David Jones Cup

Winners and Past Results for the David Jones Cup. See Coongy Handicap.

The David Jones Cup also known as the Coongy Handicap, is a Melbourne Racing Club Group 3 Australian open handicap horse race for horses aged 3 years old and upwards.

The David Jones Cup is a Group 3 race run over 2000 metres at Caulfield Racecourse and carries prize money worth $125,000.

MRC's prestigious Group 1 Caulfield Cup is held on the same day, the last day of the three-day carnival. The race is an excellent middle distance race that has trainers test their handy miles over the extended distance in preparation for longer distances during the spring carnival.

The David Jones Cup was first held in 1898 and remained a principal race until 1978 when it was granted Group 3 status.

The race is an excellent spring carnival form guide for both punters and trainers with many horses moving up to the Caulfield Cup and other Group 2 races such as the Moonee Valley Cup held on Cox Plate Day at the Moonee Valley Racecourse. Some horses may tackle the Group 2 Lexus Stakes on Derby Day at Flemington and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes in November also at Flemington.

The Group 1 Epsom Handicap held earlier at the Randwick Racecourse in Sydney is usually a lead up event with Foreteller running 7th in the Handicap before winning the 2011 David Jones Cup. Baughurst scored back to back victories in 2008-09 and placed well in the Moonee Valley Cup and Queen Elizabeth Stakes during the spring carnival.

Fortunes in the Cup favoured many other classy horses with 2010 winner Ginga Dude placing third in the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington. Dream Pedlar who ran 4th in the same race later won the Bendigo Cup. Maybe Better in 2006 won the David Jones Cup / Lexus Stakes double.

Another race that serves as a form guide for this race is the 2000m Craven Plate held at Randwick a fortnight earlier.

International runners are also keen to contest the David Jones Cup on their way to the Melbourne Cup. European mare, Becqu Adoree made her Australian race debut in this race prior to the Melbourne Cup in 2010. The Luca Cumani trained mare finished 7th in a field of 13 horses.