Epsom Handicap 2020 betting tips & best odds
The Group 1 Epsom Handicap over the Randwick mile is one of the most prestigious events on the Australian racing calendar. A full field of 20 runners will duke it out for the lion’s share of the $1 million prize purse.
Four-time Group 1 placegetter Star Of The Seas is the current favourite ahead of New Zealand mare Probabeel and Cameron Handicap winner Rock. It can be hard to get the speed map right in such a big field, but we expect to see the likes of Mr Sea Wolf, Riodini, Funstar and Wild Planet all in the first half a dozen in the run.
It is a ridiculously hard race to narrow down, with multiple form lines and handicap conditions to consider. Some 16 of the last 25 Epsoms have been won by a four-year-old, while Winx and Secret Admirer are the only two mares to win the race since 1976.
Free betting tips for 2020 Epsom Handicap
We are going to follow the history of the race and side with New Zealand four-year-old Riodini. Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott will be looking for their first win in the race as a training partnership, with Waterhouse aiming at her eighth title overall. The Proisir gelding brings over some quality form which includes a Group 1 and Group 2 placings as well as a Group 3 win. On the seven-day turnaround, he should be rock-hard fit third up and appreciate stepping up to a mile. He was a luckless runner-up last weekend behind I Am Superman in the Group 2 Shannon Stakes when tucked away behind the leader and eventual winner. He drops 3.5kg from that run and gets in on the minimum under Winona Costin. We expect her to push forward from barrier 12 and give the gelding every possible chance.
Rock won the Cameron Handicap in ultra-impressive fashion, looping them from the tail of the field to win by nearly 4L. He won the same race last year on his way to running fifth in the 2019 Epsom Handicap with 51kg on his back. He goes up to 52.5kg this year, but he looks a better horse and is deserved of the weight rise. Tommy Berry has partnered the horse six times for three wins, so he knows the Pierro gelding better than anyone and should ride him conservatively from barrier 13. With what is likely to be a solid clip, Rock should storm home over the top and finish close to the money.
Queensland mare Vanna Girl brings exceptional form into the race and gets in on the minimum under Robbie Dolan. She is four from four at the mile and is a second-up winner in the past. She comes out of the Tramway Stakes, where she was beaten only 2L, and that form looks brilliant with Kolding coming out of it to win the Group 1 George Main Stakes and Rock winning the Cameron. She has drawn wide as well in barrier 15, but we expect Dolan to find cover in the three-wide line midfield and chime in in the straight. She has been set for this by Trent Edmonds, who has an exceptional record when sending his horses south, so we expect Vanna Girl to be right in it.
$100 betting strategy for Epsom Handicap
- Riodini – $30 each way
- Rock – $10 each way
- Vanna Girl – $10 each way