On Wednesday February 23 the latest Group race feature of the 2011 Tasmanian Summer Racing Carnival will take place at Mowbray Racecourse in Launceston with the $225,000 Group 3 AAMI 2011 Launceston Cup (2400m).

The 2011 Launceston Cup has attracted a capacity 16-horse final field plus two emergencies.

Top-rated and weighted Launceston Cup acceptor this year is the Troy Blacker-trained Dream Pedlar winner of the Devonport and Bendigo Cups.

Six-year-old Dream Pedlar is coming off a fifth place finish behind fellow Launceston Cup rival Bid Spotter in the Group 3 AAMI Hobart Cup (2200m) on February 13 and tomorrow will be his final run this season.

The West Quest gelding will be looking to turn the tables on Bid Spotter on Wednesday and return to the form that saw him win the Devonport Cup (1800m) carrying a hefty 61kg on January 5 and the Listed Tasmanian Stakes (1600m) back in December.

Dream Pedlar has drawn barrier 12 for tomorrow’s showdown and has been allocated 59kg with Michael Guthrie in the mount.

The other most notable 2011 Launceston Cup hopefuls are:

• Red Buttons (Michael Kent) – Red Ransom six-year-old enjoyed back-to-back Country Cup wins at Moe and Kyneton in the spring, most recently ran a game fourth in the Hobart Cup after an unlucky run where they struck multiple interference

• Bid Spotter (Graeme Rogerson) – In-form Redoute’s Choice five-year-old from Sydney, won the Hobart Cup here at their Tasmanian debut but has been allocated extra weight and has a much wider barrier eight draw in the Launceston Cup

• Fast Future (Russell Cameron) – Evergreen eight-year-old who enjoyed a nice win over 2000m at Flemington in January before running ninth, beaten 3 ½ lengths, in the Hobart Cup last-start

Other in-form runners likely to get some attention from the punters in the Launceston Cup odds and betting markets at Luxbet are:

• Organised (Ray Worbey) – Commands seven-year-old finished a close second in the Hobart Cup before which they won three on the trot

• Davcon (Heath Conners) – Six-year-old Victorian gelding ran third in the Hobart Cup

• Beven Heights (George Blacker) – Won at the track over 2100m last start on February 17, albeit against lesser rivals

Betting on the Launceston Cup will open at our preferred online bookmaker Luxbet shortly so make sure you have your account open to access the best odds!

2011 Launceston Cup Final Field & Barrier Draw

#	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight (kg)	Hcp. Rating
1	DREAM PEDLAR	Troy Blacker	Michael Guthrie	12	59	103
2	RED BUTTONS	Michael Kent	Brad Rawiller	10	57.5	100
3	BID SPOTTER	Graeme Rogerson	Michael Rodd	8	56.5	98
4	FAST FUTURE (NZ)	Russell Cameron	Jamie Mott	1	55.5	95
5	ABITOFADO (NZ)	Michael Moroney	Darren Gauci	13	54	90
6	ORGANISED	Ray Worbey	David Pires	5	53.5	89
7	DAVCON	Heath Conners	Lincoln Coffey	9	53	88
8	TIBOOBURRA TRAVIS	Leon Wells	Anthony Darmanin	2	53	86
9	VELOCE CAVALLO	Tammy Mollross	Dean Holland	14	53	85
10	STREAKY FELLA	Darren Weir	Dean Yendall	15	53	84
11	GEEGEES BLACKFLASH	John Luttrell	Daniel Ganderton	4	53	82
12	SKYSTREAMER	Tony Vasil	Jason Maskiell (a)	7	53	82
13	WHITE YARD	David & Scott Brunton	Dwayne Dunn	11	53	80
14	BEVEN HEIGHTS	George Blacker	Shuji Amano	3	53	78
15	TESTASAURUS	Charlie Goggin	Clare Lindop	18	53	78
16	WALLIS	Larry Dalco	–	17	53	75
17e	OKUMA	Barry Campbell	–	6	53	69
18e	ALGONA AVENUE (NZ)	David & Scott Brunton	–	16	53	66