Form expert The Watchdog is sticking with country cups ‘King’ Ferdinand Boy in Saturday night’s sensational Group 2 Chasers Bendigo Cup final (425m), tipping David Geall’s superstar to claim an amazing fourth cup crown.
Ferdinand Boy has been unstoppable on the provincial feature race circuit in 2021, winning the Ballarat, Healesville and Shepparton Cups.
Remarkably, he’s been overshadowed in the Bendigo Cup countdown, largely due to Typhoon Sammy’s record-breaking heat victory, the emergence of Paua Of Buddy, the impressive return of Dr. Tucker and a tough draw in Box 5.
“Ferdinand Boy is my tip. Dr. Tucker should give him a nice cart across in the first 50m or so and I think those two runners can hit the first turn together and that could be the difference.”
As a result, Ferdinand Boy finds himself in very unfamiliar territory on the fourth line of TAB’s market at a generous $7, which The Watchdog has identified as “super value”.
“Ferdinand Boy is my tip,” said The Watchdog.
“He does everything right and is racing with tremendous confidence. Dr. Tucker (Box 4) should give him a nice cart across in the first 50m or so and I think those two runners can hit the first turn together and that could be the difference.”
The Watchdog is anticipating Ferdinand Boy and Dr. Tucker, trained by Bill McMahon, can dominate the Cup on-pace and is keen to invest on both.
“Since resuming from a spell, Dr. Tucker has been placed in two runs at Sale, those two runs were super, and then he followed that up with a 23.38sec heat win. He went through the first marker in 6.46sec, if he reproduces that he’s going to be right in this.”
Typhoon Sammy’s new track record 23.28sec heat victory was his fifth straight win since joining the powerful Jason Thompson kennel and The Watchdog is wary of the $2 favourite but feels the move from Box 1 to Box 7 could bring him undone.
“He deserves to be favourite, probably not even money though. He did have Box 1 in his heat, I know he broke the track record and he’s been super impressive since joining the Thompson camp, but I think from Box 7 he’s going to have to work hard in that first 80 to 100m and he’s not going to get across, I don’t think.”
The Watchdog’s suggested $20 spend
$10 win: Dr. Tucker @ $4.20
$10 win: Ferdinand Boy @$7
ABOVE: Hear The Watchdog’s extended analysis of the Bendigo Cup.
