The Geelong Cup is one of the final stops before the Melbourne Cup and one of the last tests for the hopeful contenders to gauge their form and take a big performance into the pointy end of the Spring Carnival. Join The Roar from 4pm (AEDT) for all the live race updates and results.
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Despite being a shortened nine-horse field after the scratchings of Who Shot Thebarman and Arab Dawn, the Cup can still boast a strong field of local and international talent.
Grey Lion and Oceanographer are the two favourites coming into the race but, along with Kinema, will all be making their debuts on Australian soil.
Just in the last 24 hours, Oceanographer has been shortened up by the bookies into equal favouritism alongside Grey Lion. Both horses are now sitting at $3.60 despite the latter holding the market advantage during the build up.
Recovering well from quarantine over in the UK and a long trip down under, Oceanographer is coming into the Cup with some strong form behind him.
The gelding has nabbed three wins from his last six starts on similar distances, and the firmer surface of the Geelong track should suit him underfoot.
Grey Lion isn’t far behind, though.
Despite a poor last start that saw the five-year-old drop-off and finish dead last at the Prix Kergorlay in France, he’s presented well at the practice runs since arriving in Australia and looks to be in strong shape despite the tiring travel schedule.
A pair of last-place finishes in his last three starts shouldn’t take away from the hot streak Grey Lion was on before preparing for the Cup.
The Irish horse ploughed through his European competition this year, taking out four wins and two place finishes from seven starts and rightly comes into the Geelong Cup as the equal favourite.
Kinema and Qewy round out the top four overseas runners in the field.
While Kinema had a rough last start at the Ebor Handicap, struggling to fight through traffic mid-race to finish 11th, Qewy has proven to be one of the best chances to dethrone the two favourites.
With six place finishes in his last eight starts, Qewy has consistency written all over him and has settled into the Australian conditions nearly better than anyone.
Black Tomahawk looks to be the best of the Australian runners, sharing the same consistent form of Qewy, having picked up a place finish (but no wins) in his last seven races on the trot.
Prediction
It’s a tough call in such a short field with so many international runners who have never jumped the barriers on Australian soil.
Grey Lion has been heavily backed in the last few days, but Oceanographer would be my pick from the international contingent.
The track conditions and distance should suit him well and he’s had a very impressive recovery from the trip down under after some strong runs over in Europe earlier in the year.
Watch for Qewy and possibly Black Tomahawk to come through and challenge for the place finishes alongside Grey Lion.
It should be fairly tight on the final stretch with such a strong field of finishers despite only having nine runners.
1. Oceanographer
2. Qewy
3. Grey Lion
4. Black Tomahawk
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