Surface Turf Qualification Two year old Sponsor BMW (2016) | Track Right-handed Distance 1,600 m Purse 600,000 AUD (2016) | |
 | ||
Location Eagle Farm Racecourse
Brisbane, Australia Inaugurated 1893 (as The Claret Stakes) Race type Thoroughbred - Flat racing | ||
The J. J. Atkins, registered as the T.J. Smith Stakes is a Brisbane Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race horse race for two-year-olds run at set weights over a distance of 1600 metres at Eagle Farm Racecourse, Brisbane in June during the Queensland Winter Racing Carnival. Total prizemoney is A$600,000.
Contents
Due to track reconstruction of Eagle Farm Racecourse for the 2014–15 racing season the event is transferred to Doomben Racecourse.
Race history
The race was for long considered the premier two-year-old race of the Brisbane Winter Carnival. It has been renamed several times since its inaugural running as The Claret Stakes. In 1999 the race name was renamed after legendary trainer T.J. Smith. In 2013 the race was once again renamed to honour Queensland trainer Jim Atkins who won every major staying race in the Brisbane area except a QTC Oaks - a race in which he had seven minor placegetters. He won the Brisbane premiership four times.