Cameron Handicap 2020 racing tips, best bets & form guide
The other feature on Newcastle Gold Cup Day is the Group 3 Cameron Handicap over 1500m. A field of 12 will face the starter, with Special Reward and Rock sharing favouritism ahead of The Candy Man and Just Thinkin’. It’ll be a quickly run 1500m affair, with Special Reward, Just Thinkin’, Quackerjack, McCormack and Chief Ironside all likely to want to lead in a race that should suit the back markers.
Friday racing tips for 2020 Cameron Handicap
The Candy Man @ $5.50
We are a loyal bunch, us Queenslanders, and we think this race will suit The Candy Man down to the ground. He maps well, he drops 3kg off his last win at Eagle Farm, and the form in front of Skate To Paris has been franked since. Drawn out in the cheap seats, Hugh Bowman will settle a touch worse than midfield and should find cover easily enough behind the likes of Chief Ironside or Interlocuter. He’s been relocated to the Snowden camp with some lofty Spring Carnival goals in mind, so he should go very close here if he wants to be competitive in the Epsom. A bit of sting out of the ground will suit, but a dry track won’t bother him either. This is a great price for a quality horse.
Rock @ $3.60
Rock is another galloper who maps very well and will enjoy the lickety-split pace. He has only had four starts since he won this race last year, which included great runs in the Epsom, Liverpool City Cup, and the Tramway first up this prep a fortnight ago. He drops half a kilo from his win in this race 12 months ago, which is a big tick. After clocking the best final 600m of the race in the Tramway, we suspect the rise in trip second up will suit him down to the ground. Drawn in gate three, Tommy Berry will bide his time at the tail and charge home late. He is likely to improve again from the run and head on an Epsom path for another go in two weeks.
Special Reward @ $3.30
Special Reward is on the six-day backup after running a credible fourth in the Theo Marks Stakes on Saturday. A similar effort in this should be enough to win, but we aren’t convinced he will get a suitable run. Drawn in barrier five with Nash Rawiller in the saddle, they’ll go forward and potentially look to box seat like last time out. He rises 1.5kg and is a winner at the track in his only start here in the Newcastle Newmarket six months ago in this class. He should be peaking third up and take some serious running down. He cannot be ignored, but we expect him to be slightly vulnerable on the quick turnaround and up on the speed.
$50 each way – The Candy Man