The Sydney Cup is a Group 1 Turf Club thoroughbred handicap horse race in Australia. It is a race for horses three years or older and it is run over 3,200 miles at the Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia. It takes place in the autumn as part of the ATC championships series and is the longest race in the club.
Last year, Who Shot Thebarman won the Sydney Cup. He was followed by Zacada and Sir Charles Road. This year an exciting cast of horses are set to compete for the 2019 Sydney Cup. Check out our horse racing betting tips.
Here are the complete odds to win the 2019 Sydney Cup. Odds taken from bet365 as of 4/10/19:
Horses | Odds |
---|---|
Dubhe | +250 |
Big Duke | +800 |
Midterm | +800 |
Shraaoh | +1200 |
Yogi | +1200 |
Red Cardinal | +1200 |
Sound | +1600 |
Sir Charles Road | +2500 |
Brimham Rocks | +3300 |
Patrick Erin | +3300 |
Semari | +3300 |
The Taj Mahal | +5000 |
Doukhan | +5000 |
Fairlight | +6600 |
Top Of The Range | +6600 |
Vengeur Masque | +6600 |
Zacada | +10000 |
Rodrico | +10000 |
Dubhe is a four-year old bay gelding trained by Charlie Appleby and based in New Market. Sired by the stallion Dubawi out of the dam Great Heavens, he’s won three races in only seven starts. The Godolphin horse won the February 7th Al Naboodah Honeywell Partnership Handicap at Meydan, his first victory at a distance of 3200m. This will be his first start in Australia.
Irish bred Big Duke is a proven runner at this distance. The seven year old finished second in both the Manion Cup and the Tancred Stakes. He finished third in the 2017 Sydney Cup so that’s another plus on his resume. Midterm, like Dubhe, has been described as improving although he’s never won a race in Australia. He finished fourth in the in the Group III Geelong Cup over 2400m and was 5th in the Group I The Metropolitan also at 2400m. Shraaoh finished second in the 2600m Royal Randwick R5 Chairman’s Quality Cup HCP and Royal Randwick R9 Randwick City Stakes at 2000m. Yogi was 8th in the recent Australian Cup which was raced over 2000m and 8th in the H E Tancred Stakes, both Group 1 races. Red Cardinal finished a disappointing 7th at the Tancred Stakes last March 30th but prior to that, he won his two other races of 2019. Both of his victories came with a lot of pace up front. They went slow in the Tancred and that blew his chance of winning.
Barrier Assignments
As in any horse race, the barrier assignments play a factor in the race because some barriers have produced more winners than the others. Here are the barrier stats for the Sydney Cup:
Barrier Number | Number of Wins |
---|---|
1 | 2 |
2 | 4 |
3 | 2 |
4 | 4 |
5 | 3 |
6 | 2 |
7 | 2 |
8 | 9 |
9 | 1 |
10 | 3 |
11 | 2 |
12 | 1 |
18 | 1 |
If you’re interested in knowing the result of the 2019 Sydney Cup Barrier draw, here it is:
Barrier | Horse | Jockey | Weight |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Rondinella (NZ) | Sam Clipperton | 51kg |
2 | Doukhan (IRE) | Andrew Gibbons | 51kg |
3 | Shraaoh (IRE) | Jay Ford | 51kg |
4 | Dubhe (GB) | Kerrin McEvoy | 52.5kg |
5 | Patrick Erin (NZ) | Glyn Schofield | 54.5kg |
6 | Semari (NZ) | Tim Clark | 51 kg |
7 | Gallic Chieftain (FR) | Glen Boss | 51.5 kg |
8 | Taj Mahal ( IRE) | James McDonald | 56kg |
9 | Midterm (GB) | Jamie Kah | 52.5kg |
10 | Rodrico | James Innes Jr. | 51 kg |
11 | Fair Light (IRE) | 51kg | |
12 | Zacada (NZ) | Ms. Kathy O’ Hara | 52kg |
13 | Sound (GER) | Damian Lane | 55.5kg |
14 | Brimham Rocks (GB) | Tommy Berry | 53kg |
15 | Yogi (NZ) | Craig Williams | 53kg |
16 | Vengeur Masque (IRE) | Damien Oliver | 54kg |
17 | Top of The Range (NZ) | Michael Dee | 51 kg |
18 | Red Cardinal (IRE) | Jason Collett | 54kg |
19 | Glory Days (NZ) | Corey Brown | 52kg |
20 | Sir Charles Road | Andrew Adkins | 53kg |
21 | Big Duke (IRE) | Brenton Avdulla | 54kg |
Who Wins?
Dubhe is described in the Godolphin website as a “Very useful Stayer” but isn’t in the same class as Cross Counter or Ispolini, at least not yet. However, he’s definitely improving and has been looking good since he arrived in Sydney last month. Also, Godolphin has already booked Kerrin McEvoy to ride Dubhe in Sydney. McEvoy is the jockey who rode Cross Counter to victory so there’s value there too. If you think that barrier number is a factor, Dubhe will be coming out of the second winningest barrier- barrier 4 which has produced four Sydney Cup winners.
Prediction: So yeah, Dubhe is my bet to win the 2019 Sydney Cup with Red Cardinal as my dark horse pick.