Australia: Point of Law leads field for Melbourne Cup

In less than seven months, the 3-year-old British-bred colt Point of Law has gone from unraced to the favorite for Tuesday’s Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse, Australia’s most popular race.

Point of Law’s swift rise began with a second in an allowance race and a win in a maiden race in his first two starts in Britain in the spring. He was fourth by 1 1/2 lengths in the Group 2 Queen’s Vase Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, and won the Group 3 Bahrain Trophy at 1 5/8 miles at Newmarket Racecourse in July.

Shortly after that victory, Point of Law was sold by the king and queen of England and transferred from British trainers John and Thady Gosden to Ciaron Maher in Australia.

In his debut for Maher, Point of Law won the Group 3 Geelong Cup at 1 1/2 miles at Geelong Racecourse near Melbourne, on Oct. 21, a win that moved the colt to the fore of the Melbourne Cup market.

Now owned by a large partnership led by Deg Racing, Point of Law was 11-2 in early betting on Sunday for the Melbourne Cup, which is run at two miles and has a full field of 24.

The Melbourne Cup is a handicap. Point of Law will carry 116.8 pounds, 10 pounds lower than top weight Sons and Lovers. Sons and Lovers, trained in Ireland by Joseph O’Brien, has won 4 of 19 starts, and was second in the Group 3 Kilternan Stakes at about 1 5/8 miles at the Curragh on Sept. 12. Sons and Lovers was 20-1 as of Sunday.

O’Brien has won two runnings of the Melbourne Cup, most recently in 2020. In this year’s race, O’Brien intended to start Defiantly, the winner of the Group 2 Prix Kergolay at 1 7/8 miles in France, in August, but the 4-year-old gelding did not pass a veterinary inspection.

Aside from Point of Law, the only runners with single-digit odds as of Sunday were Trustyourinstinct at 8-1 and Shockletz at 9-1.

Trustyourinstinct, trained by O’Brien, won the Group 2 Curragh Cup at 1 3/4 miles on July 19 and was fourth by 4 1/2 lengths in the Group 1 Irish St. Leger at 1 3/4 lengths on Sept. 13. Trustyourinstinct, who will carry 125.6 pounds, will be ridden by James McDonald, who currently leads all riders in Australia in earnings.

Shockletz has been assigned 112.4 pounds, the lowest weight assignment in the field. A 5-year-old mare trained by Maher, Shockletz has won 7 of 20 starts, including three races at 1 9/16 miles.

Tuesday’s race will be her first start at two miles. Shockletz was second by a half-length in the Group 3 Tesio Stakes for fillies and mares at about 1 1/4 miles at Flemington on Oct. 24. She won the Group 3 Archer Stakes at 1 9/16 miles against males by 2 1/4 lengths at Flemington on Sept. 12.

There will be support for Hopewell Rock (who will carry 120 pounds), Juja Kibo (121.2), and Middle Earth (124.5).

Knight’s Choice, who won the 2024 Melbourne Cup at 90-1, was 40-1 on Sunday. He is winless in eight starts since his win in the Melbourne Cup.

Goodies Two Shoes and Middle Earth, who were second and third last year, are part of this year’s field, along with Vauban, who was sixth last year, his best placing in three career starts in the race.

The Maher-trained Juja Kibo is in the best form of his career, having won consecutive starts in Group 2 races at 1 1/2 miles and 1 9/16 miles in October.

Maher has seven entrants, while O’Brien has five. They account for half the field.

Post time for the Melbourne Cup is 11 p.m. Eastern or 8 p.m. Pacific.

Big Dance

The Melbourne Cup is not the only lucrative handicap in Australia on Monday evening across American time zones.

The $2.1 million Big Dance at a mile at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney is led by the 7-year-old gelding Gringotts, who has won the race the last two years.

Gringotts, trained by Maher, is winless in seven starts since the Group 3 The Gong Stakes at Kembla Grange Racecourse near Sydney last November. Despite the losing streak, Gringotts will carry topweight of 136.6 pounds in a field of 20 in the Big Dance.

As of Sunday, Gringotts was the 5-2 favorite in a race that lacked a clear second choice. Churchill’s Choice, Formal Display and Perfumist were 5-1 to 6-1.

Formal Display won the Group 1 Alan Brown Stakes at seven furlongs at Randwick on Oct. 10, with Gringotts finishing seven by slightly less than 1 3/4 lengths.

The Big Dance field is determined by a series of qualifying races at tracks in the state of New South Wales in the last year.

Post time for the Big Dance is 10:20 p.m. Eastern or 7:20 p.m. Pacific.

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