A genuine staying showdown will take place at Warrnambool on Sunday in the Jericho Cup 2019 over a grueling 4600m and the markets have the Ciaron Maher & David Eustace-trained Ablaze as the horse to beat.

This season’s $300,000 Haymes Paint Jericho Cup (4600m) has attracted a capacity field of stayers with the in-form Raise The Flag eight-year-old Ablaze, to be ridden by John Allen, carrying the hefty 70kg topweight in Australia’s longest flat race.

The Kiwi-bred veteran was impressive at Gawler in late October saluting as the odds-on favourite in a BM75 over 3340m in one of the Jericho Cup qualifying races contested over 3000m or further across Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and New Zealand over the last 12 months.

Despite going up notably in weight from 57kg that day, Ablaze remains the $3.30 favourite in Jericho Cup betting at Ladbrokes.com.au having been kept fresh from that last start victory for this special event organized by local philanthropist Bill Gibbins.

Ablaze was impressive in the jumps races over the winter and looks sure to handle the extra distance on Sunday in a tough endurance test taking place off the main Warrnambool course proper through the paddocks.

Hot on the heels of the favourite in the latest Jericho Cup odds is the early market mover Da Deputy for Lindsay Park drawn wide in barrier 15.

The consistent Dalakhani grey will come into 12 at best if the four emergencies in the capacity 14-starter field fail to gain a run.

Da Deputy has finished top three in his latest six starts including a runaway 11 length win at Wagga over two miles on November 1.

Jockey Clayton Douglas is booked to ride the five-year-old, the hoop chasing back-to-back Jericho Cup wins after taking out the inaugural event in 2018 aboard the Anthony Freedman-trained High Mode.

“Last year it seemed really odd that there were no jumps where we were going and they put up a running rail which gave it a completely different feel,” Douglas told AAP speaking about the Jericho Cup being run on Warrnambool’s iconic steeplechase course.

“For the jumpers to go through the paddocks they normally have to school through it, so a lot of these horses haven’t seen that sort of open country before.”

Douglas is confident heading into Sunday’s second installment of the race that commemorates the original three-mile showdown contested at Jericho during World War 1 in 1918.

“I think that shows he’s quite adaptable for the course and this sort of race as going over the roads and that sort of thing can bring them unstuck,” he said of Da Deputy.

“It doesn’t matter how well they can stay, if they’re not adapting to the surfaces and the change of direction, they can fire up and over-race.

“Hopefully my bloke can switch off and do it all right.”

Despite the size of the Jericho Cup field just one other runner is under $10 for the win with Firefree ($8.50) for Kilmany horseman Cliff Murray.

A seven-year-old son of Stormhill, Firefree took out The Valley qualifier over 2800m on November 15 from barrier four, the same gate he and jockey Tom Ryan have drawn for the Grand Final.

Murray also saddles-up $18 shot Alienated in gate five.

See below for the official Jericho Cup 2019 field and barriers, odds on the event available here thanks to Ladbrokes.com.au.

2019 Jericho Cup Final Field & Barrier Draw

#	Form (Last 10)	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Hcp. Rating
1	7276×11421	ABLAZE (NZ)	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	John Allen	3	70kg	74
2	01560×7339	PLYMOUTH ROAD (NZ)	Matthew Williams	Paul Hamblin	12	69.5kg	73
3	8×89821147	AIGNE (NZ)	Neil O’Dowd	Michael Roustoby	11	69kg	72
4	4×66222131	DA DEPUTY	David & B Hayes & T Dabernig	Clayton Douglas	15	68.5kg	71
5	270×734521	WHERE ARE YOU (NZ)	Shaune Ritchie	Darryl Horner (Jnr)	6	67kg	72
6	x033677604	ALIENATED	Cliff Murray	Bradley Thomas-Rantall	5	66kg	66
7	1251160941	FIREFREE	Cliff Murray	Tom Ryan	4	65.5kg	65
8	33L6x63432	GOLDEN FLAG (NZ)	Patrick F Ryan Jnr	Richard Cully	8	64.5kg	63
9	881145×476	HELLO MY FRIEND	Charlotte Littlefield	Lee Horner	7	64kg	64
10	2834348212	PRETTY MAMA (NZ)	John Salanitri	Shaun Phelan	2	64kg	62
11	0093033358	CRAFTY CRUISER	Bryce Stanaway	Ronan Short	10	64kg	58
12	27600×6571	TEN TIGERS	Barbara Joseph	Arron Lynch	16	64kg	57
13	8547436162	DEXLUTHER	Daniel Robinson	Buddy Lammas	17	64kg	52
14	2095824973	VENTURA HIGHWAY	Bryce Stanaway	Will Gordon	14	64kg	49
15e	3214×05048	BEMBOKA QUEEN	Jack Laing	–	1	64kg	65
16e	7492533143	WOLFE TONE (NZ)	Francis Finnegan	–	13	64kg	62
17e	5033512325	GOLDEN GEE	Greg Hayes	–	18	64kg	60
18e	8302572660	CUBAN FIGHTER	Darren Kolpin	–	9	64kg	53