John O’Shea’s consistent galloper Malice has opened narrow favourite in a wide open Grafton Cup 2016 betting market for this Thursday during the annual two-day Grafton Cup Carnival.

The highlight of the Clarence River Jockey Club’s feature races, this year’s $160,000 Listed McKimms Real Estate Grafton Cup (2350m) features a final field of 15.

The top five in the Grafton Cup field are all under $10 for the win in the latest markets at Ladbrokes.com.au making for a tough day on the punt for race goers.

Current $4.40 top fancy in the Grafton Cup odds drawn in gate eight with jockey Brenton Avdulla to ride is the Godolphin-raced Teofilo five-year-old Malice.

The galloper ran fifth in late April when narrowly beaten in the Group 3 Hawkesbury Gold Cup (1600m) and has run in the top four in all four runs since.

Among those where thirds in the Listed Scone Cup (1600m) and Group 3 Lord Mayors Cup (1615m) in May.

His last start was at Eagle Farm on June 25 in the Group 3 Tattersall’s Cup (2200m) when beaten just over half a length by the winner Index Linked.

Malice has his first start over further than that distance on Thursday and aims at his maiden win over further than 2000m.

He also rises from 56kg last start to 57kg for his Grafton debut, but the bookies are taking no chances with the gelding.

Following closely in Grafton Cup betting at $5 is early market mover Amexed with the rails run from barrier one for jockey Robbie Fradd.

Fradd retains the ride on the Tony Gollan-trained Pentire five-year-old from Brisbane having ridden him for back-to-back wins at the galloper’s two most recent starts.

The latest of those was a good 1.3 length effort over Jumbo Prince at the Sunshine Coast on July 2 in the Listed Caloundra Cup (2400m).

Amexed is proven over the distance and only goes up a kilo to his 55kg Grafton Cup weight allocation as he looks to extend his winning streak to three on the trot and two Black-Type wins in as many starts.

The next best in the markets at $5.50 each are the 60kg top weight Index Linked for Sydney’s Chris Waller and the Caloundra Cup runner-up Jumbo Prince from the Toowoomba stables of Michael Nolan.

Index Linked is a rising nine-year-old Dansili import who won the Tattersall’s Cup in Brisbane two back before a Caloundra Cup seventh at the start of the month carrying the same weight he has on his back in the form of Rory Hutchings in the Grafton edition on Thursday.

Jumbo Prince is better weighted with 55.5kg, which he carried for the solid second to Amexed last start.

Prior to that the Outback Prince stallion was also runner-up to Maurus in the Listed Ipswich Cup (2150m) on June 18, but he needs to be improving on Thursday as the four-year-old shoots for his first win over greater than 1800m.

Rounding out the single-figure Grafton Cup hopes this season at $8 is the David Payne-trained High Chaparral five-year-old Foreign Prince drawn the outside alley (15 of 15) with Jason Collett in the saddle.

Foreign Prince won back-to-back races at Rosehill over 1800m and 2000m respectively in June before his last start third on July 2 at the same track in the Listed Winter Cup (2400m) carrying 56kg, half-a-kilo more than his weight on Thursday.

See below for the latest Grafton Cup 2016 betting odds, Fixed Win prices you can lock in now at Ladbrokes.com.au – home of Odds Boost!

2016 Grafton Cup Odds