Birthday Cup preview, form, tips & odds | Morphettville
| What | 2021 Birthday Cup |
| Where | Morphettville Racecourse – 79 Morphett Rd, Morphettville SA 5043 |
| When | Saturday, Feburary 06, 2021 | 3:56pm ACDT | Race 7 |
| Prizemoney | $102,250 |
| Distance | 2040m |
| Status | Listed Race |
| Race Conditions | Set Weights plus Penalties, Four-Years-Old and Upwards, Mares, |
| 2020 Winner | Master Chum – 54kg (4) | Jockey: Eran Boyd | Trainer: Rob Wilkinson |
| Watch Live | |
The Listed Birthday Cup is the feature event on the nine race Morphettville card on Saturday afternoon with a tick over $100,000 on offer for the nine horse field. Following the scratching of the Archie Alexander trained Barade it has left quite an open market for the Birthday Cup with the Sue Murphy trained Farooq coming up as a $4.20 favourite.
The Birthday Cup for 2021 is set to jump at 3:56pm ACDT.
Despite Sikorsky only having one minor placing in six starts this campaign, the last start second at Flemington on January 16 showed he could be back to his best. He looks well placed here in the Birthday Cup to go one better than his second behind Coolth three weeks ago and looks to be the leader in the small nine horse field. He led a harder field than this at Flemington for all but the final 50m and a 5kg drop in weight looks to suit him perfectly. From barrier two Jake Toeroek should have no issue in getting him to the front and will prove hard to catch late on in the piece.
The Sue Murphy trained Farooq is certainly a tricky one to catch. He rarely runs a poor race, but does tend to make things a touch harder than what he should. His last start four length victory over Serious Spender (who he meets here again) was utterly dominant, taking a sit off the leaders and putting them to bed with a couple of strides and never looked in doubt at a nice each way price. He drops 4.5kg off that run and maps to get a similar run in transit here, one out one back and if Sikorsky is vulnerable at any stage it is late on in the piece, where Farooq can pounce.
Prior to that four length defeat to Farooq on January 16 at Murray Bridge, the Macdonald and Gluyas trained Serious Spender had been racing in consistent enough form. He just got too far back at Murray Bridge and was never really a winning chance, but did enough to snare a second place finish. With a genuine tempo expected here being towards the rear of the field will not be a disadvantage and look for him doing his best work late on.
Best bets for 2021 Birthday Cup
| $100 Betting Strategy | |
|---|---|
| $70 win: | Sikorsky |
| $30 Boxed Trifecta | 5 – 6 – 8 |