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The 2017 Ballarat Cup is a 2200m event held at Ballarat Racecourse during mid to late November each year at the very tail end of the Victorian Spring Racing Carnival.

A Listed event, the Ballarat Cup is worth a generous $300,000 in total prize money making it one of the richest provincial Victorian cups. It is held under open handicap conditions, and tends to attract some pretty solid talent each year.

Some lead-up races worth watching include other cup events such as the Kyneton Cup or the Bendigo Cup. The 2017 Ballarat Cup winner Grand Dreamer improved on a lead-up third in the Kyneton Cup for his win. The Group 3 Eclipse Stakes (1800m) run at Sandown’s Ladbrokes Park the Saturday before also serves as a good Ballarat Cup lead-up. Many country runners, and even some metro types, often contest several country cups as part of their campaign. Other staying events during the Melbourne Cup Carnival are also often contested by horses on their way to the Ballarat Cup.

The Ballarat Cup represents the end of the spring racing carnival in Victoria, as it’s the last black-type meet and the last feature day.

Plenty of quality gallopers contest the Ballarat Cup, the form of which has stacked-up in tougher races including the 2013 winner The Offer backing-up the following autumn to win the 2014 edition of the Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m).

The 2017 Ballarat Cup ran on Saturday November 25, 2017 and was won by the Robert Smerdon-trained Grand Dreamer.

Ballarat Cup 2017
Date:	Saturday November 25, 2017
Racecourse:	Ballarat Racecourse
Distance:	2200m
Race Type:	Handicap
Status:	Listed
Prize Money:	$300,000

2017 Ballarat Cup Results

• 1st: #11 Grand Dreamer
• 2nd: #10 Oncidium Ruler
• 3rd: #5 Grey Lion

See below for the official Ballarat Cup 2017 Results & Finishing Order, seven-year-old Grand Dreamer best handling the Heavy (8) track for his dominant one and three-quarter length win over Oncidium Ruler (2nd) and Matt Cumani’s last-start Queen Elizabeth Stakes runner-up Grey Lion (3rd).

Place	#	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Br.	Weight	SP
1	11	GRAND DREAMER	Robert Smerdon	Patrick Moloney	–	6	54kg	$7.50
2	10	ONCIDIUM RULER	Michael Kent	Beau Mertens	1.75L	2	54kg	$10
3	5	GREY LION	Matt Cumani	Jordan Childs	2.15L	3	55kg	$3.60
4	2	DE LITTLE ENGINE	Danny O’Brien	Ben Thompson (a)	2.25L	10	56kg	$31
5	7	MR GARCIA	Darren Weir	Ben Allen (a)	3.75L	9	54kg	$4
6	1	ANTONIO GIUSEPPE	Chris Waller	Michael Walker	18.75L	5	58kg	$6.50
7	8	BIG BLUE	James Cummings	Stephen Baster	23.25L	12	54kg	$31
8	3	EXTRA ZERO	David & B Hayes & T Dabernig	Regan Bayliss	24.5L	4	55.5kg	$31
9	4	BIG MEMORY	Tony McEvoy	Luke Currie	36.5L	1	55kg	$26
10	13	JIMMIE JIM	Charles Quick	Ms Nikita Beriman	38.5L	8	54kg	$101
11	12	KNOWABLE	Steve Richards	Dean Yendall	39.5L	11	54kg	$21
12	9	SONNTAG	Henry Dwyer	Jye McNeil	79.5L	7	54kg	$21
–	6	SECOND BULLET	Danny O’Brien	Ben Melham	–	0	–	–

2017 Ballarat Cup Tips

• 1st: #10 Oncidium Ruler
• 2nd: #5 Grey Lion
• 3rd: #12 Knowable

Follow the link for our comprehensive Ballarat Cup 2017 Betting Tips & Preview, the Races.com.au team tipping an upset with the Michael Kent-trained ONCIDIUM RULER ($10) looking overs after an eye-catching Flemington win over 2000m last time out second-up. Fitter here and will relish the extra 200m, gun barrier and drop in weight. GREY LION ($6) also gets the run of the race from barrier three, likely going forward to turn it into an out-and-out staying contest coming back in trip after the good Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) second on Emirates Stakes Day. KNOWABLE ($19) is at a blowout price despite three seconds on the trot, most recently behind our tip to win the Ballarat Cup.

2017 Ballarat Cup Odds

The season’s top Ballarat Cup 2017 odds and end-of-spring betting market links to Ladbrokes.com.au on the Listed Victorian Cups race will be provided below the week of the race.

2017 Ballarat Cup Field

The Ballarat Cup field usually attracts quite a few metro runners from Melbourne, which is only around 100km away. Sometimes the odd handy runner from Sydney will head down to run in the Ballarat Cup field chasing the lucrative end-of-spring prize money on offer.

Following a run in the Ballarat Cup field, the Listed Pakenham Cup (2500m) in early December makes a nice next-up target and the last to do the double was Pilote D’Essai (2016).

The 2017 Ballarat Cup field and barriers are set for release on the Wednesday before the race and will be published in full below.

The official Ballarat Cup 2017 Final Field drew 13 acceptors including the Matt Cumani-trained Grey Lion drawn well in gate three and coming off a nice second in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington. Mr Garcia won first-up down under and now races for Darren Weir for the first time from barrier nine in the Ballarat Cup field, while the Chris Waller-trained Antonio Giuseppe carries the 58kg top weight and drops notably in class.

Read more on the 2017 Ballarat Cup Field & Horses.

#	Form (Last 10)	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Hcp. Rating
1	1240×54277	ANTONIO GIUSEPPE (NZ)	Chris Waller	Michael Walker	5	58kg	101
2	5x246211x0	DE LITTLE ENGINE	Danny O’Brien	Ben Thompson (a)	10	56kg	97
3	7614246054	EXTRA ZERO	David & B Hayes & T Dabernig	Regan Bayliss	4	55.5kg	96
4	02510×0046	BIG MEMORY (FR)	Tony McEvoy	Luke Currie	1	55kg	95
5	076×070342	GREY LION (IRE)	Matt Cumani	Jordan Childs	3	55kg	95
6	66214×2703	SECOND BULLET	Danny O’Brien	Ben Melham	11	54kg	93
7	110x4x57x1	MR GARCIA (GB)	Darren Weir	Ben Allen (a)	9	54kg	92
8	136x668x60	BIG BLUE (GB)	James Cummings	Stephen Baster	13	54kg	91
9	96x990x701	SONNTAG	Henry Dwyer	Jye McNeil	7	54kg	89
10	x431431x01	ONCIDIUM RULER	Michael Kent	Beau Mertens (a)	2	54kg	87
11	x51710x073	GRAND DREAMER	Robert Smerdon	Patrick Moloney	6	54kg	80
12	39×8057222	KNOWABLE	Steve Richards	Dean Yendall	12	54kg	72
13	2605043313	JIMMIE JIM	Charles Quick	Ms Nikita Beriman	8	54kg	57

2017 Ballarat Cup Nominations

Each spring the Ballarat Cup nominations close the Monday leading-up to the race, the full list of early entries to be published below once announced by Racing Victoria.

The 2017 Ballarat Cup Nominations attracted 28 stayers including last weekend’s Zipping Classic winner The Taj Mahal, fellow Lloyd Williams-raced The Metropolitan champ from Sydney earlier this spring Foundry, Mr Garcia racing for new trainer Darren Weir for the first time if accepted and the classy Matt Cumani-trained Grey Lion coming off a second in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) from Emirates Stakes Day.

View the official Ballarat Cup 2017 Nominated Horses.

Ballarat Cup History

The Ballarat Turf Club was established in 1854, making it one of the oldest racing organisations in Victoria. For some time now, Ballarat Cup Day has been the biggest meet of the year at Dowling Forest Racecourse, often drawing almost 20,000 people.

Not too long ago, the Ballarat Cup occupied a Wednesday slot as a mid-week event. However, it was moved to Sunday in 2011 in order to allow greater attendance and accommodate more metro runners. As of 2014, the Ballarat Cup has been run on a Saturday. It is the only black-type meet in Victoria and NSW on that day, so attracts considerable punting attention. The Group 1 Railway Stakes and Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes are held over at Ascot in Perth on the same day.

Notable recent Ballarat Cup winners include My Bentley (2010), The Offer (2013) and Junoob (2015). Ballarat Cup results, place getters and winning times since 2000 are provided below.

Ballarat Cup Winners

Year	Place	Horse	Time
2018 Ballarat Cup	1st	TBD	TBD
	2nd	TBD
	3rd	TBD
2017 Ballarat Cup	1st	Grand Dreamer	2 minutes 25.79 seconds
	2nd	Oncidium Ruler
	3rd	Grey Lion
2016 Ballarat Cup	1st	Pilote D’Essai	2 minutes 14.14 seconds
	2nd	Scherzoso
	3rd	Manageress
2015 Ballarat Cup	1st	Junoob	2 minutes 18.45 seconds
	2nd	Wales
	3rd	Sonntag
2014 Ballarat Cup	1st	Mujadale	2 minutes 17.8 seconds
	2nd	At First Sight
	3rd	Fat Al
2013 Ballarat Cup	1st	The Offer	2 minutes 25.1 seconds
	2nd	Pelicano
	3rd	Hurdy Gurdy Man
2012 Ballarat Cup	1st	King Diamond	2 minutes 18.4 seconds
	2nd	Pelicano
	3rd	Exceptionally
2011 Ballarat Cup	1st	Domesky	2 minutes 19.2 seconds
	2nd	Rothera
	3rd	Sean Baile Mor
2010 Ballarat Cup	1st	My Bentley	2 minutes 17.0 seconds
	2nd	Kidnapped
	3rd	Allanthus
2009 Ballarat Cup	1st	Itstheone	2 minutes 14.4 seconds
	2nd	Gallions Reach
	3rd	Davcon
2008 Ballarat Cup	1st	Daka’s Gem	2 minutes 21.8 seconds
	2nd	Sentire
	3rd	Banana Man
2007 Ballarat Cup	1st	Sentire	2 minutes 23.9 seconds
	2nd	Bowl Along
	3rd	Red Riviera
2006 Ballarat Cup	1st	Rubijon	2 minutes 17.3 seconds
	2nd	Upstaged
	3rd	Lancettier
2005 Ballarat Cup	1st	Command N Conquer	2 minutes 17.4 seconds
	2nd	Maneroo Lue
	3rd	Steelworker
2004 Ballarat Cup	1st	Just The Part	2 minutes 15.4 seconds
	2nd	Irish Crusader
	3rd	Demerger
2003 Ballarat Cup	1st	Western Waters	2 minutes 16.2 seconds
	2nd	Delvecchio
	3rd	Dance On Wood
2002 Ballarat Cup	1st	Varsilayos	2 minutes 15.0 seconds
	2nd	As You Would
	3rd	Sale Of Century
2001 Ballarat Cup	1st	Aquiver	2 minutes 14.0 seconds
	2nd	Varsilayos
	3rd	Adolescence
2000 Ballarat Cup	1st	Royal Caliph	2 minutes 18.5 seconds
	2nd	Luther
	3rd	Laebeel