Melbourne Cup Betting Preview
- By A.J. Ryder on October 24, 2011 18:33 GMT
The six-year-old son of Dynaformer is back in a big way and Australian punters have flocked to the betting shops as they have begun backing Americain in big numbers after scoring at Moonee Valley on Saturday in the Drake International Cup. A just-over-two-lengths victory ahead of the likes of Tullamore and Shewan, the 5/2 favourite carried a high-weight of 9-2 and still pulled away strongly on the run-in.
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He carried 8-8 when scoring at 12/1 in the Melbourne Cup – the race that stops a nation. He had a bit of a hit and miss season following that high-profile score at Flemington but still managed to conquer a listed contest at Deauville back in early August.
Punters have Americain floating around 9/2 at the moment and you can expect the volume to pick up as he trains in the build-up to the contest.
Another French-bred stayer appears to be the biggest challenge to Americain's attempt at back-to-back Melbourne Cups. Also shipping in from Deauville, he scored at Geelong last week in a Group 3 handicap over a 1m4f distance. He scored by just under a length and really got the better of favourite Tanby as he pulled off a blistering final furlong.
With proper conditioning, he will be especially dangerous next week and he is trading anywhere from 6/1 to 9/1.
Lightly-raced German-bred Lucas Cranach has been drawing plenty of attention for this one as well but he's not done so well since scoring at Hamburg back in late July. He had his Australian debut at Caulfield where he finished fifth in a field of eighteen against Group 1 company. Notably, Tullamore finished a few spots ahead of him to place in third.
Irish-bred staying specialist Fox Hunt is your outside each-way selection to keep your eye on as he finished first by three-quarters of a length in the German St Leger. He also scored in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes Handicap at Royal Ascot and captured another handicap contest on the Epsom Derby undercard. Look for Sheikh Hamdan's contender in the region of 25/1 with most major bookmakers.
