Horse Racing

This Saturday the feature race in Melbourne will be the Zipping Classic 2013 held at Caulfield Racecourse while Sandown undergoes renovations, the Races.com.au team’s exclusive form and betting analysis for which is detailed below.

History favours this year's Zipping Classic favourite Precedence if they jump the punters' pick. Photo: Race Horse Photos Australia.

There are 10 gallopers set to run in this year’s $350,000 Group 2 Zipping Classic (2400m), the lucrative staying showdown running as Race 6 at 3:30pm (AEST).

Zipping Classic betting is a tight battle between the horses that ran the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes quinella last Saturday at Flemington – winner Precedence and narrow runner-up Sertorius.

It was a blanket finish there and if the Zipping Classic odds are anything to go by it will be another close call here with the James & Bart Cummings-trained Precedence the $3.50 favourite to win.

Recent Bendigo Cup winner Sertorius is just longer though at $3.60 to turn the tables on veteran Zabeel eight-year-old with Precedence vying for their third on the trot having also won the Group 2 Moonee Valley Cup (2500m) on Cox Plate Day.

The other single figure chances for an upset Zipping Classic result are then the Gai Waterhouse-trained Queenstown ($4.80) and Kiwi raider Ransomed ($9.50).

That’s what the bookies are saying but what about the form and historical data?

Having gone over the Zipping Classic field and statistics below we’ve listed the must know facts on the event so you can back a winner at Ladbrokes.com.au!

2013 Zipping Classic Form Facts & Betting Stats

• Last year’s Zipping Classic winner was the Robert Hickmott-trained Tanby who came off a third in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes seven days earlier, jumped from barrier 7 (of 9) and was ridden by Nicholas Hall

• This year the horses that ran in last weekend’s Queen Elizabeth are #1 Precedence (1^st) and #2 Sertorius (2^nd)
• Last year’s winning barrier (7) meanwhile belongs this year to #6 Epingle ($10)
• #1 Precedence ($3.50F) is also the only last start winner in the field and they are out to become just the second horse in history, joining Gallant Guru (2006) to win the Queen Elizabeth Stakes – Zipping Classic double
• One thing in their favour however is the outstanding recent record of Zipping Classic favourites with seven of the past 14 winners having jumped favourite or equal favourite – four of those at $2.35 or shorter over the past six years
• The last Zipping Classic winner to jump at longer than $8.50 then was Brave Chief ($12 in 2000); the three under that price this year are #1 Precedence ($3.50), #2 Sertorius ($3.60) and #8 Queenstown ($4.80)
• The horse with the highest Win Rate is then #5 What’s In A Name (43%) followed by #2 Sertorius (33%), #8 Queenstown (33%) and #4 Midsummer Sun (29%)
• The highest Place Rate then belongs to #8 Queenstown (83%) followed by #2 Sertorius (75%), #6 Epingle (60%), #5 What’s In A Name (57%) and #10 Miss Zenella (56%)
• Caulfield Racecourse was rated a Heavy (8) earlier in the week so the likelihood of a soft track is high; the horses with the best wet track form then are #2 Serotrius ($3.60), #5 Epingle ($10) and #8 Queenstown ($4.80)
• At Caulfield horses with the best track record are #2 Sertorius (2-1-1-0) and #4 Midsummer Sun (1-1-0-0)
• Over the distance those to beat look to be the same with #4 Midsummer Sun (5-2-0-0) and #2 Sertorius (1-1-0-0) the only ones to have won over the 2400m before
• The form shows however that in the past 30 years none of the Zipping Classic winners have won the race third-up which rules out #4 Midsummer Sun (X72)
• The best lead-up race since the Zipping Classic changed from handicap to WFA in 1999 has been the Melbourne Cup but this year no horses ran in the ‘race that stops a nation’
• Mares meanwhile have won only four editions of the Classic and only one since it became a WFA feature with Legible (2003); the mares out to break the hoodoo this year are #6 Epingle, #7 Detox, #8 Queenstown, #9 Kazanluk and #10 Miss Zenella

Stay tuned to Races.com.au for our insider Zipping Classic tips to be published shortly.

In the meantime lock in your own selections on the weekend’s feature online at Ladbrokes.com.au where you’ll get the guaranteed best prices on all the Caulfield races.

2013 Zipping Classic Field & Form Guide