Australia: Chateaux Park, Golden Passport tepid favorites in handicap

The absence of a clear favorite will make for an intriguing betting race in an eight-runner handicap at 1 1/2 miles at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Australia on Tuesday evening.

As of early betting on Monday, Chateaux Park and Golden Passport were co-favorites at 5-2, slight choices over Speycaster at 3-1. The race will be run on the track’s Kensington infield course.

Chateaux Park may be the runner to back following a fifth-place finish by a length in a handicap at 1 1/2 miles at Warwick Farm on Oct. 11. The 7-year-old Chateaux Park did not have a clean trip, racing in traffic more than a half-mile from the final and again in the final sixteenth.

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Chateaux Park was beaten a little more than a length by Casual Connection, who is part of Tuesday evening’s race on the Kensington course but is rated as more of an outsider.

A winner of 5 of 46 starts, Chateaux Park is winless in five starts since a handicap at 1 3/8 miles at Warwick Farm in early August.

Golden Passport was fourth by only a neck in the Oct. 11 race at Warwick Farm, leading into the stretch. Golden Passport, who tends to run near the front, is winless in five starts since a maiden race at 7 1/2 furlongs at Muswellbrook in August.

Speycaster, imported from Britain last winter, won for the first time in Australia in his fourth start in the country in a handicap at 1 1/4 miles at Hawkesbury Racecourse on Oct. 8, closing from fifth of eight to win by a neck.

The race on the Kensington course represents a jump in class for Speycaster, a winner of 2 of 11 starts in his career.

The seven-race program on the Kensington course begins at 11 p.m. Eastern or 8 p.m. Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

First Immortal leads Geelong Cup

First Immortal, a winner of 7 of 14 starts, leads a field of 17 in the Group 3 Geelong Cup at Geelong Racecourse near Melbourne on Tuesday evening in what could be a prep for the Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse on Nov. 7.

First Immortal was second by three-quarters of a length in the Group 3 Bart Cummings Stakes at 1 9/16 miles at Flemington on Oct. 7, just missing an automatic berth to the Melbourne Cup, Australia’s most famous race.

The Geelong Cup, run at 1 1/2 miles, includes the Kentucky-bred Spanish Mission, who was third in the 2021 Melbourne Cup, part of an ongoing 10-race losing streak since the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup in Britain in May 2021.

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