Tawqeet Wins Caulfield Cup

Five-year-old racehorse Tawqeet, trained by David Hayes and ridden by jockey Dwayne Dunn, won the Caulfield Cup, one of the top races in Melbourne's Spring Racing Carnival, at Caulfield Racecourse this afternoon. Aqua d'Amore and Delta Blues finished second and third, with early favorites Sphenophyta and Our Smoking Joe placing fifth and sixth in a blanket finish where less than a length separated the first eight over the line.

With the Caulfield Cup win, Tawqeet has become the current favorite to win the Melbourne Cup to be run on November 7 at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse.

Tawqeet is owned by the Dubai-based Sheik Hamdan who has sent several horses to Australia with the cups in mind. Before the Caulfield Cup, Tawqeet had had only four races in Australia since arriving from the United Kingdom.

Sheik Hamdan horses have been successful in the Melbourne Cup with At Talaq (1986) and Jeune (1994).

With total prizemoney of A$2.5 million, the Caulfield Cup attracts some of the best horses in Australia and overseas not only for the prizemoney but because outstanding performance in the Caulfield Cup is a possible qualifier for a run in the Melbourne Cup.

The Caulfield Cup is a handicap race open to horses three years old and over and is run over a distance of 2400 metres. It is said to be the richest race of its kind in the world.

A horse that has won both Caulfield and Melbourne Cups is said to have won the "cups double." Recent cups double winners include Ethereal (2001) and Might and Power (1997).

The Caulfield Cup was run at 4pm today, October 21, Australian eastern standard time, in a 10-race program starting at 11.15am.

Caulfield Racecourse, eight kilometres southeast of the city, is accessible by car, bus, tram or train.

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