Royal Patronage draw poorly in Epsom Handicap

A field of 20 runners plus a sole emergency has been declared for the $1.5 million Group 1 Epsom Handicap at Randwick on Saturday.
Saturday marks the 159th running of the time-honoured Randwick handicap run over the famed 1600m course.
Hall of Fame trainer Gai Waterhouse will be chasing a record eight win in the race when she and her training partner Adrian Bott saddle up a team of two runners, Tramway Stakes winner Royal Patronage and last year’s Australian Derby winner Major Beel. In recent year Australia’s premier Group 1 trainer Chris Waller has dominated the race, winning it five times in the past 12 years and in 2024 he has seven acceptors – Kovalica, last year’s winner Rediener, Democracy Manifest, Chrysaor, Molly Bloom, Bill Ritchie winner McHale, and last Saturday’s Rosehill winner Firestorm. Victoria’s premier trainer Ciaron Maher has multiple runners with Detonator Jack, Nugget and Berkshire Shadow while Maher’s former Sydney stable manager, Annabel Neasham and her training partner Rob Archibald also has multiple runners with topweight My Oberon and the last horse to make the field, Galeron. Rounding out the notable runners is Tom Kitten, trained by last Saturday’s Group 1 Golden Rose winning trainer James Cummings while fellow Warwick Farm trainer Joe Pride will chase victory for the fourth time in a Group 1 Randwick mile with Ceolwulf.