The Group 1 $2 million Ladbrokes Manikato Stakes (1200m) lights up The Valley on Friday night with a top-class field of 13 to face off in the important spring sprint race.

Heading the latest Manikato Stakes 2024 odds online at race sponsor Ladbrokes.com.au is the Ciaron Maher-trained Growing Empire at $4.80.

The untapped, three-year-old Zoustar colt looks to be going from strength-to-strength chasing his fifth consecutive win now up in grade and ready to fire from a midfield gate seven draw.

Master hoop Craig Williams has the Group 1 ride on the favourite on Friday night chasing his third Manikato Stakes win in six years following recent success aboard Loving Gaby (2019) and Bella Nipotina (2022).

Both of those were co-trained by Maher who looks to have a huge chance with Growing Empire this season.

The youngster is third-up and fit now off back-to-back lead-up wins including his latest at Flemington with 58.5kg in Black-Type company.

He is a previous stakes winner at Moonee Valley and will relish the drop back to with 52kg here ticking plenty of boxes.

Maher has a stranglehold on the Manikato Stakes field numbers wise this spring with a total of four final acceptors.

Joining the top elect are stablemates Southport Tycoon ($19) who won the Group 1 Australian Guineas back in March, Recommendation ($12) who comes off a hat-trick of victories this campaign, and early market mover Estriella ($6.50) coming off a Group 1 Moir Stakes fourth last time out at the track.

Occupying the second line of Manikato betting in 2024 at $5 is the Peter Moody & Katherine Coleman-trained I Wish I Win with work to do out wide in gate 12 for jockey Luke Nolen.

The six-year-old son of Savabeel has amassed just shy of $11.9 million in prizemoney to date.

He is a former Golden Eagle champion, The Everest runner-up and a two-time Group 1 winner after his Kingsford Smith Cup win in Brisbane over the winter.

I Wish I Win ran first-up in the Moir running just a length back fifth in a blanket finish behind Mornington Glory and he’ll be fitter for the run and ready for the 1200m now.

Following closely at Manikato Stakes odds of $5.50 is another eye-catching Moir Stakes graduate, Clinton McDonald‘s Group 1 Blue Diamond winning filly Hayasugi.

She carries just 50kg from an ideal barrier two draw with Jamie Kah aboard looking to go one better than her second fresh here against similar company in the Moir.

Hayasugi showed she had taken no ill effects from her horror Golden Slipper performance in the autumn and can set herself up as a star and potential 2024 The Everest contender on Friday night.

The 2024 Ladbrokes Manikato Stakes is scheduled as Moonee Valley Race 7 at 9:15pm (AEST) on Friday night.

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2024 Ladbrokes Manikato Stakes Final Field & Barrier Draw

No	Last 10	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Probable Weight	Penalty	Hcp Rating
1	1x32x321x5	I WISH I WIN (NZ)	Peter G Moody & Katherine Coleman	Luke Nolen	12	58.5kg			117
2	1525x1421x	VEIGHT	Tony & Calvin McEvoy	Damian Lane	9	58.5kg			112
3	312366×111	RECOMMENDATION	Ciaron Maher	Michael Dee	5	58.5kg			105
4	129x2219x5	SOUTHPORT TYCOON	Ciaron Maher	Mark Zahra	3	58.5kg			108
5	4x271280x7	JOHNNY ROCKER	Nick Ryan	Ben Melham	13	58.5kg			103
6	1395x113x9	CABALLUS	Bjorn Baker	Joshua Parr	8	58.5kg			90
7	70x01166x8	CHAIN OF LIGHTNING	Peter G Moody & Katherine Coleman	Ethan Brown	4	56.5kg			114
8	226x1115x4	ESTRIELLA	Ciaron Maher	Blake Shinn	10	56.5kg			105
9	232x1739x1	KIMOCHI	Gary Portelli	Jason Collett	6	56.5kg			100
10	9825x1213x	CLIMBING STAR (NZ)	Phillip Stokes	Daniel Stackhouse	11	56.5kg			109
11	1x10323x6	COLEMAN	Matt Laurie	Kerrin McEvoy	1	52kg			103
12	211×11	GROWING EMPIRE	Ciaron Maher	Craig Williams	7	52kg			96
13	24x1110x2	HAYASUGI	Clinton McDonald	Ms Jamie Kah	2	50kg			107

Table Credit: Racing Australia. 

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