French import King Of Leogrance has to overcome a horror barrier draw and 1kg penalty as he steps up to 3200m for the first time in Monday’s Group 2 $400,000 Adelaide Cup (3200m) at Morphettville.

King Of Leogrance, above, has been installed as the favourite for the 2020 Adelaide Cup at Morphettville. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

King Of Leogrance, above, has been installed as the favourite for the 2020 Adelaide Cup at Morphettville. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

King Of Leogrance will now carry 54kg in the Adelaide Cup after receiving a 1kg penalty for his win in the Listed $140,000 Roy Higgins Quality (2600m) at Flemington last Saturday.

The Danny O’Brien trained King Of Leogrance was completely out of luck at the Adelaide Cup barrier and jockey Damian Lane has a lot of work to do after the import drew barrier fifteen in the sixteen horse field.

O’Brien is keen to test the five year old over 3200m and said that he has pulled up well following his win in the Roy Higgins Quality last Saturday.

“He has come through it well so he has a handy little program now that he can step into an Adelaide Cup and still be really well handicapped,” O’Brien told RSN Racing Pulse.

“The two mile is the only question he has to answer, but I can’t see any reason why he can’t run it.”

“He is a really exciting young stayer, He has only had eleven starts now and he is just putting it together.”

“He looked really good on Saturday. He travelled sweetly throughout and he put the race to bed pretty quickly with a pretty quick sectional from the 400m to the 200m.”

The Michael Hickmott trained Azurite draw the outside gate while Chouxting The Mob from Simon Morrish’s Ballarat stables has drawn the rails.

King Of Leogrance has been installed the Adelaide Cup favourite at $2.60 with Ladbrokes.com.au ahead of the Paul Preusker trained Dark Alley at $5.50 and Roy Higgins Quality runner up Dabiyr at $7.50.

Final field and barrier draw for the 2020 Adelaide Cup (3200m)

No Last 10 Horse Trainer Jockey Barrier Weight Hcp Rating
1 49×0892261 HOME BY MIDNIGHT (NZ) Patrick Payne Billy Egan 4 58.5kg 103
2 1850x23x78 YOGI (NZ) Ciaron Maher & David Eustace John Allen 6 57.5kg 101
3 3124×61512 DABIYR (IRE) Chris Waller Jye McNeil 10 54kg 94
4 41x3349x21 KING OF LEOGRANCE (FR) Danny O’Brien Damian Lane 15 54kg 94
5 11158×8045 CHOUXTING THE MOB (NZ) Simon Morrish Beau Mertens 1 53kg 89
6 4364754223 NAVAL WARFARE (IRE) Chris Waller Dwayne Dunn 8 53kg 89
7 208×734466 ROCK ON (NZ) Peter Gelagotis Anthony Darmanin 12 53kg 87
8 x451952411 EPERDUMENT Shane Oxlade Ms Kayla Crowther (a) 2 53kg 84
9 45×5627212 YULONG RISING (IRE) David & B Hayes & T Dabernig Dean Holland 7 53kg 81
10 6226×95771 GOOD IDEA Phillip Stokes Ben Thompson 13 53kg 74
11 x036544123 HEART OF GRACE (JPN) Anthony Freedman Damien Thornton 11 53kg 74
12 61473×0042 AZURITE (IRE) Michael Hickmott Ms Anna Jordsjo (a) 16 53kg 73
13 0450759114 ALIENATED Cliff Murray Ms Georgina Cartwright (a) 14 53kg 70
14 8144×74191 KNIGHT STAR (IRE) Jeremy Gask Jason Holder 5 53kg 67
15 465×211 DARK ALLEY Paul Preusker Declan Bates 9 53kg 65
16 0656×70334 TURF MAN John Hickmott Sairyn Fawke 3 53kg 63

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.