Group 1 race days over the spring carnival are a punters’ dream and often following the money trail can prove a winning move, so who are the fans backing in 2017 Caulfield Cup betting his afternoon?
Triple figure outsider He’s Our Rokkii is one of the best backed horses in the 2017 Caulfield Cup field – just in case! Photo: Steve Hart.
- Group 1 $3.15 million BMW Caulfield Cup (2400m)
- Caulfield Race 8
- 4:30pm (AEDT)
- 17 starters
- Favourite: #3 Johannes Vermeer ($4.80)
- Roughie: #5 He’s Our Rokkii ($101)
Best Backed Horses to Win the 2017 Caulfield Cup:
#7 Ventura Storm
- $13 into $10
#2 Marmelo
- $19 into $16
#5 He’s Our Rokkii
- $201 into $101
The Lindsay Park-trained stable saddle-up four Caulfield Cup horses today including the market mover Ventura Storm.
Chasing his first win down under, the Zoffany entire is into $10 after being found around $13 yesterday and is ridden by four-time Caulfield Cup winning hoop Damien Oliver.
Venture Storm has Group 1 winning form at a mile and a half in Italy, has upside and is set to peak today.
He is also drawn a treat in barrier four and has Australian Racing Hall of Fame trainer David Hayes’ tick of approval.
The Aidan O’Brien-trained Irish raider Johannes Vermeer is easing $4.80 favourite, but no Caulfield Cup winning import has done so at single-figures.
The punters though are coming for another raider in the Caulfield Cup field, with the Hughie Bowman-ridden, Hughie Morrison-trained Marmelo into $16.
He could be found as long as $26 earlier, before steadily firming after some good post-gallop commentary from Bowman.
The Duke Of Marmalade stallion is a genuine stayer targeting the ‘race that stops a nation’ on the first Tuesday of November.
True, the Melbourne Cup may be more to this five-year-old’s liking, but with owner Lloyd Williams confirming a hot pace to be set from Sir Isaac Newton this afternoon it will be a genuinely run Caulfield Cup.
That will work in favour of the last start Group 2 Prix Kergorlay winner Marmelo, so it’s not had to see why there has been late love for him in the markets.
The other firmer is the triple-figure roughie He’s Our Rokkii.
There is always that feeling of “what if” in the back of punters’ minds on a juicy priced galloper around $100 for the upset.
Trainer Darren Weir took out the Melbourne Cup just two years ago with 100/1 shot Prince Of Penzance (2015) so of course anything is possible.
When it comes to upset Caulfield Cup results from the past 30 years, the biggest was in 1998 when European visitor Taufan’s Melody did it at 66/1.
Since then the longest priced Caulfield Cup winner was also European-trained, All The Good (40/1) ridden to victory by Kerrin McEvoy.
It’s had to make a winning case for He’s Our Rokkii however after the Lindsay Park-trained outsider’s back-to-back eighths including behind Classic Uniform in last Saturday’s Group 3 Craven Plate (2000m) in Sydney.
Check out the latest Caulfield Cup 2017 betting markets and see who the movers and shakers are for the opening leg of the Spring Cups double now at Ladbrokes.com.au.
