Geelong Cup News

2024 Geelong Cup Winner Onesmoothoperator Glides into Melbourne Cup Contention

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The Ladbrokes Geelong Cup is a Group 3 race held at Geelong Racecourse – currently known as Ladbrokes Geelong – towards the end of October on a mid-week Wednesday, spring meeting.

Contested over the same mile and a half distance as the previous weekend’s Caulfield Cup (2400m), the Geelong Cup is an important race on the spring calendar and a top early Melbourne Cup form guide.

2024 Ladbrokes Geelong Cup Results

• 1st: #11 Onesmoothoperator ($11)
• 2nd: #8 Interpretation
• 3rd: #3 Muramasa

The Brian Ellison-trained raider, Onesmoothoperator ($11), joined in at the 250m moving up to the front-runner before hitting the lead and running away for a dominant two length win in the 2024 Ladbrokes Geelong Cup results making a mess of his rivals ahead of a potential Melbourne Cup bid on November 5.

Click here for the full story.

One of the major lead-up events to the iconic Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) over the two miles at Flemington on the first Tuesday of November, the Geelong Cup is targeted by foreign raiders and local hopefuls looking to make the 24-horse field for the ‘race that stops a nation’.

The Geelong Cup form has stacked-up a number of times in the Melbourne Cup results including a trio of internationals doing the double: Media Puzzle (2002), Americain (2010), and Dunaden (2011).

The Geelong Cup is held under handicap conditions and is open to horses of all ages and sexes. With $500,000 in prize money, this is a very lucrative Group 3 event.

The Geelong Cup is the headline event on its race day. It shares the race program with two Listed races including the Geelong Classic (2200m) for three-year-olds. The biggest event on the local racing calendar, it is a public holiday in Geelong on Cup Day.

One of the better lead-up races to the Geelong Cup is the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes (2400m) held at Caulfield a week and a half prior. Emissary (8th in 2022) was the last Geelong Cup winner to come off a run in the Herbert Power Stakes.

The Geelong Cup has long been considered a good guide to the Melbourne Cup, where many of the better contenders in the field end up. Indeed, due to the high correlation between successful runners in both cups, the Geelong Racing Club has adopted the slogan “Gateway to Glory”.

The 2022 Geelong Cup form was franked with the winner Emissary going on to run second in the Melbourne Cup results.

In 2023 the Geelong Cup runner-up Ashrun finished fourth to Without A Fight in the Melbourne Cup First Four at his next start. He further franked the Geelong Cup form the following year with a third in the Group 1 Tancred Stakes in Sydney in 2024.

The 2024 Ladbrokes Geelong Cup ran on Wednesday October 23, 2024 as a key Melbourne Cup lead-up race and was won in dominant fashion by Onesmoothoperator ($11) on debut down under.  

2024 Ladbrokes Geelong Cup Finishing Order

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

Ladbrokes Geelong Cup Betting

The latest Geelong Cup 2024 betting markets on the internationally rich field will be available at Ladbrokes.com.au for you to lock in your Geelong Cup tips at the best price this spring.

The Geelong Cup favourites saluted three times on the trot from 2019-21 with victories by Prince Of Arran, Steel Prince and Tralee Rose ($2.60) respectively.

There was a notable upset in 2022 with Emissary winning at Geelong Cup odds of $18, while in 2023 Amade won as a 10-year-old at a huge $31 price.

The 2024 Ladbrokes Geelong Cup winner Onesmoothoperator also won at double-figures paying $11 for the win.

2024 Ladbrokes Geelong Cup Form Guide

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL 2024 LADBROKES GEELONG CUP FORM GUIDE

2024 Ladbrokes Geelong Cup Tips

Stay tuned for our insider Geelong Cup 2024 Tips on the Melbourne Cup lead-up event this spring.

• To Win: #5 Herman Hesse ($16 at time of publish) – BET NOW
  

Cannot believe the price on Herman Hesse for trainer Ciaron Maher who won the interstate The Everest (Bella Nipotina) – Caulfield Cup (Duke De Sessa) double on Saturday. The horse and his horseman are both flying at 15/1 at time of publish is very generous. This in-form Frankel eight-year-old is still showing plenty of zest for racing chasing a hat-trick and coming off a solid 1.25 length win in the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes (2400m) over this distance at Caulfield. The obvious challenge and reason for the juicy odds is the rise in weight from 53.5kg there to 56kg on Wednesday. It is the most weight he’s carried in a year but Declan Bates knows the horse well and gets all the favours from gate one. Can surprise.

2024 Ladbrokes Geelong Cup Field

The Geelong Cup field attracts a star-studded list of both local and international stayers each Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival that are targeting the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m).

Runners in the Geelong Cup field may come off lead-up spring runs in races like Flemington’s Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m), the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes (2400m) or even the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) run just four days before Geelong Cup Day.

The Geelong Cup field usually features a broad selection of talented stayers from around the world. Largely made up of Victorian and foreign runners, the Geelong Cup race provides a fairly accurate indication of which horses are hoping for success in major staying events down the track. A large number of foreign horses enter the Geelong Cup for their first start in Australia in preparation for the Melbourne Cup.

The official Geelong Cup Field & Barriers are announced on the Monday of race week and will be provided in full here at Races.com.au once released by Racing Victoria.

The 2024 Ladbrokes Geelong Cup final field features a bumper line-up of spring stayers including 2019 Melbourne Cup champion Vow And Declare carrying the 58kg topweight and one of this year’s Melbourne Cup Golden Ticket holders – The Map – to be ridden by Jamie Kah.

Click here to read more on the key runners in the 2024 Ladbrokes Geelong Cup field and betting markets.

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

2024 Ladbrokes Geelong Cup Nominations

Early nominations for the Geelong Cup in 2024 close the Thursday prior to the race and will be published below.

The 2024 Ladbrokes Geelong Cup nominations attracted 40 potential Melbourne Cup-bound stayers led in all-in betting by Chris Waller’s lightly raced import Birdman yet to have an Australia start and his in-form stablemate Unusual Legacy coming off a third to another Waller runner – Land Legend – in Sydney’s Group 1 The Metropolitan (2400m).

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

Geelong Cup History

The Geelong Cup has a fairly extensive history, reaching back to 1872 when Flying Scud took out the inaugural edition. Originally raced over 16 furlongs, the Geelong Cup distance was adjusted to 2400m in 1972 when the country switched to the Metric System of measurements.

Initially a Principal race, the Geelong Cup was granted listed status in 1979. In 2002, it was upgraded to Group 3 and has retained that status since.

George Hanlon is the equal most prolific Geelong Cup winner with James Wilson, with a total of four Cups. Hanlon has also trained three Melbourne Cup winners and is justifiably included in the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.

The Melbourne Cup is always held on the first Tuesday in November, and the Geelong Cup is always held exactly thirteen days prior. As a result, the Geelong Cup usually falls on either the third or fourth Wednesday in October.

The Geelong Cup is famous for producing top winners.

Some of the more notable recent Geelong Cup winners include On A Jeune (2005), Leica Ding (2009), Americain (2010), Dunaden (2011), Ibicenco (2013), Qewy (2016), Prince Of Arran (2019), and Emissary (2022).

Geelong Cup results since 2000 are listed below.

Geelong Cup Results