Australia: Barade, Double Your Tee have weight edge in Hobart Cup

Light weight assignments will be a boost for Barade and Double Your Tee in Sunday’s $191,650 Hobart Cup at Hobart Racecourse in Australia.

Barade, who may be a slight favorite in a very competitive field, will carry 119 pounds in the field of 15, slightly less than Double Your Tee at 120 pounds. The highweights, at 130 pounds, are Eastender and Mandela Effect. Of those, Mandela Effect is rated to have a better chance.

Toorak Affair, a 7-year-old mare who won the 2020 Hobart Cup, will carry 125.6 pounds and will be very well-supported.

Barade and Double Your Tee have run well in recent starts at tracks in Brisbane and Melbourne.

Barade, a French-bred 6-year-old gelding, won a handicap at 1 3/8 miles at Eagle Farm Racecourse in Brisbane on Jan. 2 for his second win in his last three starts. The Hobart Cup, run at 1 1/2 miles, will be Barade’s first start at Hobart Racecourse on the island of Tasmania.

Double Your Tee was a winner at Hobart in a race at 1 3/8 miles in March 2018 before he was transferred from Tasmanian trainer John Blacker to Patrick Payne on the mainland. Double Your Tee is winless in his last 17 starts, but was second by a half-length in a handicap at 1 1/2 miles at Sandown Racecourse in Melbourne on Jan 23.

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Toorak Affair won consecutive stakes at seven furlongs and a mile at Launceston Racecourse in Tasmania in December and January, but was fourth as the 7-5 favorite in the Summer Cup at 1 3/8 miles at Hobart on Jan. 24, a race won by White Hawk, a 100-1 chance. White Hawk will be a longshot in the Hobart Cup.

Mandela Effect was second to Toorak Affair in the Tasmanian Stakes at a mile at Launceston on Jan. 8 as the 6-5 favorite and second by a head to White Hawk on Jan. 24.

A 6-year-old gelding, Mandela Effect has won 4 of 8 career starts at Hobart. Mandela Effect will have his career debut at 1 1/2 miles in the Hobart Cup, his 31st start.

The Hobart Cup is the ninth race on a 10-race program that begins at 8:05 p.m. Eastern, or 5:05 p.m. Pacific, on Saturday. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.