Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott’s jumps champ Teofilo Star is set to line-up favourite when he moves to flat racing at Eagle Farm on Saturday in the Brisbane Cup 2023.
Top hurdler Teofilo Star is favourite in 2023 Brisbane Cup betting over the two miles this weekend. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.
The Group 2 $400,000 Brisbane Cup (3200m) is one of the country’s genuine two-mile cup races and runs as part of Queensland’s bumper Stradbroke Handicap Day program this weekend.
The Brisbane Cup field feature 16 stayers with markets at Ladbrokes.com.au led by in-form hurdler Teofilo Star at $3.20.
The five-year-old is drawn the inside alley chasing a fourth win on the bounce.
He won back-to-back jumps racings over 3200m and 3400m respectively with the big weights back in May before a huge performance at Flemington in a Benchmark 100 flat race on June 3.
Teofilo Star dominated down to 53kg over 2520m at headquarters saluting by six-lengths – form he is now hoping to bring up to the sunshine state for the Brisbane Cup.
Jockey Tim Clark has the ride with the horse weighted favourably again carrying 53kg in the Group 2 and looks a hard to beat favourite.
Following closely in Brisbane Cup betting this winter are the Chris Waller-trained stablemates Kukeracha ($4.80) carrying the equal 58kg top-weight and Al Aabir ($5.50) with 53.5kg.
Night Of Thunder five-year-old Kukeracha comes into the Brisbane Cup on the back of a confidence boosting win having narrowly taken out the Group 3 Premier’s Cup (2400m) here with 56.5kg on May 27.
Al Aabir meanwhile is also a last start winner with the Sea The Stars four-year-old boasting a top strike-rate at the Eagle Farm track (3:2-1-0).
The progressive gelding returns to Brisbane after two Rosehill runs with the latest seeing him win the Listed Winter Cup (2400m) on June 3.
Waller chases his third Brisbane Cup trophy having won the race back in 2013 with Moriarty and last year with Irish Sequel, and this weekend he also saddles-up a third hopeful in market mover Selino ($9.50).
It has been a while between drinks for the seven-year-old stayer whose latest win was over two years ago in the 2021 Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m).
He is a proven stayer however, was far from disgraced when sixth in this year’s Sydney Cup at 80/1, and he was also solid through the line at Flemington on May 13 running fifth in the Listed Ramsden Stakes (2800m) with 58.5kg.
Other notable Brisbane Cup hopefuls at longer odds include the Matthew Smith-trained Sydney Cup runner-up from April True Marvel ($11) coming off a big 3200m win in the wet in a hurdle event on May 30, Anthony & Sam Freedman’s 2019 Victoria Derby champion Warning ($14), and Outlandos ($19) who drops seven kilos off his narrow last start Rosehill win when carrying 60kg.
The Brisbane Cup 2023 is set to run as Eagle Farm Race 4 at 1:28pm (AEST) with full markets thanks to Ladbrokes.com.au available by clicking here.
2023 Brisbane Cup Final Field & Barrier Draw
| No | Last 10 | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Barrier | Weight | Probable Weight | Penalty | H Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 90627×0531 | KUKERACHA (NZ) | Chris Waller | James McDonald | 2 | 58kg | 102 | ||
| 2 | 3445051449 | PLATINUM INVADOR (NZ) | Lisa Latta | Ryan Elliot (a) | 16 | 58kg | 102 | ||
| 3 | 8408×00065 | SELINO (GB) | Chris Waller | Nash Rawiller | 13 | 57.5kg | 101 | ||
| 4 | 48×9722388 | NERVE NOT VERVE (NZ) | Michael Moroney | Michael McNab | 14 | 56.5kg | 103 | ||
| 5 | 2505230281 | TRUE MARVEL (FR) | Matthew Smith | Kerrin McEvoy | 8 | 55kg | 96 | ||
| 6 | 885x78x000 | SOUTHERN (IRE) | Matthew Smith | Jordan Childs | 4 | 54kg | 94 | ||
| 7 | 118×112231 | AL AABIR (IRE) | Chris Waller | Michael Dee | 5 | 53.5kg | 93 | ||
| 8 | 074506×004 | WARNING | Anthony & Sam Freedman | Jason Collett | 10 | 53.5kg | 93 | ||
| 9 | 0x01232111 | TEOFILO STAR (IRE) | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Tim Clark | 1 | 53kg | 90 | ||
| 10 | 3408349841 | OUTLANDOS | John Sargent | Tyler Schiller (a) | 12 | 53kg | 84 | ||
| 11 | 0451100016 | TAPPY’S LAD (NZ) | Kerry Taplin | Mark Du Plessis | 7 | 53kg | 84 | ||
| 12 | 42×5650705 | YAPHET | Cliff Brown | Ben Thompson | 6 | 53kg | 84 | ||
| 13 | 3x9x698156 | LONG ARM (IRE) | Peter Gelagotis | Craig Williams | 9 | 53kg | 82 | ||
| 14 | 49×7612207 | SOUTHERN STOCK (NZ) | Chris Munce | Kyle Wilson-Taylor | 15 | 53kg | 78 | ||
| 15 | 15×6073604 | ESSENTIAL SKY (NZ) | John Sargent | Ms Rachel King | 3 | 53kg | 71 | ||
| 16 | 2410×57308 | CREDIT CRUNCH | Matthew Smith | Damien Thornton | 11 | 53kg | 70 |
Table Credit: Racing Australia.
