Sydney, Australia |
| Prize Money: | $1,000,000 |
| Distance: | 1400m |
The Country Championships is a special conditions race over 1400m held at Royal Randwick Racecourse on Day 1 of The Championships each year.
Held alongside some of the best races in the country, such as the Doncaster Handicap, TJ Smith Stakes, Australian Derby and the Sires Produce Stakes, the Country Championships is always a strong betting race.
First held in 2015, the Country Championships is limited to gallopers trained in country New South Wales. Races in the qualifying series are restricted to horses Class 5 and below that have had 20 or fewer race starts prior to the qualifier in their region.
The first and second horse past the post in each qualifying race books a spot in the Country Championships Final at Royal Randwick.
2025 Country Championships Final betting odds
HorseBetting will update this page when the 2025 Country Championships Final betting odds are available.
Best Country Championships bookmakers
The bookmakers were keen to get involved straight away with the Country Championships and very few hesitated when it came to installing markets on the event.
Below you can find a list of the online bookmakers you can trust, all of which have comprehensive reviews.
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Latest Country Championships News
Country Championships Qualifiers
To contest the Country Championships, horses must legitimately be under the care of a NSW country trainer in NSW – Mid North Coast, South East, Central Districts, Southern Districts, Northern Rivers, Hunter & North West, Western, BHFWRA (Broken Hill & Far West).
The Country Championships Qualifiers are held on a weekly basis throughout the regions up until March 19, 2023, when a Wild Card race will be held at Scone to decide the final two spots in the Country Championships at Randwick.
The wild card race gives horses who failed to qualify in an earlier heat one final opportunity to qualify for the final on Day 1 of The Championships.
Country Championships history
Horses deemed as race favourites have not had the strongest record in the race, with only Noble Boy (2019) and Art Cadeau (2021) saluting as the market elect.
Clearly Innocent, the 2016 champion, is the only subsequent Group 1 winner who has taken out the Country Championships, with the Greg Bennett-trained horse claiming the 2017 Kingsford-Smith Cup.
Despite no trainer claiming multiple wins in the Country Championships, jockey Tommy Berry is the only hoop to have won the race on more than once occasion, with the star hoop guiding Clearly Innocent (2016) and Art Cadeau (2021) to victory.
2025 Country Championships Final field
HorseBetting will update this page when the 2025 Country Championships Final field is released.
Previous Country Championships Final Fields
No. Silks Horse Trainer Jockey Barrier Weight 1 
Bandi’s Boy Danny Williams Jay Ford 1 59kg 2 Bianco Vilano Ron Stubbs Craig Williams 16 56kg 3 Russley Crown Scott Singleton Tom Sherry 9 57.5kg 4 Auzstar Marc Quinn Tyler Schiller 13 57.5kg 5 Elson BoyDar LunnTim Clark1257.5kg6 That’s Molly Glen Milligan Ashley Morgan 4 57kg 7 Tribeca Star Matthew Dunn Nash Rawiller 11 56kg 8 Rainbow Connection Matthew Dunn Blake Shinn 7 56kg 9 Sharp Shock Rodney Northam Reece Jones 5 56kg 10 Gallant Star Brett Rob Sam Clipperton 10 56kg 11 Associate Danielle Seib Zac Lloyd 3 56kg 12 Atmospheric Rock Danny Williams Jason Collett 15 56kg 13 Asgarda Doug Gorrel Kayla Nisbet 6 54kg 14 Rapbidash Lyle Chandler Tommy Berry 14 54kg 15 Musical Affair Mack Griffith Rachel King 8 54kg 16 Agirlsbestfriend Marc Quinn Jenny Duggan 2 54kg 17 Baledon (1E)Ron StubbsN/AN/A56kg18 Bon Frankie (2E)Aaron ClarkeN/AN/A56kg19 Kaihoko (3E)Colt ProsserN/AN/A56kg20 Listen To The Band (4E) Clint Lundholm Jake Pracey-Holmes 12 56kg 21 Sting Jet (5E)Brett CavanoughN/AN/A56kg22 Zouatica (6E)Barbara Joseph, Paul & Matt JonesN/AN/A57.5kg23 Belvedere Boys (7E)Matthew DunnN/AN/A56kgNo. Silks Horse Trainer Jockey Barrier Weight 1 Akasawa Paul Messara Aaron Bullock 14 59kg 2 Testator Silens Luke Clarke Nick Heywood 12 57.5kg 3 I’ve Bean Tryin’ Matthew Kelley Ellen Hennessy 16 57.5kg 4 Talbragar Cody Morgan James McDonald 13 57.5kg 5 Sir Ravanelli Terry Evans Darryl McLellan 8 57.5kg 6 Amicus Curiae Mark Griffith Mitchell Bell 6 57.5kg 7 Bianco Vilano Ron Stubbs Tyler Schiller 9 56kg 8 Our Last Cash Donna Scott Rachel King 10 56kg 9 Bean Froggy Darren Graham Ben Looker 3 56kg 10 Imatruestar Grant Jobson Koby Jennings 1 56kg 11 Sizzle Minizzle Brett Robb Sam Clipperton 4 56kg 12 Wizard Of Oz Warren Gavenlock Zac Lloyd 15 56kg 13 De Forerunner Dean Mirfin Reece Jones 2 56kg 14 Smooth Esprit Clint Lundholm Kerrin McEvoy 11 56kg 15 Running Bear Jan Bowen Ashley Morgan 5 54kg 16 Kimberley Secrets Nick Olive Zac Purton 7 54kg 17 Burrandana (1E)Peter MorganTBCTBC56kg18 Casino Lord (2E)Cody MorganTBCTBC57.5kg19 Gold Card (3E)Peter GrahamTBCTBC56kg20 Hit The Rim (4E)Clint LundholmTBCTBC56kg21 Noble Missile (5E)Todd FletcherTBCTBC56kg22 Russley Crown (6E)Scott SingletonTBCTBC56kg23 Toretto (7E)Matthew DaleTBCTBC57.5kg
2024 Country Championships Final result
1st – Asgarda (+2500)
2nd – Gallant Star (+175)
3rd – Rapbidash (+430)
Recent Country Championships results
- The Country Championship Final (1400m) will be heading the way of the Riverina as Asgarda ($34.00) caused a major upset at Royal Randwick, claiming a dominant victory in the $1 million feature. Kayla Nisbet produced a career highlight steer aboard the daughter of The Brothers War, managing to slot into the perfect mid-field position with cover throughout, in what was a relatively sedate run affair. Musical Affair ($81.00) had it all her own way up on speed throughout the journey, however, when the whips were cracking, all the best work was being done down the centre of the course. The Doug Gorrel-trained Asgarda loomed large with 400m to go, putting away the leading pack, but still had to fight off the late challenges of Gallant Star ($12.00) and Tribeca Star ($9.00). The duo made a late charge for the lead, but it was all in vain as Asgarda was already off and gone with the prize, displaying a stunning turn-of-speed to secure victory by 1.15 lengths on the wire.
- It was blowout for punters in the 2023 Country Championship Final on Day 1 of The Championships, as $81 bolter Sizzle Minizzle careered away with the $500,000 prize. Jockey Sam Clipperton had just seen success in the race prior aboard, Arts, at a monster price in the Adrian Knox and has proceeded to produce another stunning performance with Sizzle Minizzle. He came out of the western NSW qualifier at Coonamble, running second behind Listen To The Band to claim his spot in the final, and thanks to a perfect steer by Sam Clipperton was able to stalk the speed from barrier four, before striking up the inside running rail to score. Kimberley Secrets set the tempo throughout and was a beaten commodity with 200m to travel, while at one stage Our Last Cash looked the winner, but Sizzle Minizzle crafted up the inside with Talbragar and I’ve Been Tryin’ forced to settle for the minor money.
- After finishing 2nd to Art Cadeau in last year’s Final, the four-year-old Super One gelding, Another One, went one better this year under the guidance of top country jockey Nick Heywood. From barrier 8, Another One was forced to the rear of the field as they closed up in front of him after the jump, settling worse than midfield on the rail. Heywood had taken the chance on Another One, staying closer to the rail when the others moved to the middle of the track in the straight and was eating up the heavy ground to appear inside the leaders to hit the front at the 100m, pulling away to win by 0.26-lengths to Commando Hunt ($9) who put in a phenomenal run for Scone trainer Cameron Crocket and Amulet Street ($51) who hung on for 3rd with Far Too Easy in 4th.
- Despite not racing since claiming the Goulburn qualifier eight weeks prior, the Terry Robinson-trained Art Cadeau was too hard to run down in an all-the-way victory. Having been sent around as a $3.30 market elect, Tommy Berry opted to take up the running with all of his rivals looking to take a sit off the speed. Winning jockey Tommy Berry had been an important part of Art Cadeau’s build up, partnering the horse at his past five starts in the lead up to the Country Championships Final. Berry became the first jockey in the race’s brief history to claim multiple victories in the race.
- Up until 2020, male horse had taken out all five previous versions of the Country Championships, however Gracie Belle became the first female horse to claim the event. The grey was sent around as a $21 chance and managed to get her nose down in time to hold out Al Mah Haha in a thrilling finish. In a season that had already brought drought, fire and floods to country NSW, the final at Randwick was held under exceptional conditions with no crowds for the flagship autumn carnival meeting because of coronavirus protocols.
- Trainer Todd Blowes had only had his training licence for 18 months, but by the end of the Country Championships Final of 2019 he had a feature event win at Royal Randwick to his name. Noble Boy, the $3.10 popular elect, came from midfield to beat Lucciola Belle ($26) by 1-3/4 lengths with Bennelong Dancer ($9) a short neck away in third and became the first favourite to take out the event. Randwick’s soft track on race day worked in Noble Boy’s favour with the mud having proven to be right up his alley in the past and it showed, with many of his rivals struggling in the conditions.
- The Jenny Graham-trained Victorem came to the Country Championships on the back of seven-week gap between runs, but it was no issue for the three-year-old gelding. Ben Looker had ridden his luck in a rail-hugging ride, but the move proved beneficial as Victorem showed a nice turn of foot and his win was never in doubt. Race favourite Don’t Give A Damn poised a challenge for a split second, but the winning margin of 2.5 lengths showed the dominance Victorem bolted in with.
- The Cathleen Rhode-trained Free Standing was purchased for just $2,600 by Rhode’s partner Steve Thompson and handed the couple their biggest moment in racing. Having shown nice speed from the barrier, Blake Shinn opted to have him settled on the fence just off the speed. Having edged closer to the leader’s approaching the home turn, Free Standing needed a gap and when the gap appeared he burst through it and was quick to put a couple of lengths on his rivals in what proved to be a winning break.
Country Championships past winners list
| Country Championships Past Winners | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Horse | Jockey | Trainer |
| 2024 | Asgarda | Kayla Nisbet | Doug Gorrel |
| 2023 | Sizzle Minizzle | Sam Clipperton | Brett Robb |
| 2022 | Another One | Nick Heywood | Gary Colvin |
| 2021 | Art Cadeau | Tommy Berry | Terry Robinson |
| 2020 | Gracie Belle | Kerrin McEvoy | Matthew Dunn |
| 2019 | Noble Boy | Hugh Bowman | Todd Blowes |
| 2018 | Victorem | Ben Looker | Jenny Graham |
| 2017 | Free Standing | Blake Shinn | Cathleen Rhode |
| 2016 | Clearly Innocent | Tommy Berry | Greg Bennett |
| 2015 | Artlee | Mitchell Bell | Todd Willan |
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