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Adelaide Cup Day preview

The biggest day on the SA racing calendar is playing host to some of the best horses and jockeys from around the country on Monday at the 2019 TAB Adelaide Cup. With big fields and plenty of quality horses, it’s a racing fans dream day!

Lite’n to Strike twice?

One of the great races each year on Cup Day is the Listed C.S Hayes Memorial Cup over the mile. Last year’s winner Lite’n in My Veins returns to defend his crown but faces a pretty good field if he is to do so! Lite’n My Veins has a fantastic record at Morphettville with three wins and a third placing from four starts here and returns to the track after contesting both the Group 1 Rupert Clarke and Toorak Handicap in Melbourne across the Spring Carnival. He’s a genuine miler and should be tough to beat. He will have to come up against Group 1 Caulfield Guineas winner Mighty Boss, two-time Group 1 placegetter Seaburge and upcoming local horse Amberdi.  

Cup stats

Finding a winner in the Adelaide Cup can be tough! A full field of 20 horses with plenty of different form lines and many stepping up to the 3200m for the first time. Looking at the stats, it looks like we could see a roughie claim the Cup this year going on previous history!

In the last 12 years: 

  • No winner of the Cup has run worse than 5thin their last start
  • 11 of the 12 winners have come out of a Black Type race
  • Barriers 3 to 7 have produced 9 of the last 12 winners

So based on those stats, there are two horses that fit the Cup winning criteria and they are the Nick Smart trained October Date at $26 & the locally trained Aagas at $51!

A changing of the guard in the Matrice?

Former Matrice champion and four times Stakes winner Casino Wizard is hoping to replicate the feats of two years ago when he claimed the 2017 edition first-up from a spell. The eight-year-old is one of the most consistent South Australian horses but will face some stiff competition on Monday, particularly from one of our local rising stars in Schilldora. The filly had no issues winning first up as a $1.50 favourite at the start of last month before producing a huge run to finish fourth in the Group 3 Typhoon Tracy Stakes at Moonee Valley last start. While there are plenty of other great horses in the race on Monday, it will be a tantalizing contest between the old and the new in the Matrice.

Hot jock

William Pike – The ‘Wizard from the West’ is Australia’s leading jockey this season with 148 winners already to his name. Pike will have six rides on Monday’s card with four for Ryan Balfour and a seat on Mike Moroney’s $16 chance, Top of the Range in the Adelaide Cup. He also has a ride on one of the best roughies of the day in the Matrice Stakes, Grant Young’s Exalted Adam.

Trainer to watch

Will Clarken – The young trainer claimed two winners on Cup Day last year and will have the chance to replicate that on Monday with five good chances. Clarken has 19 Adelaide Metropolitan wins this season so far and is striking at a 26% win rate from his last 50 starts. Blue Morpho looks his best but Moghul Empire could also be one to watch in the last race of the day.

Best of the day

Race 1 #3 Despatch

It’s always nice to get a winner in the first to start off your day and Despatch from the Tony McEvoy year looks mighty tough to beat. Last year’s Listed Redelva Stakes winner is undefeated in his two runs first up and returns to the track for the first time in nine months on Monday. He’s been beautifully tuned up for this race with two recent trial wins and should give Barend Vorster his first win in his new hometown. 

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