When you think of a valuable Group 1 handicap on the Flat in Australia, the Sydney Cup probably isn’t the first that pops into your head. Despite sharing the Melbourne Cup trip of 3,200m, the Royal Randwick staying feature doesn’t quite have the same global profile as its Flemington counterpart.
Those who have followed Flat thoroughbred horse racing in Europe in recent years will recognise plenty of names exported Down Under lining up, though. At current exchange rates, winning the Sydney Cup equates to over £571,000 in prize money.
This isn’t “the race that stops a nation”, but if you fancy getting up early at 6:15am BST on Saturday, 12 April, you can watch something similar. Framing the handicap this year is erstwhile Dermot Weld inmate Duke De Sessa from a couple of French imports in Arapaho and Zarir.
Last year’s Sydney Cup winner Circle Of Fire is next in the weights, 4lb or so worse off with the runner-up Athabascan. Just a couple of years ago, Sir Michael Stoute campaigned the former as a British Classic contender. And it goes on.
Most of the field started their careers trained in Europe in the UK, Ireland or across the Channel. With first place worth more than last weekend’s Grand National at home, it’s easy to see why there’s such an influx of talent to Australian owners.
Traders on British horse racing betting sites are in the unique position of knowing a thing or two about these horses already. With so few top-level long distance races forming part of the programme Down Under, their subsequent careers might not shed so much light on thing.
Maher Pair Have it to Do if Wanting to Enhance Recent Sydney Cup Record
Team Valor would like to congratulate our partner in recent Gr2 SA Oaks winner, Frances Ethel, Perry Sambor, on winning the Gr1 Sydney Cup with Circle Of Fire. That’s two staying races in two Southern Hemisphere countries on consecutive Saturday’s.
📹 Sky Thoroughbred Central pic.twitter.com/dHOtXq2VAy
— Team Valor (@TeamValor) April 13, 2024
Three of the last five renewals went to Ciaron Maher, albeit a couple in partnership with David Eustace. Now going it alone as a trainer, he saddled Circle Of Fire to success 12 months ago. As noted above, however, the defending champ is worse off at the weights with the runner-up.
After shaping like a stayer for Stoute in 2023 when third in the Lingfield Derby Trial and fourth in the Queen’s Vase, Circle Of Fire became yet another British horse shipped off Down Under. He hasn’t been gelded, yet races on after a couple of Randwick successes this time last year.
The Spring Carnival yielded nothing better than sixth place in the Melbourne Cup from the wide draw of stall 23. Circle Of Fire should certainly benefit from going back up in trip after minor honours at Rosehill, but a half-stone hike and jumping from a high gate again demands plenty more of him in the Sydney Cup this time.
Duke De Sessa is the other Maher run this year, meanwhile. Connections of the 2024 Caulfield Cup hero opted against a tilt at the Melbourne Cup in favour of more middle-distance action, but he bumped into old rival Via Sistina.
Now upped in trip for the Sydney Cup for first time since a narrow third in the Group 2 Prix du Chaudenay on Arc Weekend as a three-year-old in the autumn of 2022, Duke De Sessa could still have untapped potential as a stayer.
A low draw doesn’t historically seem to be an issue, so it is more a matter of weight. Duke De Sessa finished ahead of his stable companion Circle Of Fire when runner-up in the Tancred Stakes last time, but now concedes 4lb to him with just a couple of lengths between them.
Waller Runs Eight
#Qatar @Q_REC Prix de Royallieu (Gr1, F, 3ans et +, 2800m) #parislongchamp @Longines
La 3 ans Grateful (Galileo) @coolmorestud vient s’imposer au prix d’un rush étourdissant. Bonne finisseuse également, River of Stars (Sea The Stars) vient prendre la deuxième place à Mistral… pic.twitter.com/a44nM1yQQB
— France Galop (@francegalop) October 5, 2024
Chris Waller has eight horses running in the Sydney Cup of 2025. It’s a scattergun approach, but how can you criticise it with four wins in the last decade with the latest in 2021 courtesy of Selino?
Who from the Waller battalions is familiar to European horse racing fans? Former Ralph Beckett inmate River Of Stars is one of two in the Yu Long Investments silks carried worldwide. This mare stays 1m 6f and has only tried further twice.
Back on Arc Weekend last autumn, River Of Stars finished an honourable second to Grateful conceding weight for age in the Group 1 Prix de Royallieu. On that form and other European pattern performances, she is worth her place off a low weight from a middle draw.
Birdman, once of the Jessica Harrington stable, is another of Waller’s magnificent seven to note. An unlucky tw0-length third in the Queen’s Vase during Royal Ascot last summer, he couldn’t run in any Classics because he’s a gelding.
Birdman has twice finished behind re-opposing rival Alalcance here at Randwick in Group handicaps. Although worse off at the weights with the winner, the longer distance of the Sydney Cup may prove key to his hopes.
Waller saddles plenty more Franco-Anglo-Irish imports here with Zarir highest in the handicap. Francesco Guardi, Tajanis, Valiant King and Mr Waterville lower down the weights. Domestic horse Strathtay completes the eight.
Mr Waterville won the Irish Cesarewitch as a three-year-old and hasn’t run over this longer trip since leaving Europe. The task for Waller is finding enough jockeys to ride all of his horses.
Alalcance the Form Horse in Sydney Cup
“Alalcance is galloping them into submission again.”
Was that a preview of what we’ll see in the Sydney Cup in seven days? The @GaiWaterhouse1 & Adrian Bott mare outstays them in the Chairman’s Quality at Randwick beating Birdman and Valiant King. @tabcomau pic.twitter.com/9qmRy9SYvE
— Racing NSW (@racing_nsw) April 5, 2025
Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott are a training combination who also know what it takes to win this. Their in-form runner Alalcance is another import from Harrington, but given time to acclimatise to life in Australia.
While the mare’s Irish form doesn’t tell us much, she has won two Group handicaps at Randwick. Alalcance meets Birdman on slightly better terms here. This longer trip poses a different question, but her pedigree suggests it won’t be a problem.
Alalcance is by Mastercraftsman out of a Galileo mare, so the stamina comes from the dam’s side. Two more stables follow Maher’s example and run a couple in the Sydney Cup of 2025, meanwhile.
Mick Price & Michael Kent have 2023 Prix Gladiateur winner Lastotchka up in trip after a couple of runs around Randwick behind Alalcance. They also saddle impressive 2024 Queensland Derby hero Warmonger in the line-up.
Kris Lees has a couple of older horses too. Age Of Sail, formerly with Gary Moore, ran fourth to Alalcance last time out, but Cleveland looks the more interesting back up in trip. He won the 2022 Chester Cup when in the care of Aidan O’Brien and goes back over a longer distance again.
As with Age Of Sail, Cleveland ran fourth behind Alalcance in the first of the Group handicaps at Randwick. That horse’s form could well prove key to hopes of other Sydney Cup contenders this year too.
