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The countdown to the Caulfield Cup begins in earnest this weekend with a key lead-up to the opening leg of the Spring Cups double taking place at Caulfield on Saturday, and Races.com.au are here with our full Underwood Stakes 2026 field preview, tips and best bets as we get into the staying features of the season.
The Group 1 $1 million Underwood Stakes (1800m) is one of two elite levels on the Melbourne race card and is a weight-for-age event won by plenty of top-tier horses over the years including Sir Delius last spring.
This weekend Underwood Stakes betting at Ladbrokes is led by Andrea Leek‘s WA expat and early market mover Cosmic Crusader who has firmed into $2.80 to return to winning form as the fit horse in the compact line-up.
Winner of the Group 1 Northerly Stakes over this distance back east last summer, the ultra-consistent Maurice gelding has been terrific in Melbourne with his new trainer this prep.
He won the Group 3 Bletchingly Stakes fresh here at Caulfield over 1200m by a runaway margin before his Group 2 PB Lawrence Stakes win two back beating the likes of Private Eye and Evaporate.
The six-year-old lost few admirers at his latest when third to Beiwacht in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) and the step up to 1800m at this stage of his campaign looks ideal with Willie Pike continuing associations from gate three.
The danger on the second line of betting at Underwood Stakes odds of $3.50 is Chris Waller‘s dual acceptor, Lindermann, who is also in the mix for a potential Sydney run against his odds-on stablemate Autumn Glow in Randwick’s $1 million 7 Stakes.
A seven-year-old son of Lonhro, Lindermann was excellent last time out with a successful Group 1 Chelmsford Stakes title defence over the Randwick mile, and with winning form up to 2000m, he’ll easily handle the extra furlong here should the team opt to head south with him on Saturday.
Waller won the Underwood two years ago with Buckaroo and currently has a four-strong contingent in this year’s field including Birdman ($5.50) and Aeliana ($6) who round out the single-figure fancies.
Birdman, who is on a potential Ladbrokes Cox Plate path this spring, is being kept safe in the markets after an eye-catching return when the Free Eagle six-year-old finished sixth behind the emphatic winner Beiwacht in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) here at Caulfield.
He’s a previous winner at the track and trip in the Group 2 Peter Young Stakes last campaign and is sure to enjoy the extra metres now with the winter’s Doomben Cup winner boasting a lovely second-up strike-rate (4:2-1-0).
Aeliana, like Lindermann, is also accepted for a potential Sydney run on Saturday with the multiple Group 1 winning mare in the mix for 7 Stakes as well as the Underwood.
Her only other Caulfield assignment to date was as a filly when second in the Thousand Guineas back in 2024, but her class is there for all to see after she completed the Ranvet Stakes / Tancred Stakes Group 1 double in the autumn.
She kicked things off this prep in the Group 1 Winx Stakes and ran dead last to Autumn Glow after getting well back, and her closing effort was far stronger than it reads on paper suggesting she could be a huge improver second-up over further.
Waller also has the 2024 champ Buckaroo in the mix as a value runner at $12 with genuine claims in a race that has a history of producing multiple champions.
He runs second-up at a track he’s got plenty of Top 3 form over (8:1-3-2) and looks a definite Each Way danger to improve on his run fresh for fifth in the Memsie.
The eight-year-old Fastnet Rock gelding will improve naturally off that, has been kept ticking over with a subsequent trial and has a lovely second-up record (9:3-1-1) with Mark Zahra coming aboard for the ride.
Kingswood is the other potential value runner in the Underwood this year with Gavin Bedggood‘s seven-year-old Roaring Lion entire bringing winning form into the contest having won the Listed Heatherlie Handicap (1700m) here fresh in an enormous effort.
An elite level champion across the Tasman last summer, he ran out of his skin with 61kg from the outside alley (16) at any old price to put nearly a length on Just Folk when resuming and shapes up as the best roughie for the exotics.
The 2026 Underwood Stakes is set to run as Caulfield Race 7 at 3:35pm (AEST) on Saturday’s 10-race card.
2026 Underwood Stakes Best Bets
Favourite: No. 5 Cosmic Crusader
| 5. Cosmic Crusader (3) J: William Pike 59kg 2×113 T: Andrea Leek | |||
| Racing well recently. Last start 3rd of 12 in the G1 Memsie Stakes at this track on August 29 over 1400m, slow going 3.5 len behind Beiwacht with 59kg at $3.30. The start before that favourite; came from midfield and won by 0.8 len in the G2 PB Lawrence Stakes at this track on August 15 over 1400m on a rain affected track defeating Private Eye with 59kg at $2.50. Well placed. | |||
