Australia: 20 to meet in The Big Dance; Dettori secures mount

Before he travels to Kentucky for the Breeders’ Cup this weekend, world-famous jockey Frankie Dettori has a new assignment in Australia. Dettori has been booked to ride race favorite Hosier in The Big Dance Stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney on Monday evening across American time zones.

The Big Dance Stakes, with a purse of $1.27 million, is run at a mile and is a newly created race restricted to horses that qualified in a year-long series of races at countryside tracks in the state of New South Wales.

Hosier, trained by Kris Lees, won the Coffs Harbour Cup at Coffs Harbour Racecourse at a mile in August and followed with a win in a lucrative handicap at a mile at Randwick on Oct. 1.

As of Monday morning, Hosier was the 9-2 favorite, a slight choice over the equally intriguing Sibaaq at 5-1 and Surf Dancer at 7-1. The Big Dance Stakes has a field of 20.

:: Get free past performances, analysis, and picks for Australian racing

Sibaaq was second in the $619,600 Five Diamonds Prelude Stakes at Randwick on Oct. 15, another new race for Southern Hemisphere 5-year-olds at 7 1/2 furlongs. Sibaaq was beaten 2 1/2 lengths by Ellsberg, who is not in The Big Dance.

Sibaaq qualified for The Big Dance with a win in the Wellington Cup at Dubbo Racecourse in June.

While Hosier tends to run near the front, Sibaaq is a stalker. Chad Schofield will ride Sibaaq, who breaks in post 2. An inside draw could be tricky for Sibaaq in such a large field, with Schofield entrusted to avoid traffic issues.

Surf Dancer, who tends to run near the front, has a better draw in post 5. Surf Dancer won the Grafton Cup at Grafton Racecourse in July to qualify for The Big Dance, and later won the Group 2 Shannon Stakes at 7 1/2 furlongs at Rosehill Gardens on Sept. 24.

The Big Dance is part of a 10-race program that begins at 8:45 p.m. Eastern or 5:45 p.m. Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.