Kiwi raider Quick Thinker is tipped as the three-year-old stayer to beat dominating 2020 Tulloch Stakes betting for the Derby lead-up at Rosehill on Saturday.

An early support act on the Tancred Stakes Day card in Sydney, this year’s Group 2 $200,000 Tulloch Stakes (2000m) features a select field of nine youngsters led by the Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman-trained Quick Thinker.

Drawn barrier two with dual Tulloch Stakes winning hoop James McDonald to ride, Quick Thinker is out to hand his New Zealand trainers their second win in the event following the success of Jon Snow in 2017.

Jon Snow went on to win the Group 1 ATC Derby (2400m) next start at Randwick, a double subsequently achieved by both Levendi (2018) and Angel Of Truth (2019) making the Tulloch Stakes the key lead-up to the $2 million feature next weekend.

Well-bred So You Think colt Quick Thinker is yet to win over further than a mile, but he ran an eye-catcher in the Group 2 Phar Lap Stakes (1500m) on a Heavy (9) last start.

He was the best of the boys over the line when third behind star fillies Funstar and Probabeel who do battle again in Saturday’s Group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m).

Without the girls in the mix and facing a small field, Quick Thinker dominates the Tulloch Stakes odds at $2.60 through Ladbrokes.com.au and co-trainer Baker, in self isolation back home in New Zealand, is hoping his horse can see out the trip.

“The other winners I have had in this race have been stayers. He is different because we don’t know about him at the trip,” Baker told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“He is classy enough but you need to be strong at the end of 2000m and that’s my worry with him.

“We will find out if he can get the 2000m on Saturday and it will decide where he goes for the rest of the carnival. He is going to get the soft track he likes but it will come down to if he runs the trip.

“If he is strong at 2000m, we will push on to the Derby.”

Following behind in Tulloch Stakes betting are then the well-supported duo of Zebrowski ($4.50) and Pride Of Adelaide ($5) drawn barriers six and nine respectively.

The Hawkes Racing-trained Savabeel gelding Zebrowski chases a hat-trick of wins this prep having won back-to-back races this month in easier grade at Newcastle (1400m) and Kensington (1550m).

Pride Of Adelaide is the early Tulloch Stakes market mover for Newcastle’s Nathan Doyle, the in-form son of Adelaide also coming off successive lead-up wins.

Saturday marks his Black-Type debut and after winning by over three lengths carrying plenty of weight at Hawkesbury in the wet over the mile last time out, he’s in the frame for a top three finish.

“I’ve only been training on my own for 18 months so it’s good to have a runner in a Group 2 race,” Doyle told The Daily Telegraph this week.

“He’s come through his run great. He had a gallop on Tuesday morning and I couldn’t ask much more of him. He’s continued on an uphill spiral and deserves his chance in that sort of race.”

The Chris Waller-trained Relucent ($9.50), fourth in last year’s VRC Derby, then rounds out the single-figure fancies in gate seven with Tommy Berry to ride the gelding fourth-up.

Click here for the latest Tulloch Stakes 2020 betting odds courtesy of Ladbrokes.com.au.

2020 Tulloch Stakes Field

#	Form (Last 10)	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Hcp. Rating
1	1x1356x423	QUICK THINKER	Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman	James McDonald	2	56kg	77
2	1134×90	FORTRESS COMMAND	Gerald Ryan	Jason Collett	5	56kg	75
3	323234×142	RELUCENT (NZ)	Chris Waller	Tommy Berry	7	56kg	69
4	155×423	DIASONIC	Richard Laming	Nash Rawiller	8	56kg	68
5	26×11	ZEBROWSKI (NZ)	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Hugh Bowman	6	56kg	67
6	2×211	PRIDE OF ADELAIDE	Nathan Doyle	Tim Clark	9	56kg	65
7	3212×781	BLAZING SUNRISE	Kris Lees	Brenton Avdulla	4	56kg	63
8	331666×204	SIRMAZE	Jason Coyle	Tom Marquand	1	56kg	60
9	6×3431	HIGHMASTER	Gwenda Markwell	Glen Boss	3	56kg	58