Sacred Falls has become the first horse to win back-to-back Doncaster Mile’s since Pharoah in 1995, with a impressive victory over stablemates Royal Descent, Weary and Hawkspur.
Messene is locked in a battle for 2014 Doncaster Mile favoritism with the well-backed Weary.
Messene was a dominant favourite in 2014 Doncaster Mile betting markets at the start of the week, but he has drifted significantly in betting markets after he drew barrier 18 for the Group 1 event at Royal Randwick this weekend.
The son of Lonhro has never previously raced on a rain affected surface, but he is a proven winner who has not suffered defeat in his past seven months including a most impressive win in the Group 2 Ajax Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 29.
Weary was beaten by Messene in the Group 2 Ajax Stakes, but the imported galloper has been one of the best-backed runners in Doncaster Mile betting after recording a strong win in the Group 3 Doncaster Prelude (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens on April 5.
The Chris Waller-trained gelding was available at 2014 Doncaster Mile odds of $15 earlier in the week, but has been extremely well-backed in the last 72 hours and is now a narrow favourite to take out the Group 1 event.
Waller has five runners in the 2014 Doncaster Mile field, following the scratching of Boban, and his runners have been some of the best backed to take out the $3 million event on the opening day of The Championships.
Hawkspur will be dropping back to 1600 metres after performing well in the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 22 and has been consistently backed to record his second Group 1 victory in the Doncaster Mile.
The Purrealist gelding has previously performed well on a rain affected surface and scored a dominant win over the famous Randwick mile in the Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) during the 2013 Spring Racing Carnival.
The heavy state of the Royal Randwick track has led to plenty of betting support for talented mare Royal Descent, who proved her credentials on a rain affected surface with a dominant win in the Group 1 Australian Oaks (2400m) during last year’s Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival.
Royal Descent has not scored a race win since that memorable triumph, but has performed well in two starts this preparation; finishing fourth in the Group 2 Millie Fox Stakes (1300m) and an unlucky fifth in the Group 1 Coolmore Classic (1500m).
The 2014 Doncaster Mile will be run at Royal Randwick at 4.30PM this afternoon and you will be able to find all the Doncaster Mile results at the conclusion of the race at horseracing.com.au.
