INTERNATIONALLY acclaimed jockey Craig Williams will attempt to snare his fourth Betfair Hobart Cup at Tattersall’s Park this afternoon aboard the Michael Moroney-trained gelding Garud.
Williams won his first Hobart Cup in 2008 aboard Gotta Keep Cool for trainer Darren Weir and he backed up the following year for the same stable to win aboard Offenbach.
Last year he captured the Group 3 on the Mick Kent-trained Epingle that also went on to win the Launceston Cup to capture the Tattsbet $100,000 Cups Double Bonus that delivered $50,000 each to the owner and trainer of the talented staying mare.
Garud is yet to be tested at the 2400-metre trip but Moroney is confident the gelding has what it takes to win at that trip.
Garud won at Warrnambool over 1700 metres two starts back before failing at 2000 metres at Flemington but the trainer said he was partly responsible for that failing.
“made a bit if a mistake last start in that I might have been a bit light on him, workwise, so I’ve stepped up his work rate and he’s handled it well,” Moroney said.
Garud has drawn barrier 10 in the field of 12 so he will need luck but Williams says he only needs to get a bit of cover to be hard t beat.
“You’ve got to respect the Tasmanian horses because they’ve been racing competitively and the race is in their backyard but my horses has the right form to be very competitive,” Williams said.
Garud has been well backed with fixed odds operators firming in from $8 to be on the third line of betting at $5.50.
The favorite is the Tony McEvoy-trained Pelicano with local star stayer Banca Mo the second-elect at $5.
Related information
- Hobart Cup StrideMASTER pre race data reports.
- Hobart Cup fixed odds market with TattsBet.
- Hobart Cup market with Betfair.
- Get the inside line with this week’s Punters Dashboard – Racing for Smart Punters.
Doing your form analysis for the 2015 Betfair Hobart Cup? Watch the 2015 Betfair Tasmanian Summer Racing Carnival Tassie Carnival Contenders.