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The progressive Ciaron Maher trained Sayedaty Sadaty claimed a commanding victory in the 2025 Ladbrokes Bendigo Cup results on Wednesday, securing a crucial boost toward a potential Melbourne Cup berth on November 4.
The five-year-old Anodin gelding delivered a strong staying performance over the mile and a half at Bendigo, outlasting his rivals in a competitive field to take home the $300,000 winner’s cheque in this year’s Group 3 $500,000 Ladbrokes Bendigo Cup (2400m).
“Fantastic,” Maher told Racing.com post-win.
“I’m just rapt, the team have done a super job with this horse.
“He’s lost his way a little bit, and as I said pre-race, we’ve got a good record with those stayers when you freshen them up (with) a good distance between runs.
“It was a beautiful ride then. Harry (Coffey) just seems to get it right on those stayers.”
Sayedaty Sadaty ($6.50) was ridden to perfection by Harry Coffey who celebrated his third win in the event.
It was also the third time Maher has preprepared the Bendigo Cup winner but his first as a solo trainer.
Coffey had the galloper positioned ideally in third at the top of the run for home before moving up to the race favourite Quietness ($3.30F) with 100m to go.
From there he charged past the top elect drawing clear to win by a length with 60/1 outsider Raging Bull in third three lengths beaten.
The win was especially significant given Sayedaty Sadaty’s precarious position on the Melbourne Cup ballot — this result could push him into the final 24-horse field for the $10 million, two-mile Flemington classic on the first Tuesday in November.
The Bendigo Cup has become a proven pathway to the Melbourne Cup in recent years, and Maher has used it successfully before.
Sayedaty Sadaty entered the race deep into his preparation, improving on his unplaced run in the Group 3 The Bart Cummings when caught too close in a brutally run contest.
Prior to that he attempted to win a Melbourne Cup ballot exemption in Flemington’s Group 3 Lexus Archer Stakes running third behind Revelare who has subsequently withdrawn from the ‘race that stops a nation’.
“The Archer run was very good and then that next one, it just didn’t suit him that race shape at all when the other horse took off and it can bottom a horse when they’re in a race like that but that’s why I’m just rapt for the team,” Maher said.
“The horse is very deep into the preparation; he’s run super and we’ll see where he fits in Tuesday.”
His Bendigo win now places him firmly in the conversation for a Cup start, although while the victory is expected to improve his standing for a Melbourne Cup run, he may still require a re-handicap to secure a spot in the final field.
Maher’s previous Bendigo Cup victories in partnership with his former co-trainer David Eustace came back-to-back with High Emocean (2022) who went on to run third to Gold Trip in that year’s Melbourne Cup trifecta and Interpretation (2023) who ran a next-up sixth behind Without A Fight in the big one.
“We brought him out and we ran in a Caulfield Cup (when 16th in 2024), that didn’t sort of work out straight off the plane, so it does,” Maher explained.
“It gives me great satisfaction and the Bendigo Cup, what a cracking day, there’s a heap of people here and we always target well, and the horses have run well (in the Melbourne Cup) that have run well in this race…High Emocean, Interpretation.
“Hopefully this horse is another one. We’ll just tick him over now and hopefully he gets a spot.”
Prior to his Bendigo Cup success, Sayedaty Sadaty was 35th on the Melbourne Cup order of entry with 51kg.
With the final 2025 Melbourne Cup declarations looming and the field to be announced following Saturday’s Victoria Derby Day racing action, all eyes will be on whether this performance was enough to secure his spot in the world’s richest handicap race.
Sayedaty Sadaty is currently rated a $51 chance in the pre-field Melbourne Cup betting odds at Ladbrokes.com.au.
Should he make the field, Maher will be in the hunt for a new rider for Sayedaty Sadaty with Coffey already engaged to partner Brian Ellison’s UK raider Onesmoothoperator who secured his start with a Group 2 Ladbrokes Moonee Valley Gold Cup win last Friday evening.
Click here to view the Likely Melbourne Cup 2025 Field & Confirmed Jockeys prior to today’s Bendigo Cup result.
Ladbrokes Bendigo Cup 2025 Results
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1st
4. Sayedaty Sadaty (3)
J: Harry Coffey 54kg
T: Ciaron Maher |
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2nd
6. Quietness (13)
J: Jamie Melham 54kg
T: John O'Shea & Tom Charlton |
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3rd
14. Raging Bull (4)
J: Patrick Moloney 54kg
T: Arthur Pace |
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4th
7. Don Diego De Vega (12)
J: Michael Dee 54kg
T: Annabel & Rob Archibald |
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5th
3. Interpretation (14)
J: Teo Nugent 54kg
T: Ciaron Maher |
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6th
9. Strawberry Rock (2)
J: Celine Gaudray 54kg
T: Ciaron Maher |
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7th
13. Alma Rise (11)
J: Luke Nolen 54kg
T: Peter G Moody & Katherine Coleman |
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8th
1. Arapaho (1)
J: Rachel King 61kg
T: Bjorn Baker |
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9th
5. Mark Twain (6)
J: Jordan Childs 54kg
T: Roger James & Robert Wellwood |
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10th
2. Hezashocka (8)
J: Beau Mertens 54.5kg
T: Mick Price & Michael Kent Jnr |
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11th
11. God's Window (5)
J: Jye McNeil 54kg
T: Chris Waller |
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12th
10. Age Of Sail (10)
J: Declan Bates 54kg
T: Kris Lees |
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13th
12. Taramansour (7)
J: Lachlan Neindorf 54kg
T: Phillip Stokes |
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14th
8. Earl Of Tyrone (9)
J: Logan Bates 54kg
T: Ciaron Maher |
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