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The Bendigo Cup is a 2400m staying event held at Bendigo Racecourse in Victoria during the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival.

A now Group 3 event held towards the end of October or early November on the Wednesday before the Victoria Derby Day meeting at Flemington on the first Saturday in November kicks off the Melbourne Cup Carnival action, the Bendigo Cup is held under handicap conditions and is open to horses aged three years and older.

The Bendigo Cup is one of the richest country cups in Australia, with an impressive total of $400,000 prize money. It is also one of the most renowned country cups in Australia, drawing significant crowds and some top quality horses, particularly in recent years.

The Bendigo Cup can act as an effective lead up race to the Melbourne Cup. Horses generally target the Bendigo Cup following good runs in other events such as the listed Cranbourne Cup  or even non black type events at nearby tracks, including major Melbourne racecourses.

Quite often, horses that get a good run in the Bendigo Cup will go on to other country cups at a similar grade, such as the Ballarat Cup. In recent times, as top quality horses have contested this event more often, races like the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington on Emirates Stakes Day become a nice next-up option. Francis Of Assisi (2016) was the last horse to win the Bendigo Cup – Queen Elizabeth Stakes double.

In more recent years the Bendigo Cup has started to attract and be dominated by international visitors in much the same way as the other spring cup features.

The Bendigo Cup 2020 ran Wednesday October 28, 2020 and was won in an upset by Princess Jenni. 

2020 Bendigo Cup
Date:	Wednesday October 28, 2020
Track:	Bendigo Racecourse
Distance:	2400m
Race Type:	3YO&UP Handicap
Status:	Group 3
Prize Money:	$400,000

2020 Bendigo Cup Results

• 1st: #8 Princess Jenni
• 2nd: #3 Pondus
• 3rd: #1 Haky

David Brideoake’s mare Princess Jenni ($26) held off the Joseph O’Brien-trained international raider Pondus ($3.80F) in an upset Bendigo Cup 2020 result, denying the Team Williams-raced galloper a shot at the $8 million Lexus Melbourne Cup.

	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	8	PRINCESS JENNI (NZ)	David Brideoake	Jye McNeil		9	56.5kg		$26
	2	3	PONDUS (GB)	Joseph O’Brien	Damian Lane	0.1L	15	59kg		$3.80F
	3	1	HAKY (IRE)	Archie Alexander	Jamie Kah	2.1L	6	59kg		$12
	4	13	SARACEN KNIGHT (IRE)	Danny O’Brien	Damien Oliver	4.1L	5	55kg		$5.50
	5	6	ZEBROWSKI (NZ)	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	William Pike	4.5L	11	58kg		$6
	6	16	REALM OF FLOWERS	Anthony & Sam Freedman	Billy Egan	6.25L	3	55kg		$26
	7	11	GOOD IDEA	Phillip Stokes	Michael Poy (a)	6.35L	10	55kg		$16
	8	17e	RED ALTO	Brent Stanley	Dean Holland	6.45L	8	55kg		$151
	9	15	JACK REGAN (GB)	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	Zac Spain	6.55L	7	55kg		$61
	10	12	MASAFF (IRE)	Chris Waller	Michael Walker	8.8L	14	55kg		$8.50
	11	10	MIDTERM (GB)	Michael & Luke Cerchi	Patrick Moloney	9.55L	1	55kg		$71
	12	18e	LOFTY HEIGHTS	Julius Sandhu	Harry Coffey	9.65L	12	55kg		$101
	13	7	FURRION (GB)	Tom Dabernig & Ben Hayes	John Allen	12.9L	4	57.5kg		$19
	14	4	INVERLOCH (IRE)	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	Michael Dee	13.4L	2	58.5kg		$19
	FF	14	SUPER GIRL	Josh Julius	Jordan Childs		13	55kg		$15
		9	SILENT COMMAND	Nick Smart	Will Price (a)		0
		2	LORD BELVEDERE (GB)	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	Mark Zahra		0
		5	AZURO (FR)	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	Luke Currie		0

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

2020 Bendigo Cup Betting Odds

The latest Bendigo Cup 2020 betting markets will be listed below, fixed win pricing provided by Ladbrokes.com.au for you to back your Bendigo Cup tips at the best prices.

2020 Bendigo Cup Field

The Bendigo Cup field has a capacity of 16 stayers, but rarely runs with this many starters. Spring gallopers may come into the Bendigo Cup field via a number of different lead-up races including the Group 3 Coongy Cup (2000m) on Caulfield Cup Day or the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes (2400m) a week earlier.

The 2020 Bendigo Cup field is released on the Monday of race week and will be published in full below.

The Bendigo Cup 2020 final field features a capacity line-up of potential late Melbourne Cup hopefuls including the narrow favourite Lord Belvedere for last weekend’s Cox Plate winning trainers Ciaron Maher & David Eustace.

No	Last 10	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Penalty	Hcp Rating
1	86x051x900	HAKY (IRE)	Archie Alexander	Jamie Kah	8	59kg		101
2	41x7811x18	LORD BELVEDERE (GB)	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	Mark Zahra	3	59kg		101
3	2239x2140x	PONDUS (GB)	Joseph O’Brien	Damian Lane	18	59kg		101
4	22107×4072	INVERLOCH (IRE)	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	Michael Dee	2	58.5kg		100
5	13770×7006	AZURO (FR)	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	Luke Currie	4	58kg		99
6	1122×80462	ZEBROWSKI (NZ)	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	William Pike	13	58kg		99
7	5x5021x000	FURRION (GB)	Tom Dabernig & Ben Hayes	John Allen	6	57.5kg		98
8	4x356x8057	PRINCESS JENNI (NZ)	David Brideoake	Jye McNeil	11	56.5kg		100
9	3238×61915	SILENT COMMAND	Nick Smart	Will Price (a)	17	55kg		76
10	87256×0808	MIDTERM (GB)	Michael & Luke Cerchi	Patrick Moloney	1	55kg		86
11	12432×0602	GOOD IDEA	Phillip Stokes	Michael Poy (a)	12	55kg		83
12	3x632x4848	MASAFF (IRE)	Chris Waller	Michael Walker	16	55kg		83
13	315x16x716	SARACEN KNIGHT (IRE)	Danny O’Brien	Damien Oliver	7	55kg		80
14	4143×15093	SUPER GIRL	Josh Julius	Jordan Childs	15	55kg		80
15	01168×0860	JACK REGAN (GB)	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	Zac Spain (late alt)	9	55kg		78
16	x13611x588	REALM OF FLOWERS	Anthony & Sam Freedman	Billy Egan	5	55kg		76
17e	7×05704957	RED ALTO	Brent Stanley		10	55kg		75
18e	236×001410	LOFTY HEIGHTS	Julius Sandhu	Harry Coffey	14	55kg		67

Table Credit: Racing Australia. 

Bendigo Cup History

The Bendigo Cup was inaugurated in 1868, and was then known as the Sandhurst Cup. Old England was the first winner.

The new Bendigo track was established relatively recently in 1998. The grandstand was built in 1902, making it one of the oldest in the region.

The Bendigo Cup was previously held in November. In 2009 the race date was shifted to October to encourage classier horses to contest it on the way to bigger events. Following the 2010 edition the decision was made to increase the race distance again to 2400m (as it was in 2008 and prior) to further improve the race’s suitability as a lead up event.

Notable recent Bendigo Cup winners include Gallic (2004, 06), Puissance De Lune (2012), Sertorius (2013), The Offer (2015) and Francis Of Assisi (2016) who went on to win the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) during the Melbourne Cup Carnival next start after being balloted out of the Melbourne Cup field. The 2017 Bendigo Cup winner Qewy handed English trainer Charlie Appleby back-to-back wins in the race setting a new race record with his 2:27.50 second victory.

Bendigo Cup Results

Year	Place	Horse	Time
2020 Bendigo Cup	1st	Princess Jenni	2 minutes 29.32 seconds
	2nd	Pondus
	3rd	Haky
2019 Bendigo Cup	1st	Top Of The Range	2 minutes 27.41 seconds
	2nd	Brimham Rocks
	3rd	Hang Man
2018 Bendigo Cup	1st	Red Alto	2 minutes 28.51 seconds
	2nd	Dal Harraild
	3rd	Sir Charles Road
2017 Bendigo Cup	1st	Qewy	2 minutes 27.5 seconds (track record)
	2nd	Kiwia
	3rd	Foundry
2016 Bendigo Cup	1st	Francis of Assisi	2 minute 28.3 seconds
	2nd	Second Bullet
	3rd	Our Century
2015 Bendigo Cup	1st	The Offer	2 minutes 28.5 seconds
	2nd	Divan
	3rd	Kirramosa
2014 Bendigo Cup	1st	Bring Something	2 minutes 29.4 seconds
	2nd	Massiyn
	3rd	Order Of The Sun
2013 Bendigo Cup	1st	Sertorius	2 minutes 30.8 seconds
	2nd	Massiyn
	3rd	Kesampour
2012 Bendigo Cup	1st	Puissance De Lune	2 minutes 27.9 seconds
	2nd	Practiced
	3rd	Fiumicino
2011 Bendigo Cup	1st	Tanby	2 minutes 28.7 seconds
	2nd	At First Sight
	3rd	Western Symbol
2010 Bendigo Cup	1st	Dream Pedlar	2 minutes 18.2 seconds
	2nd	My Bentley
	3rd	Zauberin
2009 Bendigo Cup	1st	Zupacool	2 minutes 15.0 seconds
	2nd	Crossthestart
	3rd	Daka’s Gem
2008 Bendigo Cup	1st	Banana Man	2 minutes 28.8 seconds
	2nd	Imvula
	3rd	Butwaittheresmore
2007 Bendigo Cup	1st	Captious	2 minutes 31.9 seconds
	2nd	Hoodlum
	3rd	On A Jeune
2006 Bendigo Cup	1st	Gallic	2 minutes 31.9 seconds
	2nd	Brindabella
	3rd	Home Sweet
2005 Bendigo Cup	1st	True Courser	2 minutes 30.3 seconds
	2nd	Belzain
	3rd	Garidar
2004 Bendigo Cup	1st	Gallic	2 minutes 32.5 seconds
	2nd	Jakodae
	3rd	Diamond Jake
2003 Bendigo Cup	1st	Western Waters	2 minutes 28.3 seconds
	2nd	Chairmans Choice
	3rd	Mr Prudent
2002 Bendigo Cup	1st	Forlorna	2 minutes 31.3 seconds
	2nd	Fearless Sophie
	3rd	Time Off
2001 Bendigo Cup	1st	Saboteur	2 minutes 28.3 seconds
	2nd	Betta Watch It
	3rd	Never Dull
2000 Bendigo Cup	1st	Yammer	2 minutes 34.4 seconds
	2nd	Western Outlaw
	3rd	Jamestown