With the coveted 150^th Melbourne Cup less than six months away, punters are eagerly watching the winter staying races hoping to spot this year’s Melbourne Cup winner. On Saturday one such race took place in Queensland when the $200,000 Listed Channel 7 Ipswich Cup (2150m).

This year reigning champion Our Lukas became the first horse to win back-to-back Ipswich Cups, the warm $3.40 favourite securing a close victory a mere nose ahead of Frozone ($11) with long-priced roughie Warrior Within ($41) finishing a length away for third.

Trained at Eagle Farm by premier local trainer Robert Heathcote, six-year-old Generous gelding Our Lukas overcame a wide barrier and an additional 3kg to the weight he carried to victory last year, outclassing his rivals on Saturday.

Our Lukas has now won 11 of his 36 career starts for $545,950 in prizemoney and will head up to the Sunshine Coast Saturday week to tackle the Listed Caloundra City Cup.

This weekend the Group racing action kicks off again with the Group 1 Winter Stakes (1400m) at Eagle Farm. Get the best odds and betting options online at [iasbet].

2010 Ipswich Cup Results

Place	Horse	Jockey	SP
1	OUR LUKAS (NZ)	Stathi Katsidis	$3.40
2	FROZONE (NZ)	Scott Seamer	$11
3	WARRIOR WITHIN	Paul Hammersley	$41
4	TEARY EYED	Chris Munce	$5
5	BAUGHURST	Shane Scriven	$9
6	CALATRAVA (NZ)	Jim Byrne	$26
7	SIR KINGSFORD	Larry Cassidy	$12
8	FULMONTI (NZ)	Michael Cahill	$6.50
9	SOLID BILLING	Eddie Wilkinson	$8.50
10	GO CART	Ryan Wiggins	$41
11	SAND HAWK (NZ)	Michael Walker	$26
12	SIR TIME KEEPER (NZ)	Laura Cheshire	$9
13	LANDER	Jason Holder	$101
14	SIR SLICK (NZ)	Glen Colless	$21