Country Championships Final Tips, Betting, Odds, Horses & More 2026

The Country Championships Final is a unique special conditions race only for New South Wales country-trained horses and is raced under open set weights. It will be held at Randwick Racecourse on Day One of The Championships, Saturday, April 4, 2026. The 1,400m trip features the best of the best country-trained horses in NSW.

The Country Championships Final is a new addition to the calendar. So, before you move on, check out some of the key pieces of information about this race:

The Country Championships Final is a relatively new race that takes place on Day One of The Championships at Randwick Racecourse. The race is held under open set weights conditions for the field. The Country Championships Final was launched in 2015 but has already gained a lot of notoriety and success.

This race was created by Racing NSW to support racing in country areas. This allows for further support for regional areas in NSW and ensures different horses, trainers and jockeys are showcased on one of the biggest stages, during The Championships at Randwick.

The Country Championships Final, while not a Group 1 race, takes part on Day One of The Championships. Four Group One races are on the same day including; the Doncaster Mile, the TJ Smith Stakes, the Australian Derby and the Inglis Sires Produce Stakes. With all the racing that is taking place at Randwick Racecourse, there’s no doubt it is one of the top tracks in the country.

In total, there are seven Country Championship races across each racing region in NSW. The runners that finish first and second in their respective races will make it into the final field for the Country Championships Final! In the qualifying series, it is restricted to horses that have competed in less than 20 races and are Class 5 and below.

Each of these qualifying races is worth $150,000 and as well as these two Wild Card races confirm the final two runners in the 16-runner field. When it comes to making up the final field for this race, if one of the runners from a qualifying race isn’t able to compete, a space will open up for the third-placed runner of that specific qualifying race (and then the fourth-placed runner, if the third-placed runner isn’t available).

Here at OnlyRacing, we will cover all the important information you need to know about this new and unique race that shines a spotlight on some of NSW’s best country horses. We will provide information like our Country Championships Final tips, betting, odds, field and so much more!

While you’re going to find everything you need in the coming sections on this page, before we get to that, check out the breakdown of the prize money for the Country Championships Final here: 

Who doesn’t love some free horse racing tips? Horse racing tips are the lifeblood of OnlyRacing and we take providing our loyal readers with the best Randwick tips going around very seriously! So, make sure you take your time to read our Country Championships Final tips before every edition of this race.

Our Country Championships Final tips aren’t available just yet. Our experts are waiting until all the information about the final field comes to light before providing their three best tips. This is important as we want to ensure we provide the most accurate tips possible for the race.

While we wait for the 2026 field to be finalised, check out our top Country Championships Final tips for the race in 2025 right here:

Country Championships Final Best Bet - Gallant Star

I’m really interested to see how this race plays out and I think there are a lot of live chances in this one, but I do think the market has it right and I’m sticking with the current favourite, Gallant Star, who is paying $3.20. Gallant Star has a great career record of 15:6-4-3 and is looking to bank another win after taking out the Country Championships Qualifier.

Not that this has any impact on anything, but you might be interested to know that former cricketer and legendary commentator Kerry "Skull" O'Keefe is a part-owner of Gallant Star! Jason Collett retains the ride from last time out and I think he’ll map pretty well for the race, jumping from barrier four.

Country Championships Final Next Best - Know Thyself

If you’re looking for a runner with a bit of class, you can’t go past Know Thyself for the Country Championships Final. There’s a 3kg swing in favour of Know Thyself from Gallant Star so that certainly works in the 4YO's favour. The gelding comes into this one third up and looks to have progressed well through the gears.

Last time out, he won the Country Championships Wild Card Plate on a Heavy10. Know Thyself is currently on the second line of betting and is going around with odds of $3.90, thanks to PlayUp. I think he’ll need a smidge of luck jumping from barrier 11, but if he can settle into the race well, he might be too difficult to catch down the home straight.

Country Championships Final Best Roughie - Tribeca Star

There’s plenty of value floating around in the 2025 Country Championships Final if you’re looking for something a little different. The 5YO found his way into the final field for the Country Championships Final via a dominant win in the Country Championships Qualifier Plate, winning by 0.8L.

He is the kind of runner that seems to handle all conditions and I think he’ll enjoy the 1,400m that awaits him on Saturday. In my opinion, he is one of the most versatile horses in the field and he is currently going around with odds of $10, thanks to PlayUp. Disregard his last run on the Gold Coast, he’ll bounce back well here.

When it comes to Country Championships Final betting there are a lot of questions you need answered. But the good news is, we’ve got all the answers you’ve been searching for! You need to know stuff like what to bet on and who to bet with.

Firstly, there are several different betting apps, all with varying markets. There’s certainly a lot you can bet on when it comes to horse racing! If you’re a more casual punter, then we think it’s a good idea to stick with more basic bet types. 

It’s not difficult to learn about some of the more advanced bet types, but it’s important you fully understand what you are betting on. Start with a simple Win/ Place bet before progressing to things like Quinellas, Trifectas and First Fours.

Another topic that needs an answer is which bookie you are going to bet with. You might already have a bookie account with a certain bookmaker, but we have to tell you that it pays to shop around! 

There are so many different horse racing betting sites out there and you could potentially be missing out on better odds or different betting sites bonuses. All Australian betting sites offer something a little bit different so it pays to look around to see if there’s something you’ll like more.

Some of the bookies in particular that we like for the Country Championships Final include:

• BetGalaxy - Their unique and fun design makes them one of the best betting apps in the market.
• Vicbet - Their platform is great for those punters who know what they are doing and they have some great betting promotions as well.
• Bet365 - They are one of the biggest bookies in the world for a reason, their odds are consistently amazing!

Above are just three recommendations for the Country Championships Final, but there are plenty more where they came from. If you’re on the hunt for more options, then you should check out our “Betting Sites” section earlier on this page which shows many, many more bookies.

We all want to know which runners will be taking part in the Country Championships Final. Thanks to its unique approach, as the qualifying races are run and won throughout the year, we will have some idea of who will be taking part.

However, anything can happen in horse racing and runners who finished first or second in their qualifying race may pull out. So, it is best just to wait until the final field is confirmed for 100% assurance of which runners will be taking part. 

If the odds are available, you can check them out in our “Odds” section later on this page and this will give you a better idea of which horses are likely to line up in the race for 2026. The odds will be constantly changing, so you should keep an eye on things.

While the 2026 final field hasn’t been confirmed just yet, we can take a look back at the Country Championships Final field in 2025:

As expected, we saw a full field line up for the 2025 Country Championships Final. We saw 16 runners confirmed, on top of seven emergencies. In the end, we didn’t see any pre-race scratchings to any of the confirmed 16 runners, this meant that none of the emergencies were able to book their spot in the starting barriers.

You’ll find that in horse racing, scratchings are pretty commonplace. It’s annoying but there are many reasons a runner could be scratched and they happen at any time. This is why you should keep an eye on things, especially if you’ve placed a bet on the race.

Something else you should look into, especially when it comes to capacity fields, is the barrier draw. Runners will usually have a preference of which barrier they’d like to start from and there are more successful barriers than others. The barrier a runner starts from can have a major impact on the race tactics that are deployed by the jockey.

With a race like the Country Championships Final, it can be a little difficult to do a proper form guide because there haven’t been enough editions to find patterns and key form indicators. Nevertheless, we have done our best here at OnlyRacing!

We’ve gone through all the races since 2015 and have been able to find some key pieces of information that could point you in the direction of a winner. As they say, the stats don’t lie! So, let’s take a look at some of the key pieces of information we’ve found in the Country Championships Final form guide!

When you look at races like the Country Championships Final and The Kosciuszko, which both feature country runners, results show that genuine quality almost always rises to the top. So, you shouldn’t simply look at the results of each runner’s previous races, but also the type of company they have been racing in.

Look for a runner that has legitimate class and wasn’t just lucky on the day to book their spot in the Country Championships Final. The runner should be on a Group-class level, or at least have the ability to win a metropolitan Saturday race.

Run at a distance of 1,400m, it’s a good idea to find a runner that has proven success at the distance. The race is usually run at a good tempo, so horses need to have enough in the tank to keep up at the beginning as well as enough to storm home at the end.

In the 11 editions of the Country Championships Final so far, there have only been two female winners, which include Asgarda in 2024 and Gracie Belle in 2020. In 2025, we saw Know Thyself win the Country Championships Final as a 4YO gelding.

Favourites haven’t had a good run of it either, in fact, only two favourites have won the race, which were Art Cadeau (2021) and Noble Boy (2019). There have also been four double-digit winners of the race. The 2025 winner, Know Thyself, wasn’t the pre-race favourite, but he was one of the more favoured runners, jumping with odds of $5.00.

Some unique horses have competed and won the Country Championships Final. While the whole point of the race is to shine a light on country horses, it means that they may not have the same sort of quality as other races. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that they are still great runners.

The Country Championships Final has been running for a few years now and we’ve made a couple of cuts to feature some of the horses that we think you’d like to learn a little bit more about. Check out some of the Country Championships Final horses featured here:

Artlee - 2015

Just have to feature Artlee in this section as the first-ever winner of the Country Championships Final. Throughout his career, Artlee placed in a Group 2 and a Group 3. He contested two Group 1s but was unplaced in both. In the end, he had a career record of 21:6-1-3 which helped him gain over $400K in prize money.

Clearly Innocent - 2016

A winner in the 2016 Country Championships Final who also went on to have Group 1 success! Clearly Innocent also won the Kingsford Smith Cup in 2017. He also managed a third place in another Group 1 race, the Stradbroke Handicap again in 2017. These two races really helped bump up his career prize money, which ended up being over $1.5 million.

Victorem - 2018

Victorem has to be one of the best country horses going around. Not only did he win the Country Championships Final in 2018, but he also went on to finish second in another country-only race, The Koscsiczko. He has a career record of 24:7-4-4 and had a bit of success at Group 3 level.

Noble Boy - 2019

TNoble Boy had a 33% win strike rate throughout his career, which included a win in the Country Championships Final in 2019. While he never contested a Group 1, he did achieve third place in a Group 3, which was the Chatham Stakes in 2019. In the end, Noble Boy amassed a total of over $700K in prize money.

Art Cadeau - 2021

Art Cadeau certainly won the right races because he has gained a total prize money bank of over $1.3 million so far. At the time of writing, Art Cadeau has a career record of 30:7-7-2 which includes the win in the 2021 Country Championships Final. He hasn't contested a Group 1 or Group 2 yet but has placed at Group 3 level previously.

Are you looking for the Country Championships Final odds? Well, you’ve found the right section! If the odds are available for the race, you’ll find all the details here. With a race like the Country Championships Final, all the best horse racing betting apps will open markets for you to bet on.

Something important to know about horse racing odds is that they are always changing. You might check one day and then the next, noticing a significant difference in the price. Many things go into an odds change in horse racing markets and you may even see different odds at different bookies for the same market.

Our top bookie, PlayUp, is yet to release their market for the Country Championships Final. Closer to race day, they will have plenty of different markets available for you to bet on, so there’s truly something for everyone. We do recommend, however, that you stick with what you feel most comfortable with though.

While we wait for the 2026 Country Championships Final odds to be released, you can check out all the 2025 odds here:

*Odds correct as of 03/04/2025.

Honestly, for a race like the Country Championships Final, there isn’t a lot of history to dig into. The race has only been running since 2015, but it’s an interesting and important concept that shines a light on country horses, jockeys and trainers.

The race provides connections an opportunity to showcase what they’ve got on one of the biggest stages going around - Day One of The Championships! The Championships is one of the biggest horse racing carnivals on the calendar and there are so many eyeballs on the races at Randwick for the two weeks of epic racing.

The inaugural edition of the Country Championships Final was won by Artlee and the race itself was created by Racing NSW as part of their Sydney Autumn Carnival revamp. The race has gone from strength to strength each year and now garners a lot of attention from the metropolitan area that gets to see horses they may not have necessarily seen before.

For the Country Championships Final, several eligibility requirements must be met for each runner. Firstly, the runner needs to be in the care of a NSW country trainer and in a current stable that is in one of the country's racing regions. 

The runner must remain in the care of the trainer in an eligible country racing region for 12 months after the Country Championships Final. If not, it will result in a penalty which could mean disqualification as well as the withdrawal of prize money.

While the Country Championships Final isn’t technically a Group 1, there are plenty of other Group 1s and key races that you can learn more about, if you wish. All you need to do is check out our Group One races list for all the important details!

We all want to know who won the 2026 Country Championships Final! Who is the best country horse going around? Well, until the Country Championships Final has been run and won, we don’t know the answer to those questions! But we will bring you all the details as soon as we can!

Looking back to 2025, Know Thyself won the Country Championships Final and was one of the more favoured runners, going around with odds of $5.00. He finished just 0.1L ahead of Lisztomania, who ended up finishing in second place.

Filling in the final minor placings was Fukubana, who jumped from the widest barrier of them all. The pre-race favourite, Gallant Star, finished in fourth place. In the end, the race was run in a time of 1:21.74 and there was 42.7L that split the entire field.

Check out the full Country Championships Final results here:

You know where each runner finished in the Country Championships Final, but now it’s time to watch the full race replay, so you can relive all the action of the race:

Want to know the winner of every single edition of the Country Championships Final? Well, you can check them all out here:

Have you got some last-minute burning questions about the Country Championships Final? This section will, hopefully, answer any and all final questions you have about the race. Check out our FAQs here: