The Caulfield Cup barrier draw is done – and it some of the race favourites won’t be happy
Betsy’s Matt Welsh gives his quick fire analysis
ST GEORGE
Well, for mine, St. George’s the biggest winner of all. Gate 2, just in behind the speed and will get a lovely run.
ZAHRANN
His stablemate Zahrann’s drawn very well in gate 4 as well. The Maher horses have generally drawn quite well.
HALF YOURS
Last year’s winner Half Yours will get a perfect run from gate seven. Mark Zahra can put him exactly where he wants.
TREASURETHE MOMENT
Treasurethe Moment, who I’ve got a big query on how she’s going, but she’ll get every chance from gate five. She should settle first six.
KINGSWOOD
Well I know that Gavin Bedgood was keen to try and take a sit with Kingswood after he went hard in last week’s Might and Power. He’s drawn out in gate twenty, so that’s not ideal.
Do they roll the dice, go forward, or do they go back and maybe take their medicine? They’re going to end up a long way back if they want to try and take a sit.
KNIGHT’S CHOICE
Knight’s Choice’s barrier 22 is terrible as well. Robbie Dolan’s got a big choice to make early in the race for a horse that could sort of settle first dozen from a good draw, you suspect he’s going to get a long way back from gate twenty-two.
ENFJAAR
Interesting draw for Enfjaar, one of the internationals in the race. Gate 1 hasn’t won since 1941.
They might try and use him up from gate one, get a spot right in behind the speed. If he gets buried away on the fence he will need the cards to fall his way. Regular rider Ray Dawson knows the horse well, but he doesn’t know Caulfield!
WINE DARK SEA
Another international, Wine Dark Sea, has drawn gate 19 and has been very well backed after Damian Lane gave him a really positive report out of track work. I suspect Damian will probably try and push forward from that gate, he would have loved to have obviously drawn you know gate four, five, six, seven, eight.
COSMIC CRUSADER
Cosmic Crusader gets gate 17. So he’s going to jump from gate 14, assuming the four emergencies come out.
It’s sticky. You suspect he’s probably going to end up well and truly in the second half for the field. I don’t think they’re going to want to use him up from that wide draw first time out to the 2400m. So Willie Pike, a naturally conservative rider, will likely look to settle in the back eight of the field and look to get on his bike down the side.
For mine, his chances have definitely drifted with the gate, but he’s in terrific form and on the Turnbull win it’s hard to see why he won’t run out the 2400m.
