Punters pounced on Darren Weir’s imported stayer Big Duke as soon as markets went up for Sunday’s $200,000 Hobart Cup at Elwick.
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After opening at $2.80, Big Duke quickly shortened to $2, with Ubet reporting strong support for the five-year-old and predicting he could start an odds-on favourite.
No horse has started odds-on in the Hobart Cup in modern times.
The shortest-priced favourites in the past 35 years have been Stoway in 2003 and Noble Falcon in 1984. Both started at $2.25 and got beaten.
The Lee Freedman-trained Cool Chap, who was runner-up to Big Duke at Moonee Valley 12 days ago and now meets him on 4kg better terms, is second favourite but has eased from $3.80 to $4.20.
There was some early specking for local outsider Settler’s Stone who firmed from $51 to $31.
Big Duke came up with the second-widest barrier at Wednesday’s draw but, with only 10 runners, that is unlikely to impact on the market.
FINAL FIELD: Up Cups (8) C Newitt, Lucky Lucky Lucky (10) L Currie, Geegees Goldengirl (4) S Carr, Cool Chap (6) K McEvoy, Gladstone (1) A Darmanin, MIlson (2) D Moor, Big Duke (9) B Avdulla, Count Da Vinci (7) D Pires, The Princeling (5) R Clark, Settler’s Stone (3) J Todd.
UBET MARKET: 2.00 Big Duke, 4.20 Cool Chap, 7.00 Lucky Lucky Lucky, 7.50 Count Da Vinci, 13.00 Geegees Goldengirl, 15 Up Cups, 21.00 Gladstone, 31.00 Settler’s Stone, 81.00 Milson, 101.00 The Princeling.
