Race favourite Entriviere has work to do from a wide barrier 17 draw when Mark Walker’s Kiwi-trained mare takes on a full field in Saturday’s 2022 Kingsford-Smith Cup at Eagle Farm Racecourse.

Entriviere is favourite to win the 2022 Kingsford-Smith Cup in Brisbane this weekend. Photo: Martin King.
The five-year-old daughter of Tavistock is currently engaged in a two-horse betting battle ahead of the Group 1 $700,000 Kingsford-Smith Cup (1300m) on Saturday after Entriviere was a surprise acceptor for the weight-for-age event.
The Kingsford-Smith Cup is now one of three Group 1 features to run at Eagle Farm with the addition of the rescheduled Doomben Cup featuring Zaaki.
Current Kingsford-Smith Cup betting markets at Ladbrokes.com.au have Entriviere on top at $4.60 despite her wide gate for jockey Opie Bosson to overcome.
Favourites have a poor record in the event, formerly run as the BTC Cup at Doomben, with Impending ($4.80EF in 2018) the first to salute for the punters since Black Caviar (2011).
Walker is hoping the favourites’ hoodoo can be broken by his Group 1 NZ Railway Stakes winner after her eye-catching lead-up running a half-length third to Mazu in the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 (1200m) at the Eagle Farm track on May 14.
Originally the stable, based in Te Akau across the ditch, were planning to bypass the Kingsford-Smith Cup and focus on having their mare prime for a run in the Group 1 $1.5 million Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) on June 11.
The release of the Stradbroke Handicap weights however saw Entriviere allocated 55.5kg, a worrying weight according to Walker who quickly amended the program.
“Originally it was the plan to skip it (the Kingsford-Smith Cup), but with the weather around we decided to have a bit of a rethink about it,” Walker told News Corp this week.
“When the weights came out for the Stradbroke, we felt it wasn’t really a winnable weight so we had a good, hard think about it and decided to go this Saturday.
“I knew with Kementari in there, he’d be top weight so it gave me a rough idea of what we would get – I was hoping there might be another horse that was a late arrival and come in ahead of him.
“She has put on five kilos since her last race so we are very happy with her and thought we’d roll the dice.
“When she got out onto the better ground last time, she flew home so that was why we changed our mind a little bit.
“We did think she’d go good first up but it was always going to be hard with the barrier draw. She has always proven to be a high-class mare.”
Runner-up in that key lead-up, Godolphin-raced three-year-old Paulele, is the danger again on Saturday in the rematch following closely at Kingsford-Smith Cup odds of $4.80.
The James Cummings-trained Dawn Approach colt chases his first win since February’s Group 3 Eskimo Prince Stakes (1200m), but has been competitive in plenty since.
He ran third to Nature Strip in April’s Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes (1200m) and was third again in the Group 2 Arrowfield 3YO Sprint (1200m) in the mud behind subsequent Doomben 10,000 winner Mazu.
The barest of margins separated him and Mazu in a photo-finish thriller in the Doomben 10,000 and he has strong claims against the older horses again on Saturday.
So dominant are the Doomben 10,000 place-getters in Kingsford-Smith Cup betting this weekend that no other runners are under double-figures for the win.
The next best in the Kingsford-Smith Cup odds include: Desleigh Forster’s early market mover Apache Chase ($12), the Gregory Hickman-trained Magic Millions Cup winner from the summer Eleven Eleven ($13), Ellsberg ($13) last seen running third to Cascadian in Randwick’s Group 1 All Aged Stakes on April 16 and the Tony Gollan-trained Magic Millions Sprint winning mare Isotope ($13).
Local Better Than Ready four-year-old Apache Chase is out to add to his impressive Eagle Farm record having won seven of his 12 previous starts at the track.
He was last seen running second to Emerald Kingdom in Rockhampton’s The Archer (1300m), which was his first run since finishing a neck third in the Gold Coast’s Magic Millions Cup (1400m) in mid-January, and he will appreciate the return home on Saturday.
The 2022 Kingsford-Smith Cup is set to run as Eagle Farm Race 9 at 3:58pm (AEST) and the latest markets are available in full here courtesy of Ladbrokes.com.au.
2022 Kingsford-Smith Cup Final Field & Barrier Draw
No | Last 10 | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Barrier | Weight | Probable Weight | Penalty | Hcp Rating |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 174185×350 | PRIVATE EYE | Joseph Pride | Brenton Avdulla | 16 | 59kg | 109 | ||
2 | 18x5x57304 | LAWS OF INDICES (IRE) | Annabel Neasham | Ms Rachel King | 21 | 59kg | 108 | ||
3 | 12712×1273 | ELLSBERG | Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou | Nash Rawiller | 12 | 59kg | 108 | ||
4 | 756x4181x4 | ELEVEN ELEVEN | Gregory Hickman | Hugh Bowman | 4 | 59kg | 107 | ||
5 | 0x114133x2 | APACHE CHASE | Desleigh Forster | Jim Byrne | 6 | 59kg | 107 | ||
6 | 10x20x7986 | WILD PLANET | Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes | William Pike | 19 | 59kg | 105 | ||
7 | 1x14x47x55 | ROTHFIRE | Robert Heathcote | James Orman | 14 | 59kg | 105 | ||
8 | x0180x6072 | OLMEDO (FR) | Annabel Neasham | Brodie Loy | 3 | 59kg | 105 | ||
9 | 3x5555x764 | SIGNORE FOX | Peter & Paul Snowden | Ben Thompson | 11 | 59kg | 104 | ||
10 | 17100×4170 | SIERRA SUE (NZ) | Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young | Daniel Moor | 20 | 57kg | 113 | ||
11 | x37664x313 | SEPTEMBER RUN | Chris Waller | Craig Williams | 7 | 57kg | 111 | ||
12 | x134x152x3 | ENTRIVIERE (NZ) | Mark Walker | Opie Bosson | 17 | 57kg | 109 | ||
13 | 2210×10332 | PAULELE | James Cummings | James McDonald | 8 | 57kg | 107 | ||
14 | 1Lx12x1x07 | ISOTOPE | Tony Gollan | Ryan Maloney | 13 | 57kg | 105 | ||
15 | 2286×23272 | AWAY GAME | Ciaron Maher & David Eustace | John Allen | 18 | 57kg | 105 | ||
16 | 0x054x2626 | BROOKLYN HUSTLE | Jason Warren & Dean Krongold | Ms Jamie Kah | 5 | 57kg | 104 | ||
17e | 6x662x61x2 | SCALLOPINI | Steven O’Dea & Matthew Hoysted | Boris Thornton | 9 | 59kg | 103 | ||
18e | 5x43244x70 | NICCANOVA | Steve Tregea | Anthony Allen | 10 | 59kg | 103 | ||
19e | x418x93803 | JAMAEA | Robert & Luke Price | Tommy Berry | 15 | 55kg | 102 | ||
20e | 1745×24091 | RANCH HAND | Chris Waller | Kerrin McEvoy | 1 | 57kg | 100 | ||
21e | 27x1240x66 | ALPINE EDGE | Toby & Trent Edmonds | Robbie Fradd | 2 | 57kg | 88 |
Table Credit: Racing Australia.