The Big Dance 2023 preview & betting tips | Tuesday, November 7

NSW will celebrate the first Tuesday of November for the second-annual running of the Big Dance (1600m) at Royal Randwick. Raced 40 minutes prior to the Melbourne Cup (3200m), the Big Dance brings together a massive 20-horse field of Country Cup winners and runners-up, vying for their chance to secure the major portion of the $3 million prize packet on offer.

BIG DANCE 2023 ODDS

Two horses currently share favouritism for the Big Dance, with online bookmakers unable to split Cepheus and Iknowastar at +400 apiece. The Chris Waller-trained Wicklow is the only other galloper at single figures at +800 on the second line of betting. You’re getting huge odds about every other runner engaged here, with Akasawa (+900), Wategos (+900), Attractable (+1100), and Superium (+1100) all hovering around the same double-digit prices with horse racing betting sites.

BIG DANCE 2023 SPEED MAP

There should be a genuine tempo in this year’s Big Dance, with Iknowastar likely to bounce out from barrier three under Tyler Schiller. Attractable (7) has mustered speed in the past and won’t be handing up to the equal-favourite lightly. Banju (15) has drawn awkwardly, but is best ridden to gain a handy position, and the same can be said for Wategos (8) whose shown plenty of early speed in the past. Wicklow (2) will try to hold a position from the inside draw, while Cepheus should gain the box seat from barrier one. With an enormous field of 20 expected to line up here, it’s all but assured a few of these will be cast wide without cover, as Hollywood Hero (19), Akasawa (20) and King Of The Castle (16) have their work cutout for them from wide barriers.

BIG DANCE 2023 FORM & BETTING PREVIEW

In such a wide-open race, we’re splitting our stake between two horses in the 2023 Big Dance.

The first of which is the Chris Waller-trained gelding Wicklow. The son of Twilight Son qualified for the race after a narrow victory in an ultra-competitive Wagga Gold Cup (2000m) on May 5, and since then, it appears the Waller barn have ben targeting this race. He returned first-up behind Unspoken on October 21 and savaged the line over the same track and trip he faces on Tuesday. The only thing that changes is the quality of opposition, and in our opinion, this is easier.

Prince Of Helena is the horse we want to make a case for at massive odds with online bookmakers. He’s third-up in the campaign after two solid performances in Victoria, chasing home the likes of Rheinberg and Jennilala with 60.5kgs on his back. The seven-year-old failed to draw a barrier on both occasions, and now with barrier six and 52kgs on his back, Prince Of Helena isn’t going to know himself.

Cepheus deserves favourtism and clearly brings the best credentials to this race. He’s scored back-to-back wins – including the Group 2 Shannon Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill on September 23. He’s good enough to win this race, we just have minor knocks on him forced to carry 62kgs at a track he’s never had success at, but his consistency offsets most of those queries.

Iknowastar is searching for his fifth win of the preparation on Tuesday and if they leave him alone up on speed, he’s going to look the winner at some stage. The Bjorn Baker-trained gelding is rock hard fit heading into this contest, and he’s bound to take some chasing down in the shadows of the post.

BIG DANCE 2023 SELECTIONS & BEST BETS

• 4

  WICKLOW

• 15

  PRINCE OF HELENA

• 1

  CEPHEUS

• 8

  IKNOWASTAR

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