Australia: With favorite on also-eligible list, Ingham Handicap is up in the air

The role of favorite for the Group 2 Ingham Handicap at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Australia on Friday will not be known until final scratches are submitted.

Nugget, the sharp winner of a one-mile handicap at Kembla Grange Racecourse on Nov. 16 in his second start on Australia, is stuck on the also-eligible list, but was 5-2 in early betting as of Thursday. Trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, Nugget is the even-money favorite in early betting for a lesser race, a $101,000 handicap at a mile on the same program.

Nugget won four minor handicaps in England before he was sent to Australia earlier this year.

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There is heightened interest in the one-mile Ingham Handicap this year. The race has a purse of $1.35 million and has been renamed, having formerly been known as the Villiers Stakes. The 2021 Villiers was worth $759,000.

The Ingham Handicap will have a maximum field of 20. Aside from a lucrative purse, the winner will receive a fees-paid berth to the Group 1 Doncaster Mile, a $2.7 million race at Randwick in April.

Of the runners in the main field, Huetor, the winner of the Group 1 Doomben Cup at 1 3/8 miles at Eagle Farm in April, was the 9-1 favorite in early betting. The price will shorten considerably if Nugget does not start. Huetor has not started since he finished eighth in the Group 2 Q22 Stakes at 1 3/8 miles at Eagle Farm in May.

The Ingham Handicap will be Huetor’s first start at a mile since a win in a handicap at Newcastle Racecourse in November 2021.

Huetor shares top weight of 130 pounds with Sunshine Rising, a 9-year-old group stakes winner in Hong Kong last year who finished fourth in the Group 3 Festival Stakes at 7 1/2 furlongs at Rosehill Gardens on Nov. 26, beaten slightly more than two lengths.

Riodini, who won the $667,000 The Gong Handicap at a mile at Kembla Grange on Nov. 19, and Brutality, who won the 2021 Villiers Stakes and was fifth in The Gong Handicap, will carry 123 and 119 pounds.

Randwick has a 10-race program beginning at 8:20 p.m. Eastern or 5:20 p.m. Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

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