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Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott‘s Spring Cups hope Sir Delius is clear favourite to return to winning form sitting top of the 2025 Underwood Stakes odds on this weekend’s Melbourne staying feature.

The Group 1 $1 million Underwood Stakes (1800m) has been a key spring form race historically with a glowing winners’ list including: Phar Lap (1931), triple champion Ajax (1938, 1939, 1940), Rain Lover (1969), Bonecrusher (1986), Jeune (1994), Octagonal (1996), Northerly (2001 & 2002), So You Think (2010), It’s A Dundeel (2013), and Zaaki (2021).

This year the Underwood field features another top-class line-up of potential Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup bound hopefuls led in betting at $2.60 through Ladbrokes.com.au by smart import Sir Delius.

The nicely bred Frankel entire features in the nominations for all the upcoming majors and chases his second win from three starts since joining the Waterhouse/Bott yard down under.

Group 1 placed in France he got his Australian career underway with a win in the Group 3 Chairman’s Handicap (2000m) at Doomben back in May.

Last time out he was narrowly denied when second to Lindermann in the Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) with improvement expected as he gets out over further heading to Caulfield on Saturday.

Sir Delius will jump from barrier 11 in the 12-horse Underwood Stakes field, a gate which hasn’t produced a winner in the past 25 years, with Craig Williams coming aboard for the ride.

Waterhouse & Bott chase their third Underwood Stakes victory in four years having recently prepared back-to-back champion Alligator Blood (2022-23).

Chris Waller is also a two-time Underwood winning horseman including having claimed victory in the event last year with Buckaroo who returns as the defending champion and $4.60 danger in the markets on the weekend.

Buckaroo went on to run second in both the Turnbull Cup and Caulfield Cup after his Underwood triumph last spring, and he returns in great order looking for another success on Saturday.

The seven-year-old son of Fastnet Rock races second-up off an eye-catching Group 1 Memsie Stakes third behind boom mare Treasurethe Moment back on August 30 which shot him to the top of all-in 2025 Caulfield Cup betting to go one better than last year in the mile-and-a-half classic on October 18.

Blake Shinn is booked for the Buckaroo ride in the Underwood from barrier eight.

It will be Shinn’s first race on the horse since a sixth in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 2024, but he partnered Buckaroo for a recent jump-out at Flemington on September 12.

Waller launches a four-horse assault on the Underwood field this year also saddling-up Land Legend ($26), Anisette ($20) and Moria ($7.50).

Canadian expat, Ghostzapper mare Moira who won the prestigious Group 1 Breeders Cup at Del Mar last November, is his other major player

She has had three runs down under without a win but looked a sharp improver second-up in the So You Think Stakes (1500m) at The Valley behind Desert Lightning on September 6.

Moria is drawn ideally in barrier four with Damian Lane continuing associations.

The other single figure fancy at a current single figure quote of $7 in the Underwood Stakes odds is the early market mover Desert Lightning for Peter Moody & Katherine Coleman.

The Pride Of Dubai six-year-old is yet to win from three previous Caulfield assignments but has been heavily backed already after beating Moira home in the So You Think Stakes.

Recently underrated, he was a close fourth at big odds in Brisbane’s Stradbroke Handicap over the winter and was also good fresh when runner-up in the Group 2 PB Lawrence Stakes behind Private Eye in mid-August.

The 2025 Underwood Stakes is set to run as Caulfield Race 7 at 3:40pm (AEST) on Saturday’s 10-race card.

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