Half Yours is favorite for Caulfield Cup at Melbourne carnival

Half Yours, who won a shorter Group 3 race over the course last month, has maintained the favorite’s role in betting for the Group 1, US$3.2 million Caulfield Cup in suburban Melbourne.

The 1 1/2-mile, left-handed turf handicap Saturday at 2:15 a.m. EDT, Friday at 11:15 p.m. PDT, is the first of the Melbourne Spring Carnival’s big three races. The US$3.8 million Cox Plate (G1), a 1 1/4-mile weight-for-age race next Saturday at Moonee Valley, and the US$6.4 million Melbourne Cup (G1), a two-mile handicap Nov. 3 at Flemington, are the other two.

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A 5-year-old St. Jean gelding trained by the father-son duo of Tony and Calvin McEvoy, Half Yours was best-priced Friday at 2-1 in Australia and Europe futures markets. He will race for the 10th time since March, having gone 9: 4-2-0 with a win last month in the 1 1/4-mile Naturalism (G3) at Caulfield. Two weeks ago Half Yours finished fourth on good going in the 1 1/4-mile Turnbull (G1) at Flemington. In July he won at the Caulfield Cup distance in the listed Caloundra Cup at Sunshine Coast.

Bought a year ago for what Calvin McEvoy said was a nearly US$200,000 gamble, Half Yours is owned by a partnership led by South Australia-based Kildalton Park Racing.

Jamie Melham, who in 2020-21 was the first woman to ride 100 winners in a 12-month Melbourne racing season, will pilot Half Yours from post 2 in the field of 18. Half Yours carries 116 pounds in the Caulfield Cup, third-fewest among the 3-year-olds and up who have been assigned as many as 129 pounds.

This month’s Metropolitan (G1) winner Royal Supremacy (8-1), England-based Frankel colt Meydaan (9-1) and top-weight 8-year-old Vauban (9-1) are the other entrants who carry single-digit odds.

With a forecast for sunny weather and a 68-degree high, the course is expected to be rated good for the Caulfield Cup.

For the Melbourne Cup 10 days after Saturday’s race, Half Yours is best-priced as the 7-1 second choice. Al Riffa, a 5-year-old Wootton Bassett horse who won the Irish St. Leger (G1) last month for Coolmore and trainer Joseph O’Brien, is 4-1 after inheriting the favorite’s mantle Friday. Recent two-time Group 1 winner Sir Delius, who had been the 4-1 top choice, was ruled out of the race after failing a Racing Victoria bone scan.