It is a tight betting battle between Group 1 winner Arcadia Queen and the emerging favourite Savatiano for Saturday’s 2020 Let’s Elope Stakes at Flemington.
Part of a bumper Makybe Diva Stakes Day card at HQ, this season’s Group 2 $200,000 Furphy Let’s Elope Stakes (1400m) features a quality line-up of 13 mares.
An early feature on the program running as race three, the Let’s Elope Stakes odds at Ladbrokes.com.au have the Godolphin-raced Savatiano ($2.50) as the narrow top elect over the Grant & Alana Williams-trained Arcadia Queen ($3.20).
Savatiano for James Cummings was last seen winning Caulfield’s Group 2 P.B. Lawrence Stakes (1400m) before being scratched from her original second-up run in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m).
The Street Cry six-year-old fell over in a tie-up area moments before the Memsie, but the punters and Cummings remain confident she can bounce back and make it successive spring wins on Saturday.
“She’ll be fighting fit and dangerously hard to beat,” Cummings told Racenet this week.
“This might be Plan B after missing the Memsie Stakes, but she carries winning form against the males over this distance into a race that suits a mare who has won 10 races and close to $2 million.
“Her win in the Lawrence maintained her great first-up record, and there’s not a lot wrong with her second-up form either.”
From seven second-up runs the mares has enjoyed two wins and five seconds, and while yet to win from four starts at Flemington, the inaugural The Hunter winner is a dual minor placegetter at the track.
On this day 12 months ago Arcadia Queen won the Group 2 Theo Marks Stakes in Sydney during a stint with Chris Waller.
The Bob Peters-raced daughter of Pierro is back with the Williams’ team in Perth now and chases her first win since that Rosehill success.
First-up this prep she ran fifth to Savatiano in the Group 2 P.B. Lawrence Stakes before developing a foot abscess that saw her also scratched from the Memsie.
Whether the injury-plagued five-year-old, best known for winning the Group 1 Kingston Town Classic as a filly by four and a half lengths in 2018, is back to her best is questionable but the bookies are keeping her safe in the markets.
Such is the dominance of the top two mares in the field, no other runners are currently under double-figures to win.
The best of the rest at longer odds in the Let’s Elope Stakes betting markets include progressive Pins four-year-old My Gold Bracelet ($10), the rails-drawn She Shao Fly ($14) coming off a third to Perfect Jewel in the Group 3 Cockram Stakes and Group 1 Australasian Oaks third placegetter Affair To Remember ($17) in the outside alley.
Click here for the latest 2020 Let’s Elope Stakes market odds courtesy of Ladbrokes.com.au.
2020 Let’s Elope Stakes Field
No | Last 10 | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Barrier | Weight | Penalty | Hcp Rating |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3111x105x5 | ARCADIA QUEEN | Grant & Alana Williams | William Pike | 12 | 58kg | 110 | |
2 | 01x12766x1 | SAVATIANO | James Cummings | Mark Zahra | 4 | 58kg | 111 | |
3 | 81151x22x7 | PRETTY BRAZEN | Tony & Calvin McEvoy | Luke Currie | 9 | 58kg | 90 | |
4 | 228x10016x | SHROUDED IN MIST | Tony & Calvin McEvoy | John Allen | 8 | 58kg | 93 | |
5 | 41x11x3 | MY GOLD BRACELET (NZ) | Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr) | Damien Oliver | 6 | 58kg | 84 | |
6 | 130x53640x | SPANISH REEF | Ken & Kasey Keys | Craig Newitt | 11 | 57kg | 101 | |
7 | 17104x180x | BONVICINI | Ciaron Maher & David Eustace | Jye McNeil | 3 | 57kg | 84 | |
8 | x8333835x0 | FIDELIA | Robbie Griffiths | Dean Yendall | 10 | 55kg | 91 | |
9 | 00×3091533 | SHE SHAO FLY | Kevin Corstens | Ben Melham | 1 | 55kg | 86 | |
10 | 7421283×45 | STREET ICON | Kevin Corstens | Craig Williams | 2 | 55kg | 83 | |
11 | x1223x670x | SOUTHBANK | Anthony & Sam Freedman | Billy Egan | 5 | 55kg | 82 | |
12 | 1x8398x532 | LADY LOFT | Julius Sandhu | Beau Mertens | 7 | 55kg | 71 | |
13 | 736x3133x5 | AFFAIR TO REMEMBER | Dan O’Sullivan | Michael Dee | 13 | 55kg | 76 |
Table Credit: Racing Australia.