A gun field of autumn sprinters face off at Caulfield Racecourse on Saturday in the Oakleigh Plate 2017, a comprehensive form guide analysis and betting preview for which is detailed below.

Flamberge defends his title in the 2017 Oakleigh Plate out to be the first seven-year-old winner of the sprint since 1983. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

Eighteen hopefuls are in the mix for this year’s $500,000 Group 1 Oakleigh Plate (1100m), which is scheduled to run as the eighth on the card one race after the two-year-olds do battle in the Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes.

Leading the latest Oakleigh Plate odds at Ladbrokes.com.au and out to be just the third favourite in 10 years to salute for the punters is the Mick Price-trained three-year-old Extreme Choice ($3.80).

The smart dual Group 1 winning colt is first-up on the weekend and looking to hand Price with a second win after the success of Lankan Rupee (2014).

Price is full of pre-race confidence in the horse that won the Blue Diamond Stakes on this day 12 months ago, but there are a couple of others being kept safe in Oakleigh Plate betting by the bookies.

Last year’s runner-up Fell Swoop ($7) is the second elect to go one better in his first start since the Darley Classic third at Flemington in the spring, while the flying Darren Weir-trained lightweight Hellbent ($7.50) with 52kg is a livewire chance even from the wide barrier (13).

With Extreme Choice the dominant favourite and a wide open affair after that, below are the must know Oakleigh Plate form guide facts, betting statistics and historical data to help sort the pretenders from the genuine contenders on the weekend.

2017 Oakleigh Plate Form Facts & Betting Stats

• Last year’s Oakleigh Plate winner was the then Peter Moody-trained Flamberge (2016) who raced first-up after a Darley Classic seventh in the spring, jumped from barrier 15 (of 17) and scored an upset as a $31 roughie under 58kg with Damian Lane in the saddle
• #1 Flamberge ($12) is back to defend his title now prepared by Darren Weir who is after his first Oakleigh Plate win
• The last back-to-back Oakleigh Plate winner was Dual Choice (1971-72)
• The previous Oakleigh Plate winning trainers with a runner on Saturday are: Mick Price (4-1-0-0) with #3 Extreme Choice; John Hawkes (25-1-2-3) with #4 Kaepernick; and David Hayes (19-1-0-1) with #5 Sheidel, #7 Faatinah and #11 Miss Promiscuity
• Last year’s winning jockey Damian Lane (3-1-0-0) is back after successive victories aboard #10 Hellbent ($7.50)
• The other previous Oakleigh Plate winning jockeys with a ride on the weekend are: Brad Rawiller (4-1-1-0) on #1 Flamberge, Kerrin McEvoy (4-1-1-0) on #4 Kaepernick, Dwayne Dunn (9-1-0-0) on #6 Thermal Current, Damien Oliver (16-2-4-0) on #2 Fell Swoop, Craig Newitt (11-2-1-1) on #3 Extreme Choice and Stephen Baster (17-2-1-1) on #8 Wild Rain

• Two of the past three Oakleigh Plate winners came off a last-start victory and there are three last-start winners in the mix on Saturday: #4 Kaepernick (Choisir Stakes, 1100m, Randwick, 01/11/2016), #6 Thermal Current (Listed WJ Adams, 1000m, Caulfield, 04/02/2017) and #12 Ocean Embers (Group 3 Bow Mistress Trophy, 1200m, Hobart, 03/02/2017)
• #6 Thermal Current ($21) chases the WJ Adams – Oakleigh Plate double last achieved by Shamal Wind (2015)
• Three first-up runners have won the Oakleigh Plate in the past five years; the first-up runners this year are: #2 Fell Swoop, #3 Extreme Choice, #4 Kaepernick, #5 Sheidel, #11 Miss Promiscuity and #17 Missrock
• Five of the past nine Oakleigh Plate winners had their final lead-up in a Group 1 race and that form in 2017 lines-up for #1 Flamberge, #2 Fell Swoop, #3 Extreme Choice, #5 Sheidel and #17 Missrock
• #1 Flamberge (Black Caviar Lightning 4^th) is out to be the first Lighting Stakes graduate to back-up and win the Oakleigh Plate since Starspangledbanner (4^th in 2010)

• #1 Flamberge though is out to be the first seven-year-old Oakleigh Plate winner since Sans Rival (1983)
• Five-year-olds have won three of the past six editions of the race and the 5YOs in the mix on Saturday are: #2 Fell Swoop, #4 Kaepernick, #5 Sheidel, #8 Wild Rain and #14 Shakespearean Lass
• Three of those five-year-olds are mares and just two mares have won the Oakleigh Plate since 2004 with Mrs Onassis (2013) and Shamal Wind (2015).
• The mares in the Oakleigh Plate 2017 field are: #5 Sheidel, #8 Wild Rain, #9 Aegean Sea, #11 Miss Promiscuity, #12 Ocean Embers and #14 Shakespearean Lass
• There is also two fillies lining-up with #15 I Am A Star ($9) and #17 Missrock ($41) out to be the first filly to salute in the race since Miss Kournikova (2001)
• There are three other three-year-old contenders with #3 Extreme Choice, #16 El Divino and #18 Guard Of Honour; the last three-year=old to salute was Starspangledbanner (2010)
• Last year’s winning barrier (15) has produced just the one winner (since 1983) and is drawn this year by #18 Guard Of Honour ($41)
• The most successful Oakleigh Plate barriers in that time with four wins are 6 and 10 drawn this year by #1 Flamberge (6) and triple figure roughie #13 Ready Sunshine ($201)
• Favourites have a poor record in the Oakleigh Plate with just two saluting since 2005, most recently Lankan Rupee (2014)
• In the past 10 years five of the Oakleigh Plate winners jumped at double-figures including Flamberge ($31) last year
• #3 Extreme Choice ($3.80) is out to buck the Oakleigh Plate favourites’ hoodoo this weekend
• At the track (Caulfield) the horses with the best winning form are: #11 Miss Promiscuity (11-4-2-1), #12 Ocean Embers (4-3-0-0), #1 Flamberge (11-3-1-2), #3 Extreme Choice (2-2-0-0) and #5 Sheidel (3-2-1-0)

• Over the distance (1100m) the horses with the top winning records are: #11 Flamberge (11-4-2-1), #5 Sheidel (6-4-1-0), #8 Wild Rain (10-4-4-0), #4 Kaepernick (6-3-1-1), #10 Hellbent (6-3-1-0), #11 Miss Promiscuity (9-3-2-1), #12 Ocean Embers (6-3-1-0), #6 Thermal Current (9-2-2-0) and #15 I Am A Star (4-2-1-0)
• The highest Win Rate of the field belongs to #3 Extreme Choice (67%) followed by #5 Sheidel (54%)
• The best Place Rate of the field belongs to #2 Fell Swoop (79%) followed by #5 Sheidel (77%)

Our insider Oakleigh Plate 2017 betting tips will be published shortly but in the meantime see below for the full form guide courtesy of Ladbrokes.com.au – home of Odds Boost (T&Cs apply).