The punters are hoping there will be plenty to celebrate in Saturday’s Hawkesbury Gold Cup 2021 when the Ron Quinton-trained five-year-old Royal Celebration starts the well-backed favourite in the mile classic.

A smart field of 11 is gathered for this season’s Group 3 $200,000 Hawkesbury Gold Cup (1600m) and it is Quinton’s progressive Excelebration entire Royal Celebration sitting top of the odds.

The latest Hawkesbury Gold Cup betting markets at Ladbrokes.com.au list the horse at $3.10 to break a notable drought and win for the first time since April last year.

He won over the mile at Warwick Farm in a Benchmark 88 carrying 59kg to victory that run before finishing fifth in last year’s Hawkesbury Gold Cup results, under a length off the winner Amangiri when the event ran over 1500m at Rosehill.

His best performance since was the close second from out wide at 20/1 behind Outrageous in last November’s Group 3 Festival Stakes (1500m).

This prep Royal Celebration has had two lead-up runs including a last start third when making up plenty of late ground after being slow away and racing wide throughout over 1400m at Randwick on April 24.

He presents fit third-up, looks well suited to the mile and with 55kg from gate four with Sam Clipperton aboard could be a hard to beat favourite.

The other two best fancied runners in the Hawkesbury Gold Cup odds are Mark Newnham’s 59kg top weight Greysful Glamour ($5) and the Hawkes Racing-trained Archedemus ($5.50) drawn in barriers seven and 10 respectively.

Despite giving the weight away, striking grey Stratum mare Greysful Glamour still has plenty of support as she looks for her first win since taking out Randwick’s Group 2 Villiers Stakes (1600m) last December.

She has had five runs this campaign and drops notably in grade after a disappointing run when last (13^th) to Nettoyer in the Group 1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m) on April 17.

Up on the pace that run, she faded late and gets the chance to atone in easier company this weekend.

Archedemus is also out to make amends for an unremarkable lead-up run, the Lope De Vega seven-year-old finishing ninth to Rocha Clock in the same event Saturday’s favourite Royal Celebration placed third in.

He carted a hefty 60.5kg that start and comes back to 58.5kg here as he looks to return to the same vein of form that saw him salute in the $1 million The Gong over the mile at Kembla Grange in the spring.

In an open market a further two runners are at single-figures with Sam Kavanagh’s evergreen eight-year-old Sikandarabad ($7) in terrific form and drawn the rails, and the John Thompson-trained Pins gelding Purple Sector ($8) presenting as the dangers.

Click here for the full Hawkesbury Gold Cup 2021 betting odds courtesy of Ladbrokes.com.au.

2021 Hawkesbury Gold Cup Field & Barriers

No	Last 10	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Probable Weight	Penalty	Hcp Rating
1	80115×0020	GREYSFUL GLAMOUR	Mark Newnham	Ms Rachel King	7	59kg			105
2	47x3721x59	ARCHEDEMUS	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Joshua Parr	10	58.5kg			100
3	03x2117x50	PURPLE SECTOR (NZ)	John Thompson	Nash Rawiller	5	58.5kg			100
4	0x07x0x200	MISS SISKA	Matthew Smith	Ms Kathy O’Hara	3	57.5kg			102
5	311x77910x	COSTELLO	David Payne	Keagan Latham	6	56kg			95
6	1200×87724	SIKANDARABAD (IRE)	Sam Kavanagh	Tim Clark	1	55.5kg			94
7	15x3829x93	ROYAL CELEBRATION	Ron Quinton	Sam Clipperton	4	55kg			93
8	073575×457	LOOKS LIKE ELVIS	Jarrod Austin	Jason Collett	11	54kg			91
9	30×8682181	SURREAL IMAGE	Kevin Corstens	James Innes Jnr	8	54kg			78
10	213236×433	LIVEINTHEFASTLANE	Robert & Luke Price	Robbie Dolan	2	53kg			73
11	x35823x206	HAMOGANY	Dean Mirfin	Grant Buckley	9	53kg			60

Table Credit: Racing Australia.