Australia: Familiar foes square off again in Launceston Cup

Led by race winner Double Your Tee, the first seven finishers of the Group 3 Hobart Cup on Feb. 7 are reunited under comparable conditions in the Group 3 Launceston Cup at Launceston Racecourse on Wednesday in Australia.

Both races have purses of $197,950 and are run at 1 1/2 miles as handicaps. This time, the venue has moved from Hobart, and there are changes in the weights. Double Your Tee carried 120 pounds in the Hobart Cup, but has been assigned top weight of 130 pounds for the Launceston Cup.

Classic Weiwei, second by 1 1/4 lengths to Double Your Tee in the Hobart Cup, will carry the same weight of 119 pounds, while Barade, third in the Hobart Cup, has been increased slightly, from 119 to 120 pounds.

Double Your Tee, trained by Patrick Payne, was the 2-1 favorite in early betting Monday, a slight choice over Barade and Runaway, who did not start in the Hobart Cup. Those runners and Classic Weiwei tend to race from off the pace. The Launceston Cup has a field of 13.

Barade has won two of his last four starts, with both wins in handicaps at 1 1/4 miles and 1 3/8 miles at Flemington Racecourse on Nov. 7 and Eagle Farm Racecourse on Jan. 2.

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

Runaway, from the high-profile stable of trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, won a handicap at 1 3/8 miles at Flemington on Feb. 13 as a 30-1 outsider, ending a seven-race losing streak. Runaway was 19th in the 2018 Melbourne Cup, Australia’s most famous race.

Runaway is versatile. He was a two-time winner over hurdles last March and April.

In the race following the Launceston Cup, the 4-year-old filly Still a Star returns from a year-long layoff in the Group 3 Vamos Stakes for fillies and mares at seven furlongs. Still a Star has won her last four starts, all in stakes at Hobart and Launceston in January and February of 2020 at distances ranging from a mile to 1 5/16 miles.

The $118,770 Vamos Stakes is Still a Star’s first start in a sprint since a second-place finish to Mystical Pursuit in an allowance race at seven furlongs at Launceston in December 2019. Mystical Pursuit, also a 4-year-old filly, is part of a field of eight in the Vamos Stakes and is rated as a leading contender along with Deroche and Ethical Solution.

Ethical Solution and Deroche were first and fifth in the Group 3 Bow Mistress Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs on Feb. 7 at Hobart.

Launceston Racecourse, located on the island of Tasmania, has a 10-race program, beginning at 8:55 p.m. Eastern, or 5:55 p.m. Pacific, on Tuesday. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.