The feature staying showdown at Caulfield Racecourse this Saturday in Melbourne is the 2016 Underwood Stakes, betting tips and the updated odds for the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes Day feature found below.

Tarzino is the upset Races.com.au tip to win the 2016 Underwood Stakes this weekend at Caulfield Racecourse. Photo: Steve Hart.

Due to jump at 4:55pm (AEST) as Caulfield Race 8, this year’s $500,000 Group 1 Hyland Race Colours Underwood Stakes (1800m) features a star-studded field led in betting at Ladbrokes.com.au by Black Heart Bart.

Darren Weir’s dual Group 1 winning six-year-old pays $2.45 to make it a triple of elite level wins and is firming fast having opened at $3.40 at the start of the week.

The Blackfriars gelding won the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at the track two back before the close second to the fellow Weir-trained Palentino last time out at Flemington in the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1800m).

He is tipped to handle the extra metres on the weekend stepping up to 1800m for the first time from barrier five with Brad Rawiller reuniting with the ultra-consistent weight-for-age star who is undefeated at Caulfield (2-2-0-0).

The biggest chance at an upset Underwood Stakes result according to the bookies is the Kris Lees-trained multiple Group 1 winning mare Lucia Valentina ($3.90).

She is out to become the first Underwood Stakes winning mare since Tristarc (1985) and has Damien Oliver in the saddle, the six-year-old daughter of Savabeel chasing her first victory since the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) over The United States at Randwick in early April.

So will the best two in betting battle it out for the win or is there value to be had further down the Underwood Stakes betting markets in the likes of Cox Plate-bound Awesome Rock ($6) or Mick Price’s reigning VRC Derby winner Tarzino ($12)?

Earlier in the week we published our exclusive 2016 Underwood Stakes Form Guide & Betting Preview and based on the facts and stats uncovered in that we’ve got the top Underwood Stakes tips.

1^st

#8 Tarzino ($12)

Price’s well-bred Tavistock stallion hasn’t won this time in, but he is a dual Group 1 champ as a three-year-old taking out last November’s VRC Derby and the autumn’s Rosehill Guineas over 2500m and 2000m respectively. His two runs this season were both unplaced efforts beaten around 6 – 7 lengths over unsuitably short Group 1 distances and he’ll be improving sharply out over 1800m. The 10^th in the Makybe Diva has been forgiven by Price and us and he is the right age with four-year-olds winning four of the past seven Underwood Stakes.

2^nd

#2 Black Heart Bart ($2.45)

He’s the deserving favourite, but is getting mighty short considering the winning form to date only extends out 400m shorter than this. Also, top fancies in the Underwood Stakes only have a fair recent record with three wins for the punters in the past decade. He does have a strong Place Rate (76%) – the second best in this field behind Howard Be Thy Name (86%) – and could have their measure in the closing stages in an evenly run race.

3^rd

#7 He Or She ($12)

Like the price on this Lindsay Park-trained six-year-old coming off the third in the Makybe Diva Stakes. His last win was the Group 2 Blamey Stakes (1600m) in the autumn over The United States and the distance on Saturday is the question. He should be set to peak third-up, gets the rails run and Craig Williams retains the ride.

Now is the ideal time to get behind our insider 2016 Underwood Stakes betting tips online at Ladbrokes.com.au!