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The Bendigo Cup is a 2400m staying event held at Bendigo Racecourse in Victoria during the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival.

A now Group 3 event held towards the end of October or early November on the Wednesday before the Victoria Derby Day meeting at Flemington on the first Saturday in November kicks off the Melbourne Cup Carnival action, the Bendigo Cup is held under handicap conditions and is open to horses aged three years and older.

The Bendigo Cup is one of the richest country cups in Australia, with an impressive total of $500,000 prize money. It is also one of the most renowned country cups in Australia, drawing significant crowds and some top quality horses, particularly in recent years.

The Bendigo Cup can act as an effective lead up race to the Melbourne Cup. Horses generally target the Bendigo Cup following good runs in other events such as the listed Cranbourne Cup  or even non black type events at nearby tracks, including major Melbourne racecourses.

Quite often, horses that get a good run in the Bendigo Cup will go on to other country cups at a similar grade, such as the Ballarat Cup. In recent times, as top quality horses have contested this event more often, races like the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington on Emirates Stakes Day become a nice next-up option. Francis Of Assisi (2016) was the last horse to win the Bendigo Cup – Queen Elizabeth Stakes double.

In more recent years the Bendigo Cup has started to attract and be dominated by international visitors in much the same way as the other spring cup features.

The 2021 Bendigo Cup form was franked with the runner-up Smokin’ Romans returning the following spring to win the Group 3 Naturalism Stakes (2000m) and the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) before starting the short-priced favourite in the 2022 Caulfield Cup.

The Bendigo Cup 2021 winner Wentwood meanwhile went on to run third in both the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) and Group 2 Sandown Classic (2400m) during the spring.

Winning mare High Emocean franked the Bendigo Cup 2022 form going on to run third to her stablemate Gold Trip in that year’s Melbourne Cup results.

The Bendigo Cup 2023 ran Wednesday November 1, 2023 as a potential lead-up into the Melbourne Cup field and was won by the heavily-backed favourite Interpretation ($2.70F) for last year’s winning trainers Ciaron Maher & David Eustace. 

2023 Bendigo Cup
Date:	Wednesday November 1, 2023
Track:	Bendigo Racecourse
Distance:	2400m
Race Type:	3YO&UP Handicap
Status:	Group 3
Prize Money:	$500,000

2023 Bendigo Cup Results

• 1st: #7 Interpretation ($2.70F)
• 2nd: #9 Brayden Star
• 3rd: #12 Taramansour

Ciaron Maher & David Eustace have gone back-to-back in the Bendigo Cup with a final stride victory off a perfectly-timed ride by Michael Dee aboard the well-supported favourite Interpretation ($2.70). The team won the same race last year with High Emocean who went on to run third to stablemate Gold Trip in the Group 1 Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m), a race Interpretation failed to finish. He’ll get another chance now likely to move high enough up the order of entry to take his shot with a light weight as a more mature gelding.

Click here to read more on the thrillingly close win by Interpretation in the Bendigo Cup 2023 results.

2023 Bendigo Cup Results & Finishing Order

	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	7	INTERPRETATION (IRE)	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	Michael Dee		5	54.5kg		$2.70F
	2	9	BRAYDEN STAR (GB)	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	Blaike McDougall	0.1L	2	54kg		$7.50
	3	12	TARAMANSOUR (IRE)	Phillip Stokes	Daniel Stackhouse	0.6L	1	54kg		$14
	4	1	LUNCIES (GB)	Kris Lees	Blake Shinn	0.7L	10	59kg		$12
	5	8	SUIZURO	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	Craig Newitt	2.45L	11	54.5kg		$8
	6	4	KUKERACHA (NZ)	Chris Waller	Beau Mertens	2.85L	7	56kg		$31
	7	11	PESTO (GB)	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Jye McNeil	2.95L	13	54kg		$11
	8	10	PORT PHILIP (IRE)	Julius Sandhu	Ms Celine Gaudray (a)	3.35L	8	54kg		$41
	9	16	WERTHEIMER (NZ)	Matthew Enright	Ms Alana Kelly	3.45L	3	54kg		$201
	10	2	HEZASHOCKA (NZ)	Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr)	Damien Oliver	3.55L	4	58kg		$8.50
	11	3	HO HO KHAN (NZ)	Mitchell Freedman	Ms Tahlia Hope	7.05L	12	56kg		$41
	12	13	WIN O’CLOCK (GB)	Matthew Williams	Dean Yendall	7.15L	9	54kg		$18
	13	14	RICK’S CAFE	Rhiannon Schiffer	Ms Carleen Hefel (a)	9.65L	14	54kg		$41
	14	6	HASTA LA WAR	Sue Murphy	Ms Linda Meech	11.15L	6	54.5kg		$31
		5	MURAMASA	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	Blaike McDougall		0
		15	SPEAK (GB)	Michael Moroney	Billy Egan		0

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

2023 Bendigo Cup Betting Odds

The latest Bendigo Cup 2023 betting markets will be listed below, fixed win pricing provided by Ladbrokes.com.au for you to back your Bendigo Cup tips at the best prices.

High Emocean ($2.30 in 2022) followed by the fellow Ciaron Maher & David Eustace-trained Interpretation ($2.70 in 2023) are the latest favourites in Bendigo Cup betting to salute for the punters.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST 2023 BENDIGO CUP ODDS (Final Field)

2023 Bendigo Cup Form Guide

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL 2023 BENDIGO CUP FORM GUIDE

2023 Bendigo Cup Tips

Stay tuned for our insider Bendigo Cup 2023 Tips on the popular mid-week spring showdown this season.

• To Win: #5 Muramasa ($4.80 at time of publish) – BET NOW

Nice price still on off for the airborne Muramusa for Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young (who are also flying this spring as a stable). This Deep Impact four-year-old is going from strength-to-strength and chases a third win on the trot. Saluted over the mile at Flemington two back with 59kg showing he could carry plenty of weight before stepping-up for a Group 3 Coongy Cup (2000m) victory at Caulfield in higher grade last time out. Wider-out here with 55.5kg and a different jockey comes aboard, but has upside and looks like he’ll stay the mile and a half. Faces some quality rivals, but going too good to ignore.

2023 Bendigo Cup Field

The Bendigo Cup field has a capacity of 16 stayers, but rarely runs with this many starters. Spring gallopers may come into the Bendigo Cup field via a number of different lead-up races including the Group 3 Coongy Cup (2000m) on Caulfield Cup Day or the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes (2400m) a week earlier.

The 2023 Bendigo Cup field is released on the Monday of race week and will be published in full below.

The Bendigo Cup 2023 final field features a quality line-up of spring stayers including Group 3 Coongy Cup winner Muramasa chasing a third win on the trot and the Ciaron Maher & David Eustace-trained Interpretation needing a win and penalty to make the Melbourne Cup field on November 7.

Click here to read more on the key runners in the 2023 Bendigo Cup field and betting markets.

No	Last 10	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Probable Weight	Penalty	Hcp Rating
1	2x22418x98	LUNCIES (GB)	Kris Lees	Blake Shinn	11	59kg			104
2	x05420x807	HEZASHOCKA (NZ)	Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr)	Damien Oliver	4	58kg			102
3	1124×00987	HO HO KHAN (NZ)	Mitchell Freedman	Ms Tahlia Hope	14	56kg			98
4	x05314x709	KUKERACHA (NZ)	Chris Waller	Beau Mertens	8	56kg			98
5	725x900x11	MURAMASA	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	Blaike McDougall	12	55.5kg			97
6	5x8313x006	HASTA LA WAR	Sue Murphy	Ms Linda Meech	7	54.5kg			95
7	6536Px3259	INTERPRETATION (IRE)	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	Michael Dee	5	54.5kg			95
8	02330×8541	SUIZURO	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	Craig Newitt	13	54.5kg			95
9	3×21221317	BRAYDEN STAR (GB)	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	Daniel Moor	2	54kg			92
10	23x0100x75	PORT PHILIP (IRE)	Julius Sandhu	Ms Celine Gaudray (a), (late alt)	9	54kg			88
11	905926×461	PESTO (GB)	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Jye McNeil	15	54kg			84
12	8x6925x115	TARAMANSOUR (IRE)	Phillip Stokes	Daniel Stackhouse	1	54kg			82
13	54920×0961	WIN O’CLOCK (GB)	Matthew Williams	Dean Yendall	10	54kg			81
14	x3121x5133	RICK’S CAFE	Rhiannon Schiffer	Ms Carleen Hefel (a)	16	54kg			74
15	5x42x22x62	SPEAK (GB)	Michael Moroney	Billy Egan	6	54kg			71
16	742430×524	WERTHEIMER (NZ)	Matthew Enright	Ms Alana Kelly	3	54kg			71

Table Credit: Racing Australia. 

2023 Bendigo Cup Nominations

Early nominations for the Bendigo Cup in 2023 close the Thursday prior to the race and will be listed below.

The 2023 Bendigo Cup nominations attracted 31 spring stayers including Friday night’s Group 2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup winner Cleveland and in-form Group 3 Coongy Cup winner Muramasa chasing at third win on the trot.

	Last 10	Horse	Sex	Age	Trainer	Ballot	Weight	True Weight	Penalty	Hcp Rating
1	2x22418x98	LUNCIES (GB)	G	7	Kris Lees	1	59kg	59kg		104
2	x05420x807	HEZASHOCKA (NZ)	G	6	Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr)	2	58kg	58kg		102
3	26x50x4962	CLEVELAND (IRE)	H	6	Kris Lees	3	58kg	58kg		102
4	2x858x5861	FANCY MAN (IRE)	G	6	Annabel Neasham	4	56.5kg	56.5kg		99
5	x05314x709	KUKERACHA (NZ)	G	6	Chris Waller	5	56kg	56kg		98
6	1124×00987	HO HO KHAN (NZ)	H	9	Mitchell Freedman	6	56kg	56kg		98
7	725x900x11	MURAMASA	G	4	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	7	55.5kg	55.5kg		97
8	19x64x069x	THIRD REALM (GB)	G	6	Anthony & Sam Freedman	8	55.5kg	55.5kg		97
9	9x0050x806	MOUNT POPA (IRE)	G	9	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	9	55.5kg	55.5kg		97
10	641127×890	FAME	G	4	Peter G Moody & Katherine Coleman	10	55kg	55kg		96
11	02330×8541	SUIZURO	G	4	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	11	54.5kg	54.5kg		95
12	6536Px3259	INTERPRETATION (IRE)	G	6	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	12	54.5kg	54.5kg		95
13	23x99x9680	MAKRAM (IRE)	G	7	Ben, Will & JD Hayes	13	54.5kg	54.5kg		95
14	5x8313x006	HASTA LA WAR	G	8	Sue Murphy	14	54.5kg	54.5kg		95
15	5×03323614	MOSTLY CLOUDY (IRE)	G	5	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	15	54kg	53.5kg		93
16	3×21221317	BRAYDEN STAR (GB)	H	5	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	16	54kg	53kg		92
17	302813×808	TRUE MARVEL (FR)	G	8	Matthew Smith	17	54kg	52kg		90
18	x41x952320	UNITED NATIONS (IRE)	H	5	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	18	54kg	51.5kg		89
19	x820200x70	SO DAZZLING (NZ)	M	4	John Sargent	19	54kg	49kg		88
20	23x0100x75	PORT PHILIP (IRE)	G	6	Julius Sandhu	20	54kg	51kg		88
21	905926×461	PESTO (GB)	G	8	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	21	54kg	49kg		84
22	8x6925x115	TARAMANSOUR (IRE)	G	7	Phillip Stokes	22	54kg	48kg		82
23	54920×0961	WIN O’CLOCK (GB)	G	7	Matthew Williams	23	54kg	47.5kg		81
24	x3121x5133	RICK’S CAFE	M	8	Rhiannon Schiffer	24	54kg	42kg		74
25	7569×37428	ARAVENE	M	5	Tom Dabernig	25	54kg	41.5kg		73
26	5×40412122	FIRE GLO TOO	G	6	Ben, Will & JD Hayes	26	54kg	43kg		72
27	14×31122	INSULATION (GB)	G	5	Peter G Moody & Katherine Coleman	27	54kg	42.5kg		71
28	5x42x22x62	SPEAK (GB)	M	5	Michael Moroney	28	54kg	40.5kg		71
29	742430×524	WERTHEIMER (NZ)	G	6	Matthew Enright	29	54kg	42.5kg		71
30	98225×5262	COMMANDO DRIFT (NZ)	M	5	Pat Carey & Harris Walker	30	54kg	38kg		66
31	x14x423383	ZAYNUDIN (IRE)	G	6	Tom Dabernig	31	54kg	38.5kg		63