Only Red Verdon escapes Caulfield Cup horror draw for European raiders

As far as barrier draws go, the one for the A$5 million (£2.7m/€3m) Stella Artois Caulfield Cup could not have gone much worse for the European contingent, with only Red Verdon emerging with anything like a favourable stall.

Caulfield Cup card

The sweetspot, according to Racing.com's editor-in-chief and lead presenter Shane Anderson, who compered the draw, is somewhere between stalls four and 11 and of the four British and Irish runners only Red Verdon, placed nine, landed a prime slot.

Aidan O'Brien's The Cliffsofmoher found himself in the suburbs of a good draw in three, but the Saeed Bin Suroor-trained Best Solution (17) and Andrew Balding's Duretto (one) found themselves not even within commuting distance and will have their hand forced tactically in what can often be a difficult race for jockeys.

Four Europeans among Caulfield Cup field as Red Verdon makes the cut

With an 18-strong field and a short run to a sharp near-90-degree first bend that leads into a climb, early position is crucial and Pat Cosgrave, who rides the top weight Best Solution, now plans to spend the next few days studying the opposition and watching re-runs of past Caulfield Cups to try to work out a way of overcoming such an unfavourable position.

Reacting to the draw, for which he only has himself to blame as he drew his stall, Cosgrave said: "It's not been kind but it is what it is. He's a straightforward horse and you can ride him any way you want so I'm not too worried. It's a high-class race and I think there are a lot of horses with good chances."

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