| What | Perth Cup Day 2023 |
| Where | Ascot Racecourse – 71 Grandstand Rd, Ascot WA 6104 |
| When | Sunday, January 1, 2023 |
| First Race | 12:45pm AWST |
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Visit Ladbrokes |
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The first race day in Western Australia for 2023 will be Perth Cup Day at Ascot Racecourse, where it will host a huge nine-race program, highlighted by the Group 2 Perth Cup and the Group 3 La Trice Classic. The track is currently rated a Good 4 and with an extended spell of hot weather, we don’t expect to see a track any softer than the current rating. The rail will be in the +1m position for the entire circuit, which should see the track play fairer than previous meetings throughout the Perth Summer Carnival.
The first race on Perth Cup Day will jump at 12:45pm AWST.
Perth Cup Tip: Buster Bash
The feature race of the day is the Group 2 Perth Cup over 2200m for the stayers, with many of the 16 runners meeting multiple times over their last two starts in the G.A Towton Cup and A.T.A Stakes in the last month at Ascot. Our top tip Buster Bash won the G.A Towton Cup at his last start, where he sat on-speed and kicked clear in the final 200m to record the best win of his career, by a massive 3.2 lengths over many of his rivals that he will meet again this Sunday. This son of Trade Fair has won three of his last four starts with his only failure coming in the Group 1 Railway Stakes, where the rest of the field were too sharp for him over 1600m. As we mentioned before, many of his rivals must somehow find four lengths on their last meeting with this guy if they are to flip the script in the feature event. Therefore, we believe that with the benefit of barrier five and dropping half-a-kilogram, he will be much too good again, and the $8 with online betting sites looks to be overs for this very talented gelding.
Perth Cup
Race 8 – 
#2 Buster Bash (5)
5yo Gelding | T: David Harrison | J: Joseph Azzopardi (56kg)
$8 with Ladbrokes
La Trice Classic Tip: The Velvet Queen
The co-feature event of the day will be the $150,000 Group 3 La Trice Classic where the two in-form mares from the Perth Summer Carnival, Alsephina and The Velvet Queen, top the market with online bookmakers. We will be siding with the latter from the Darren McAuliffe yard, who will be fourth-up this preparation and coming off an outstanding win over 1500m last start. This four-old-mare has gone to another level this campaign, winning two from three and arguably should be undefeated, after being strung up on the inside behind the leaders two starts back. From barrier eight on Sunday, Chris Parnham will look to slot in on the outside in the last pair in running and look to let down with her lethal turn of foot in the final 300m. Even though we have tipped The Velvet Queen here, we don’t discount the favourite Alspehina who has won five in a row, however, last start it looked as though she may be coming towards the end of her long preparation.
La Trice Classic
Race 6 – 
#7 The Velvet Queen (8)
4yo Mare | T: Darren McAuliffe | J: Chirs Parnham (55kg)
$3.90 with Ladbrokes
Summer Scorcher Tip: Wilchino
The Listed Summer Scorcher will be for the speedsters over 1000m, where the Daniel Morton-trained Wilchino looks awfully hard to beat dropping back from Group 3 grade. This lightly raced six-year-old mare has won nine of her 16 starts with four of those wins coming at the Ascot 1000m. Now that she is third-up and strikes an easier race, we expect Chris Parnham to be positive from the inside barrier and push to the front and lead with the likes of Acromantula, Indian Pacific and Warm ‘N’ Fuzzy, where we expect the winner to come from the first four who round the home corner. Chris Parnham will be legged aboard this Maschino mare for the 12th time, attempting to record his ninth win and if he can find the front without doing too much work, she could run away from them on the home turn to record another impressive win.
Summer Scorcher
Race 7 – 
#3 Wilchino (2)
6yo Mare | T: Daniel Morton | J: Chris Parnham (56kg)
$4.20 with Betfair
Best Bet: Home James
We don’t have to wait long for our best bet of the day, as Home James from the Neville Parnham yard looks to be very hard to beat in the opening event taking on five first starters and two maidens. This two-year-old gelding has been in the market at his first two career starts, finishing second on debut, before flipping the result at his next start and breaking his maiden over 1000m at this track on December 3. This son of Maurice looks to have made significant improvement in between his first and second run this campaign and he now looks ready to attempt the 1100m again, after failing to run out the 1100m on debut. Brad Parnham will continue his association with this gelding and if he can give it a peach of a ride like he did last start, it will make this guy very hard to get past in the final 100m.
Best Bet
Race 1 – 
#1 Home James (8)
2yo Gelding | T: Neville Parnham | J: Brad Parnham (58kg)
$2.20 with Bet365
Next Best Bet: Saloon Bar
The second race of the day will be a three-year-old set weights race, with a small field of seven horses taking their place. Our top tip in the race will be the Daniel Morton-trained Saloon Bar, who will be third-up this preparation coming off an encouraging fourth when he finished off nicely up the inside over 1200m at this track on December 17. It has been clear over at his first two starts this campaign that he has been looking for more than 1000m and 1200m, and now that he gets to 1400m – where he recorded his only win of his career – he looks to be another nice bet on the card for Sunday. From barrier seven Chris Parnham will have to take his medicine and settle at the rear of the field, however, no need to worry because this guy is more than capable of making up ground from the back with a strong finishing burst.
Next Best Bet
Race 2 – 
#2 Saloon Bar (7)
3yo Gelding | T: Daniel Morton | J: Chris Parnham (56kg)
$2.90 with Neds
Saturday quaddie tips for Ascot
Ascot quadrella selections
Sunday, January 1, 2023
- 3-7
- 3-4-8
- 2-3-13-15
- 3-4-13-15
Investment: $96 for 100%
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