Liverpool City Cup News

George Ryder Stakes 2025 Results: Gringotts Beats Fangirl in Photo Thriller

The Liverpool City Cup is a Group 3 race run at Royal Randwick Racecourse in late February or early March during the Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival.

2025 Liverpool City Cup Results

• 1st: #3 Iowna Merc ($4.20)
• 2nd: #9 With Your Blessing
• 3rd: #1 Gringotts

Bjorn Baker’s tough Winning Rupert gelding Iowna Merc ($4.20) improved on a lead-up second in the Group 2 Expressway Stakes with jockey Josh Parr getting every inch out of the five-year-old to nail the front-running With Your Blessing right on the line to win the 2025 Liverpool City Cup results by the bob of a head.

Run over a middle-sprint distance of 1300m the event is an open quality handicap for horses aged three-years-old and above. The Liverpool City Cup offers $250,000 in total prize money and is one of six Group status races held on Verry Elleegant Stakes Day (formerly Chipping Norton Stakes Day).

The meeting’s headline event is the Group 1 Verry Elleegant Stakes (1600m) followed by the recently upgraded Group 1 Surround Stakes (1400m). Other key races on the card include the Group 2 Skyline Stakes (1200m), Group 2 Sweet Embrace Stakes (1200m), Group 2 Guy Walter Stakes (1400m), and the Liverpool City Cup.

The Liverpool City Cup is often one of the first autumn features contested by horses in the field and good follow-up races include the Group 2 Ajax Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill in March, the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes (1500m) and possibly even the Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Randwick in April during The Championships.

The 2019 Liverpool City Cup winner Dreamforce went on to run third in the George Ryder and second in the Doncaster Mile results later that autumn. The upset Liverpool City Cup winner Think It Over went on to win the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes (1500m) two starts later and enjoyed a stellar rest of the year headlined by three straight victories in the spring that culminated with success in the lucrative Rosehill Gold Cup.

The 2022 Liverpool City Cup form was franked with the winner Ellsberg running third in that season’s Group 1 All Aged Stakes (1400m) before returning in the spring to win the Group 1 Epsom Handicap (1600m) as well as the $1 million The Five Diamonds Prelude and $2 million The Five Diamonds double.

The Liverpool City Cup 2023 winner Think About It firmly franked the form that winter winning Brisbane’s Group 1 Kingsford Smith Cup and Stradbroke Handicap before returning in the spring to claim the $20 million The Everest – the world’s richest turf race.

The Liverpool City Cup 2025 ran at Royal Randwick on Saturday March 1, 2025 as a potential lead-up to the Group 1 Brisbane races in the winter and was won in a final stride thriller by Iowna Merc ($4.20) for Bjorn Baker. 

2025 Liverpool City Cup Finishing Order

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

2025 Liverpool City Cup Betting

The latest Liverpool City Cup 2025 betting odds will be provided by Ladbrokes.com.au and also made available here at Races.com.au the week of the race.

There was a notable upset in 2021 with the winner Think It Over saluting at Liverpool City Cup odds of $51!

Ellsberg ($2.60F in 2022) followed by Think About It ($3.90 in 2023) are the last favourites in Liverpool City Cup betting to win.

2025 Liverpool City Cup Form Guide

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL 2025 LIVERPOOL CITY CUP FORM GUIDE

2025 Liverpool City Cup Tips

Stay tuned for our insider Liverpool City Cup 2025 Tips on the autumn lead-up at Randwick this season.

• To Win: #3 Iowna Merc ($4.50 at time of publish) – BET NOW

Wide open race with a small Liverpool City Cup field full of winning hopes but have landed on the consistent Iowna Merc looking to return to winning form. Bjorn Baker’s Winning Rupert five-year-old has been knocking on the door coming off back-to-back seconds in Sydney this season when narrowly beaten at Rosehill in the Group 3 Southern Cross Stakes before finishing behind Magic Time only 0.21 lengths off the winner in the Group 2 Expressway Stakes here on February 15. Presents fit and ready to fire with previous winning form at 1300m so the extra distance suits now. Loves the course (11:4-3-1) and gets the rails run for Josh Parr. Big hope.

2025 Liverpool City Cup Field

The Liverpool City Cup field attracts a strong line-up of middle-distance autumn gallopers that could be eyeing a run in the upcoming Doncaster Mile Handicap.

The official 2025 Liverpool City Cup field and barriers are set for release on the Wednesday of race week and will be listed below in full.

The Liverpool City Cup 2025 final field features an open line up of autumn contenders led in betting by Marc Conners’ last start Group 3 Southern Cross Stakes winner Willaidow.

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

2025 Liverpool City Cup Nominations

Early nominations on the Liverpool City Cup in 2025 close the Monday of race week and will be published below.

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

Liverpool City Cup History

The Liverpool City Cup has been run since 1970, and the maiden winner of the race was Blue Plume.

Since then, a host of smart gallopers have won the event including Lord Nelson (1973), Boasting (1989-1990), Danleigh (2008), Terravista (2014), It’s Somewhat (2015), Dreamforce (2019), and that year’s subsequent The Everest hero Think About It (2023).

The event started as a 2400m race holding Principal status. From 1979 it has been run as a Group 3 race and there have been a number of distance changes over the years.

It has been contested over its current 1300m distance since 2008. The race has taken place at a number of Sydney’s racecourses including Warwick Farm and has gone by other names including the Liverpool Handicap and Warwick Farm Autumn Cup.

Recent Liverpool City Cup Winners

Check out the table of Liverpool City Cup results & winners going back to 2000 below.

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