Kingsford Smith Cup

Kingsford Smith Cup

Group One Betting Guide
Date: Saturday, June 1, 2024
Location: Eagle Farm Racecourse – Brisbane, Queensland
Prize Money: $1,000,000
Distance: 1300m

The BTC Cup – also known as the Kingsford Smith Cup – is a Group 1 race held at Brisbane’s Eagle Farm. The race is a three-year-olds and older weight-for-age event over 1300m.

The BTC Cup was previously the opening group one race of the Brisbane Winter Racing Carnival, but is now run in the middle of the Carnival following the Doomben 10,000 and the Doomben Cup.

Formerly run over the 1200m journey, the $1,000,000 race is now over the 1300m trip and has a fantastic group of former winners among its ranks.


2024 Kingsford Smith Cup Betting Odds

Markets for the 2024 Kingsford Smith Cup are currently unavailable.


Best BTC Cup bookmakers

The BTC Cup is a group one race that previously kicked off the Brisbane Winter Carnival, and while it is not as prominent as it once was, any bookmaker worth their salt has markets up well in advance of the race.

Tote prices and other Fixed Odds markets tend to open when the race is four to five days away.

United States Sport Table

Sport Table


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Betting on the BTC Cup

The BTC Cup always brings out the best sprinters in the country to the sunshine state, and is the preamble to the Stradbroke Handicap, which is typically run a fortnight later.

Naturally, the key form race heading into the BTC Cup is the Doomben 10,000 held a fortnight prior, and for the interstate raiders the TJ Smith Stakes has produced a couple of winners over the years.

In recent times however, the race has been not favourable to the key market elects.

Since Black Caviar won the race as a short-priced favourite in 2011, only two favourites Impending (2018) and Think About It (2023) has rewarded favourite punters since.

Punters need to beware of the big names in this race, given a lot of runners use the race as a tune up for the Stradbroke.


2024 Kingsford-Smith Cup Final Field

Horsebetting.com.au will update this page when the 2024 Kingsford Smith Cup field is released.


Previous Kingsford-Smith Cup Fields

Plenty of the future sprinting superstars of the racing scene have competed in the Kingsford-Smith Cup, here is what the final fields looked like in the last couple of years.

  • No. Silks Horse Trainer Jockey Barrier Weight
    1 Silks
    Eduardo
    Joseph Pride
    Nash Rawiller
    5
    59kg
    2 Silks
    A Case Of You
    Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr)
    Mark Zahra
    6
    59kg
    3 Silks
    Paulele
    James Cummings
    Ben Melham
    16
    59kg
    4 Silks
    Rothfire
    Robert Heathcote
    Blake Shinn
    7
    59kg
    5 Silks
    Vilana
    James Cummings
    James McDonald
    13
    59kg
    6 Silks
    Converge
    Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott
    Tim Clark
    1
    59kg
    7 Silks
    King Of Sparta
    Peter & Paul Snowden
    Chad Schofield
    2
    59kg
    8 Silks
    Kirwan’s Lane
    John O’Shea
    Opie Bosson
    15
    59kg
    9 Silks
    Eleven Eleven
    Gregory Hickman
    Tyler Schiller
    14
    59kg
    10 Silks
    Gentleman Roy
    Ben & JD Hayes
    Craig Williams
    18
    59kg
    11 Silks
    Think About It
    Joseph Pride
    Sam Clipperton
    8
    59kg
    12 Silks
    Emerald Kingdom
    Desleigh Forster
    Damien Thornton
    4
    59kg
    13 Silks
    Alpine Edge
    Toby & Trent Edmonds
    Ryan Maloney
    17
    59kg
    14 Silks
    The Inferno
    Cliff Brown
    Craig Newitt
    9
    59kg
    15 Silks
    Promise Of Success
    John O’Shea
    Jason Collett
    12
    57kg
    16 Silks
    Palaisipan
    Chris Munce
    Joshua Parr
    19
    57kg
    17 Silks
    Chaillot (1E)
    Steven O’Sea & Matthew Hoysted
    Ben Thompson
    11
    57kg
    18 Silks
    Irish Songs (2E)
    Louise White
    Larry Cassidy
    10
    59kg
    19 Silks
    Antino (3E)
    Tony Gollan
    James Orman
    3
    59kg
  • No. Silks Horse Trainer Jockey Barrier Weight
    1 Private Eye Joseph Pride Brenton Avdulla 16 59kg
    2 Laws Of Indices Annabel Neasham Rachel King 21 59kg
    3 Ellsberg Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou Nash Rawiller 12 59kg
    4 Eleven Eleven Gregory Hickman Hugh Bowman 4 59kg
    5 Apache Chase Desleigh Forster Jim Byrne 6 59kg
    6 Wild Planet Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes William Pike 19 59kg
    7 Rothfire Robert Heathcote James Orman 14 59kg
    8 Olmedo Annabel Neasham Brodie Loy 3 59kg
    9 Signore Fox Peter & Paul Snowden Ben Thompson 11 59kg
    10 Sierra Sue Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young Daniel Moor 20 57kg
    11 September Run Chris Waller Craig Williams 7 57kg
    12 Entriviere Mark Walker Opie Bosson 17 57kg
    13 Paulele James Cummings James McDonald 8 57kg
    14 Isotope Tony Gollan Ryan Maloney 13 57kg
    15 Away Game Ciaron Maher & David Eustace John Allen 18 57kg
    16 Brooklyn Hustle Jason Warren & Dean Krongold Jamie Kah 5 57kg
    17 Scallopini (1E) Steven O’Dea & Matthew Hoysted Boris Thornton 9 59kg
    18 Niccanova (2E) Steve Tregea Anthony Allen 10 59kg
    19 Jamaea (3E) Robert & Luke Price Tommy Berry 15 55kg
    20 Ranch Hand (4E) Chris Waller Kerrin McEvoy 1 57kg
    21 Alpine Edge (5E) Toby & Trent Edmonds Robbie Fradd 2 57kg
  • No. Silks Horse Trainer Jockey Barrier Weight
    1 Trekking James Cummings Kerrin McEvoy 12 59kg
    2 Gytrash Gordon Richards Jason Collett 15 59kg
    3 Savatoxl Tony & Calvin McEvoy Barend Vorster 14 59kg
    4 Imaging Chris Waller James McDonald 16 59kg
    5 Kementari James Cummings Joshua Parr 1 59kg
    6 Victorem Jenny Graham Mark Du Plessis 2 59kg
    7 So Si Bon Tom Dabernig & Ben Hayes Mark Zahra 3 59kg
    8 Niccanova Steve Tregea James Orman 11 59kg
    9 Vega One Tony Gollan Jamie Kah 13 59kg
    10 Jonker Tony Gollan Jim Byrne 4 59kg
    11 Signore Fox Peter & Paul Snowden Ryan Maloney 5 59kg
    12 Blazejowski Greg Eurell Jye McNeil 10 59kg
    13 Savatiano James Cummings Hugh Bowman 8 57kg
    14 Outback Barbie Tony Gollan Brenton Avdulla 9 57kg
    15 Pennino Darryl Hansen Tiffani Brooker 7 57kg
    16 Dame Giselle Peter & Paul Snowden Tim Clark 6 55kg

2023 BTC Cup result


1stThink About It ($5.00)
2ndConverge ($4.00)
3rdRothfire ($2.30)

Recent BTC Cup winners

  • It was a first-time Group 1 success for Think About It, taking out the Kingsford Smith Cup at Eagle Farm. The son of So You Think continued his model of consistency remaining undefeated since resuming in the new year, with this now being his sixth win on the trot. It’s been a meteoric rise as a four-year-old from the Joseph Pride barn, now resulting in Group 1 glory and doing so in stylish fashion, while also ticking the weight-for-age box in the process. Jockey Sam Clipperton has been a big part of this horse’s maturing this campaign, taking the reins on all six occasions to score victories. It was another classy steer from Clipperton, producing a ‘no panic’ ride when finding himself cast three-wide the entire trip and Vilana unable to take him into the race. His mount still stormed down the middle of the course and was able to kick clear, hanging on from a game Rothfire and Converge sneaking rails runs almost spoiling the party for favourite backers. It’s full steam ahead now for Think About It, with all signs pointing to the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap – where he is a firm $3.50 favourite with for QLD’s premier race.
  • Trainer Desleigh Forster gave Jim Byrne one instruction for his ride on Apache Chase; do not go slow! Byrne followed those instructions to perfection, having his mount flying along out in front throughout the Kingsford-Smith Cup, with Apache Chase fending off his rivals to claim Group 1 glory. Despite being vulnerable for the taking inside the final furlong, Apache Chase kept kicking in the home straight under urgings from Byrne and held off the fast finishing Paulele and Eleven Eleven, with 0.4 lengths separating the first four, with Rothfire back in fourth.
  • All connections to Vega One would have been scrunching their tickets up before the race was over. Barrier 13 and stuck behind a blockade of horses down the straight things were not looking good for the five-year-old gelding, however it was the brilliant riding of Jamie Kah that found the gap that didn’t exist to get up on Jonker and Signore Fox to win by .5 of a length.
  • The Kingsford Smith Cup was cancelled due to the lockdowns because of COVID-19
  • Remarkably, The Bostonian was sent around as a $10 chance in the BTC Cup, but on the back of another superb steer from Michael Cahill the pair grabbed back to back Group 1 victories. Having been granted the run of the race, Cahill found a gap in the home straight at the 300m mark and the Tony Pike-trained gelding managed to hold out the rank outsider Princess Posh and race favourite Trekking in the concluding stages.
  • Godolphin runner Impending came into the 2018 BTC Cup hoping to improve on a strong run in the Doomben 10000 two weeks prior, but when Le Romain kicked away in the straight it looked like a win would be beyond the four-year-old. The horse surged to the line however to topple Le Romain in a photo-finish.
  • Clearly Innocent trounced its rivals in the 2017 Kingsford-Smith Cup (BTC Cup) at Eagle Farm. The Kris Lees-trained runner was considered a course specialist at Scone, but transferred that form to Eagle Farm where it enjoyed the wet conditions at Eagle Farm. Read the report here.
  • Malaguerra was not one of the key elects in the market going into the 2016 BTC Cup, but was found late in the market to firm into $7. In one of the tightest finishes in the race’s history the gelding held on well in a photo-finish ahead of Dothraki.
  • The $26 outsider Hot Snitzel was not expected to be a factor in the 2015 edition of the race, but when the horse sprinted from midfield to challenge the long-time leader, roughie backers would have had their hearts in their mouths. The horse went on to salute, but failed to win a race thereafter.
  • Famous Seamus is a horse that teased punters over the journey, and most backers did not want to go near the $21 pop heading into the race. However, under a perfect ride from Ryan Wiggins the Kiwi import blazed down the outside to record one of the best wins of its career.
  • In a performance that belied its huge price, Your Song ($12) absolutely torched its rivals to record a comfortable five length win – the biggest margin since Black Caviar’s towering performance in 2011. The horse raced just a further two times in its career before retiring a month later.

Previous BTC Cup winners

BTC Cup Past Winners
Year Horse Jockey Trainer
2023 Think About It Sam Clipperton Joseph Pride
2022 Apache Chase Jim Byrne Desleigh Forster
2021 Vega One Jamie Kah Tony Gollan
2020 Race Not Held
2019 The Bostonian Michael Cahill Tony Pike
2018 Impending Damian Browne James Cummings
2017 Clearly Innocent Hugh Bowman Kris Lees
2016 Malaguerra Glen Colless Lee & Anthony Freedman
2015 Hot Snitzel Blake Shinn Peter & Paul Snowden
2014 Famous Seamus Ryan Wiggins Noel Mayfield-Smith
2013 Your Song Peter Robl Anthony Cummings
2012 Sea Siren Jim Cassidy John O’Shea
2011 Black Caviar Luke Nolen Peter Moody
2010 Albert The Fat Damian Browne Eden Petrie
2009 Duporth Luke Nolen Anthony Cummings
2008 Apache Cat Corey Brown Greg Eurell
2007 Bentley Biscuit Nash Rawiller Gai Waterhouse
2006 Gee I Jane Scott Seamer Neville Couchman
2005 Spark Of Life Chris Munce Allan Denham
2004 Thorn Park Danny Nikolic Bob Thomsen
2003 Falvelon Alan Russell Danny Bougoure
2002 Lord Essex Scott Galloway John Hawkes
2001 Fritz Noel Harris Mark Walker
2000 Falvelon Michael Cahill Danny Bougoure

BTC Cup Past Winners Pre 2000

BTC Cup Past Winners Pre 2000
Year Horse
1999 Staging
1998 General Nediym
1997 Accomplice
1996 Chief De Beers
1995 Seawinne
1994 Buck’s Pride
1993 Buck’s Pride
1992 Barrosa Boy
1991 St. Jude
1990 Gypsy Rogue
1989 High Regard
1988 Cool Report
1987 Broad Reach
1986 Goldorme
1985 Sports Ruler
1984 Mr. Illusion
1983 Strawberry Road
1982 Todonic
1981 Grand Rocky
1980 Vinegar Joe
1979 Stylee
1978 March Legend
1977 Innisfree
1976 Ima Shadow
1975 Martindale
1974 Tontonan
1973 Triton
1972 Charlton Boy
1971 Ricochet
1970 Cabochon
1969 Dual Control
1968 Prince Gauntlet
1967 Eye Liner
1966 Flying Fancy
1965 Todwana
1964 Rashlore

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