Form expert Daniel O’Sullivan has Trip To Paris on top of his 2015 Melbourne Cup tips and he believes that the Ascot Gold Cup winner represents outstanding value in betting markets for the Group 1 event that will be held at Flemington this afternoon.
Trip To Paris has been one of the best-backed runners in 2015 Melbourne Cup betting. Photo by: Ultimate Racing Photos
Trip To Paris first stamped himself as a Melbourne Cup contender when he took out the Group 1 Gold Cup (4023m) at Royal Ascot on June 18 and he finished a gallant third behind Big Orange in the Group 2 Goodwood Cup (3218m) on July 30 before he did not handle the shifting ground in the Group 2 Lonsdale Cup (3299m) at York on August 21.
The Champs Elysees gelding showed that he possesses an outstanding turn-of-foot when he finished second behind Mongolian Khan in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield on October 17 and O’Sullivan told RSN that the five-year-old has the perfect profile to win the 2015 Melbourne Cup, which makes him outstanding value at his current odds of $8.
“I’ve got him at $5 and he is my on top choice,” O’Sullivan said.
“He is $8.5in the market this morning, which I think is a great price.
“He won the Ascot Gold Cup and then he was third in the Goodwood Cup where he carried a penalty for that win,” O’Sullivan said.
“Both of those ratings put him at the winning mark for this race.
“In the Caulfield Cup, we all thought it was too short for him, but he produced an outstanding run to finish a close second and he actually ran the best 200 of any runner in the field – it was superior to Fame Game.
“While Fame Game may have been stronger over the last 50 or 100, but you have to remember that Fame Game was out the back in that race doing virtually nothing, while Trip To Paris was much closer and certainly spent much more energy from the 800 to the 200.
“That run put him at a level only about a length off his peak here and off that Caulfield Cup run and the benefit of 3200 that he is set up really well to progress towards his peak and if not a little bit better.
“That is going to make him mighty hard to beat and when I consider that he is double the price of Fame Game, it just seems like outstanding value.
“These overseas runner that have a lead-up run in Australia and have figures somewhere close to the winning mark have an excellent record.
“He presents here with the ideal profile to win a Melbourne Cup.”
Fame Game is currently available at 2015 Melbourne Cup odds of $4.80 with Ladbrokes and he remains a clear favourite from Trip To Paris ($7.50), Preferment ($9), Max Dynamite ($11) and Criterion ($17).
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