Monday sees the ever-popular Darwin Cup 2020 take place on the sand track up in the Northern Territory and of the nominated horses it is the in-form Budget King leading all-in betting.

There were 24 official nominees for this season’s Follow $100,000 Great Northern Darwin Cup (2050m) and all-in betting at Ladbrokes.com.au has the Garry Lefoe-trained Budget King as the horse to beat.

Allocated just 54kg, the King Cugat three-year-old looks primed to take on the older horses and will officially race as a four-year-old come Monday with the Horse’s Birthday on August 1.

Formerly with Travis Doudle in Adelaide, Budget King transferred to the Darwin stables of Lefoe this winter and made a big impact in his first start with his new trainer.

On July 22 the up-and-comer won at Darwin over the mile carrying 58kg by a runaway 7.5 lengths and will be flying with four kilos less in the Cup on Monday relishing the step-up in distance.

Ahead of Thursday’s Darwin Cup final acceptances, Budget King sits top of the pre-field markets at $3.20.

Occupying the second line of all-in Darwin Cup betting at $4 through Ladbrokes.com.au is the 61.5kg top weight Ihtsahymn, the rising 10-year-old now based with Rob Gulberti in Broome.

A former Perth-trained Group 2 champion, the veteran has had just the one start in 2020 when runner-up off a nine-month spell over the Darwin mile carrying 62kg on July 22.

It was an impressive return from the evergreen warhorse and defending Darwin Cup champion who won the race in 2019 with Peter Hall aboard with 60.5kg 12 months ago.

The other heaviest-weighted runner in this year’s Darwin Cup weights with 61kg is Gary Clarke’s stable star Savatoxl who follows closely at $4.40 for the win.

Savatoxl beat Ihtsahymn home last start to make it three wins on the trot during the 2020 Darwin Cup Carnival and his champion trainer Clarke is confident the success will continue on Monday despite the horse being yet to win over further than 1600m.

The last of the current single-figure fancies at Darwin Cup odds of $6 is then the fellow Clarke-trained Handsome Return.

The rising eight-year-old son of Handsome Ransom has winning form up to 2300m ahead of his debut at the Darwin track in the Cup.

Formerly with Will Clarken in South Australia, the Adelaide galloper has his first run with Clarke in the Darwin Cup off the back of a win in the Port Adelaide Cup (2300m) on July 5.

Clarke boasts a total of seven Darwin Cup nominees in 2020 with Savatoxl and Handsome Return potentially joined in the field on Monday by the likes of recent Hawkesbury Cup runner-up Live And Free transferred from John O’Shea, Paghman and Autocratic.

Click here for the latest all-in Darwin Cup 2020 betting odds courtesy of Ladbrokes.com.au.

2020 Darwin Cup Nominations & Weights

	Last 10	Horse	Sex	Age	Trainer	Ballot	Weight	Penalty	Hcp Rating
1	3042×15111	SAVATOXL	G	5	Gary Clarke	1	61kg	1.0kg	95
2	717×421711	BUDGET KING	G	4	Garry Lefoe	2	54kg		71
3	70x111x3x2	IHTSAHYMN	G	10	Rob Gulberti	3	61.5kg		97
4	x9204x2707	LIVE AND FREE (NZ)	G	6	Gary Clarke	4	59.5kg		89
5	3228728×96	TURNBERRY	G	6	Stephen Brown	5	57.5kg		85
6	3697x30x90	MALAISE	G	7	Dick Leech	6	57kg		84
7	x655218335	LOTION	G	9	Angela Forster	7	56.5kg		83
8	8×74734021	HANDSOME RETURN (NZ)	G	8	Gary Clarke	8	54kg		77
9	19×7257323	ASH GREY	G	8	Terry Gillett	9	54kg		76
10	7442218858	PINZU (NZ)	G	8	Chris Pollard	10	54kg		74
11	266×214224	PAGHMAN	G	5	Gary Clarke	11	54kg		72
12	x72117x347	SAFETY DANCE	G	6	Dick Leech	12	54kg		70
13	x79x0x5117	AUTOCRATIC	G	4	Gary Clarke	13	54kg		68
14	3200×41721	ROSHERVILLE	G	6	Tayarn Halter	14	54kg		68
15	2322×53768	ALASSAK	G	7	Garry Lefoe	15	54kg		67
16	x623329463	MAZZARO	G	6	Tayarn Halter	16	54kg		66
17	0x79x11132	ESCONDIDO	G	4	Gary Clarke	17	54kg		64
18	40800×4532	BULL MARKET	G	6	Angela Forster	18	54kg		64
19	234×009759	TABLE OF WISDOM	G	7	Kym Healy	19	54kg		64
20	6261531414	RECORDING TO WIN	M	5	Philip Cole	20	54kg		63
21	5503111649	SWANKYTOFF	G	5	Nicole Bruggemann	21	54kg		62
22	2123222124	COUNT OF ESSEX	G	6	Gary Clarke	22	54kg		62
23	7533433×52	ZAP	G	6	Dick Leech	23	54kg		61
24	4452×6415	HAPPY BIBI	G	4	Sherrie Lawlor	24	54kg		56

*Table Credit: Racing Australia.