Eyes out wide in G1 Epsom Handicap

There was no shortage of wincing from connections on Tuesday morning when barriers were drawn for the Epsom Handicap, one of three Group 1s to be run at Randwick this Saturday.

The 1600-metre event has drawn a huge field of 20, plus two emergencies, meaning some big numbers were allocated and several leading contenders were among those to draw off the track.

Second emergency Political Debate drew the outside alley, but Caulfield Guineas winner Golden Mile came up with 21, Chris Waller smokey Waterford was handed 20, Doncaster Mile minor placegetters Nugget and My Oberon drew 19 and 18 respectively, while possible leader Going Global drew 13.

Most are now a bigger price than what they were pre-draw quotes, but their owners, trainers and, most importantly, jockeys can at least take solace from the record of horses from wide barriers in Sydney’s iconic spring mile.

In 12 of the past 19 years, the winner has started from a double-digit gate, including Theseo winning from 18 of 18, Clangalang starting from 17 of 18 and Secret Admirer and Probabeel starting from 16 and 15 respectively.

Rock Kingdom won from 12, but in a field of 13, while Winx’s win came from 12 in a field of 14.

Similarly, Randwick’s other major 1600m event – the Doncaster Mile – has seen 12 of the past 20 winners start from barrier 10 or wider.

One big difference in the lead-up to this year’s Epsom is the absence of the George Main Stakes in the lead-up form of any of the runners but there is a good reason for that.

The 1600m weight-for-age Group 1, which was a traditional stepping-stone, effectively no longer exists with the race moved back a month and now dubbed the King Charles III Stakes, albeit replaced by the 7 Stakes, which is a 1600m race of similar conditions and prizemoney.

But where the George Main Stakes was the final lead-up run for 12 of the 20 winners between 1989 and 2009, since 2010 only Hauraki (2016) and Happy Clapper (2017) came through it.

The Bill Ritchie Handicap has become the lead-up of choice with winners in six of the past 13 years having come through that event, including each year since 2019.

One of those was Top Ranked, who dead-heated with Ellsberg in last year’s Epsom after winning the Bill Ritchie.

Redeiner will be looking to join Top Ranked, Probabeel (2020), Kolding (2019) and Boban (2013) as horses to complete the Bill Ritchie-Epsom double, while Converge (fourth in Bill Ritchie), Barbie’s Fox (seventh), Olentia (eighth) and Political Debate (ninth) are the other Bill Ritchie runners engaged on Saturday.