2023 Doomben Cup Top Selections and Best Bet

Doomben Cup tips and best bet

The Doomben Cup is one of the highlights of The Brisbane Winter Carnival and presents horses three years or older with the chance to race over 2000m under weight for age conditions for a potential prize pool of $1m.

As racing goes in Queensland the Doomben Cup is one of the oldest races run in the state with its origins dating back as far as 1933 where the first ever edition of the race was won by a horse called Pentheus in a time of 2 mins and 5 seconds.

During its time on the Brisbane Racing Calendar the Group One Doomben Cup has also been known as the Channel 9 Cup as well as twice as the XXXX Cup when it has been sponsored by third parties.

Previous winners of the Doomben Cup have included the great Bernborough who won the race in 1946, Rough habit who won three editions of the race between 1991 and 1993 and the great Might and Power who won the 1998 Doomben Cup.

In more recent times the calibre of winners has remained high with the likes of Pornichet, Coming through and Our Ivanhoe all winning the race. In the past two years however we saw Zaaki and Huetor win the Doomben Cup and with both returning in 2023 can Zaaki reclaim the title he won in 2021 or will Huetor go back to back in Queensland. 

2023 Doomben Cup Race Overview

The Doomben Cup this year shapes up to be very similar to the Group Two Hollindale stakes that were run two weeks ago with a number of runners including the front three in the field contesting the Sunshine Coast Group Two before heading to Doomben this Saturday.

Zaaki is a red hot favourite once again after claiming three editions of the Hollindale Stakes two weeks ago. He currently sits as a stand out $1.85 favourite having run well in the All Aged Stakes and going on to win the Hollindale in tough circumstances.

It’s tight on the second line of betting with the Peter and Paul Snowden trained Huetor edging the market at $10 to defend his title. Hot on his heels though are the Chris Waller trained pair of Kovalica and Atishu who both sit at $11 on the third line of the market.

Stablemate to Zaaki, Numberian is also out to represent the Annabel Neasham stable and sits as a $14 chance after finishing 6th in the QEII Stakes and second in the Group One Australian Cup back in March.

Team Hawkes trained Zeyrek goes into battle once again with the third place finisher in the A.D. Hollindale Stakes a $15 chance once again in the Doomben Cup. Zeyrek boxed on strongly to get within a length of Zaaki last time out and looks overs again given the extra distance here. 

Duais returns to action for Edward Cummings having finished off last campaign down the track in the Melbourne Cup. He returns as a $17 chance here and could be one to watch out for having trialled well twice. 

Nonconformist, Diamil, No Compromise, Palmetto and Bankers Choice make up the rest of the field at $20 plus however our focus turns to the top half of the market for the Group One Doomben Cup. 

2023 Doomben Cup Top Selections and Best Bets

With just one scratching in the Doomben Cup field we are set to see 12 runners contest the $1m Queensland feature. We narrow the field down to our outside chance, the main danger and our best bet for the Group One. 

2023 Doomben Cup Outside Chance - 2. Numerian (9)

Trainer - Annabel Neasham

Price - $9.50

Our outside bet for the Group One Doomben Cup is Annabel Neasham trained import Numerian who looks to be coming into the race with some strong front running form lines. 

Numerian is flying under the radar slightly having had two strong runs to date. The 7yo gelding was all but the winner of the Group One Australian Cup before Cascadian came jumping out of the ground in the final 50m and pip the Neasham runner to victory. 

Following up on that Numerian also had a good showing in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes finishing 4 lengths off Dubai Honour in a high calibre contest. The field here doesn’t look as strong and could have every chance. 

His front running style will most likely see him setting the pace for the Group one and could be on his own or with stablemate Zaaki. Has the ability to hold them off if Zaaki gets too far back and presents good each way value to be in the finish. 

2023 Doomben Cup Main Danger - 1. Zaaki (11)

Trainer - Annabel Neasham

Price - $1.85

We’re going down the controversial path here and backing Zaaki to be the main danger here rather than our best bet. 

Don’t get me wrong, he's been in awesome form recently. Zaaki turned in a great performance when finishing second to Giga Kick in the All Aged Stakes on his return to racing and definitely built on that with his Hollindale Stakes win however there are concerns after that run.

Zaaki was forced to work hard in that Group Two contest when travelling four wide all the way to the straight from the wide gate. He managed to get the win but it would have spent a lot and with the wide gate again it’ll be tough to replicate such a lung busting run. 

The Doomben Cup takes the field over a further 200m this time around and while Zaaki is the best horse in the race he was getting closed down on the Sunshine Coast before winning by a ½ length. 

Definitely the main danger of the race and on his day has every chance of winning. 

2023 Doobmen Cup Best Bet - 3. Huetor (7)

Trainer - Peter and Paul Snowden

Price - $11.00

We’re going with the runner up in the Hollindale Stakes in the form of Huetor for the Peter and Paul Snowden Stable who is looking to go back to back in the race after winning the contest last year at Eagle Farm.

While Zaaki is definitely the best horse in the race Huetor almost has a feel of a horse that has been training for this race. He finished off well in the JRA Plate when third behind Diamil before finishing second behind Zaaki in the Hollindale Stakes. 

Each time he has run he’s come closer to crossing the finish line first and i dare say another 100m in the Hollindale and he could have won as he was closing down on Zaaki extremely quickly.

With Zaaki coming from wide again and Huetor drawing inside he is likely to drop back and charge home late. He looks to have too much for Numberian and at $11 we’re keen to have a punt on the Snowden runner each way over lumping on a $1.85 shot who needs to back up a massive run last time out. 

Doomben Cup Best Bet - Back Huetor to win