Early Favourites For The 2022 Melbourne Cup

Early Favourites For The 2022 Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Cup is the most prestigious race on the Australian horse racing calendar. It is a Group 1, 3200m turf race and is held at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne on the first Tuesday of November. It is one of the most-watched horse races in the world and everyone wants a piece of the action when it comes to predicting the winners.

The 2022 Australian horse racing calendar has been underway for a while now and pundits are keeping a close eye on all races and horses, following their progress in order to make an informed decision on which horses may be the favourites for the 2022 Melbourne Cup. While it is still early on and the Melbourne Cup nominations aren’t released until August, there is no reason not to investigate early favourites. Of course, looking at the previous years’ winners is a good place to start.

The ones to watch

11-time Group 1 race winner Verry Elleegant won the Melbourne Cup in 2021 and is looking to be a strong contender for another win in 2022. Taking second place in the 2021 Melbourne Cup, Incentivise could also be a serious contender in this year’s Spring Races, despite sustaining injuries after the Melbourne Cup race. Owner Brae Sokolski has said the horse is recovering well and would be back bigger and better than ever for the 2022 Spring Racing Carnival.

Up-and-coming horses such as Duais, trained by prominent trainer Edward Cummings, son of famously successful Bart Cummings, also look promising with recent Group 1 wins at both Flemington and Newcastle.

Profondo, out of Warwick Farm, is a 3-year-old Australian colt that has been showing promise especially since its Group 1 win at the Royal Randwick racecourse in October of 2021. This type of performance is not surprising since it was sired by Japanese thoroughbred champion Deep Impact, who won the Japanese Triple Crown in 2005.

Promising trainers

Looking at the trainers is also important if you want to bet on the Melbourne Cup in 2022 and have a chance of cleaning up. Trainers such as Chris Waller, who trained champions such as Verry Elleegant, Nature Strip and the legendary Winx, to name but a few, is considered the best in the country. James Cummings, son of the legendary Bart Cummings, is also considered to be a top trainer in Australia so any horses he has trained that are running in Group 1 races should be taken into account.

Gai Waterhouse, known as the “first lady of Australian racing” has trained 149 Group 1 winners since 1994 and is the daughter of legendary trainer TJ Smith, who trained champion horses such as Tulloch and Kingston Town. So success runs in the blood for some of these trainers and Waterhouse herself has won the Melbourne Cup in past with Fiorente in 2013.

Automatic entries

Other ways in which horses can make their way into the main race include certain ballot exempt races, which are races that come with an automatic entry into the Melbourne Cup for the winners. Currently, there are 5 races where wins come with an automatic place in this year’s Melbourne Cup including:

  • The Andrew Ramsden Stakes
  • The Bart Cummings
  • The Caulfield Cup
  • The Cox Plate
  • The Lexus Hotham Stakes

It is important to remember as the main Melbourne Cup race grows closer, the latest odds will change depending on many factors, including weight, injuries and previous performances. Either way, the races become even more exciting throughout the year as you try to guess, based on all these different factors, who could end up winning the Melbourne Cup.

 

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