Flemington Racecourse is host to the 2018 Blamey Stakes on Saturday, betting tips and update odds on the mile autumn showdown detailed below.

Due to run as Flemington Race 5 at 3:10pm (AEDT), the line-up for this season’s Group 2 $200,000 Blamey Stakes (1600m) is down to only five starters with the scratching of Radipole who races in Sydney’s Ajax Stakes on the same day instead.

Blamey Stakes betting is a battle of the Darren Weir-trained Group 1 winners Tosen Stardom ($2.25) and Humidor ($2.40) with nothing separating the class stablemates.

Runner-up in the race last Melbourne Festival of Racing and a dual Group 1 winner since, Japanese import Tosen Stardom comes off a good second to the also Weir-trained Brave Smash in the Group 1 Futurity Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on February 24.

The seven-year-old presents fitter here again and he has Brad Rawiller aboard chasing his first win since the Group 1 Emirates Stakes (2000m) at Flemington last Melbourne Cup Carnival.

Weir’s rails-drawn Teofilo five-year-old Humidor is also a Futurity Stakes graduate having run a first-up fourth.

His second-up record is outstanding (4:2-1-0) as is his mile form (5:3-1-0).

It is hard to see anything outside of the Weir two challenging but the next best in the Blamey Stakes odds are Scott Brunton’s flying Tasmanian raider Hellova Street ($8) chasing a third win on the trot and the locally-trained Zacinto four-year-old Odeon ($8.50) before Lindsay Park’s Cool Chap ($15) rounds things out.

So will the Weir duo dominate or is there an upset Blamey Stakes 2018 result on the cards?

1^st

#2 Humidor ($2.40)

Going for the “value” and tipping the slightly longer-priced of the Weir horses to get the job done second-up. Humidor will get things his way from the inside alley against just four rivals and has Mark Zahra coming aboard for the run. It’s been a while since his last win, but it was over this track and distance against a much tougher line-up when defeating Hartnell by over three lengths in the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) last September. Twice placed in Group 1 company since behind the champion mare Winx, including giving her a great run for her money in the Cox Plate. Futurity Stakes fourth was solid, is a second-up specialist (4:2-1-0) and loves the mile (5:3-1-0).

2^nd

#1 Tosen Stardom ($2.25)

Favourite tipped to go one better than his second in last year’s Blamey Stakes. Improved hugely second-up in the Futurity Stakes and was only three-quarters beaten. This is far easier. Beat the resuming Humidor home in that and is also better suited to the mile. Only has to hold out Humidor again to win.

3^rd

#3 Hellova Street ($8)

Ultra-consistent Tasmanian-trained seven-year-old who hasn’t finished out of the money in his past eight starts. A bit toughly weighted only a kilo under the Weir duo, but his lead-up has been outstanding including a black-type Launceston win at home over this distance by three and a half lengths. Mile record is very strong (7:3-2-1) and is well accustomed to racing in Melbourne. Was second in the Sandown Stakes last November and is two-from-three at Flemington including the Group 3 Chatham Stakes win here in the spring.

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