Gringotts draws outside in The Ingham with history stacked against him
Ciaron Maher star Gringotts will have the odds stacked against him in the Group 2 The Ingham at Royal Randwick.
Top seed Gringotts will need to overcome more than a century of history and a horror draw to continue his scintillating form in Saturday’s Group 2 $2m The Ingham (1600m) at Royal Randwick.
The Ciaron Maher-trained star saw his chances of claiming a feature hat-trick significantly dented after drawing the outside of a capacity field of 20 starters and four emergencies in the summer mile.
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It made a difficult task even more testing with Gringotts needing to lug a modern day record of 61kg to victory.
A weight greater than the significant impost has not been carried to victory in the The Ingham, formerly known as the Villiers Stakes, since Rebus carried 9st 10lbs or 61.5kg in 1918.
In more recent times, the Ingham has evolved and is now run under quality conditions with a 54kg minimum instead of being a Handicap.
But since the turn of the century, no horse has carried more than 58kg to success in the race with Monton achieving the feat in 2011.
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The 61kg is half a kilo more than Gringotts carried a year ago when he failed to complete the same feature race treble.
Gringotts won both the Big Dance and The Gong in the lead-up to last year’s The Ingham where he finished 13th however the son of Per Incanto has been a proven weight carrier throughout the spring and is in career best form.
THE PUNTERS PAL DOES IT AGAIN 👑
— 7HorseRacing 🎠(@7horseracing) November 22, 2025
Gringotts adds another Gong to his huge trophy cabinet! What a win and what a ride by Nash Rawiller ðŸ¤@nashhot@cmaherracingpic.twitter.com/sJBtUbeOyv
Bookies opened Gringotts as a $3.60 favourite for The Ingham despite the obvious hurdles with star jockey Nash Rawiller returning from a weekend riding in Perth to pilot the Group 1 winner.
Maher is set to gang tackle The Ingham with as many as five contenders including Duke De Sessa ($34), Victoria Road ($151), Darnation ($41) and third emergency Snitzanova ($101).
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Group 3 Festival Stakes winner Yorkshire and Cranbourne Cup victor Sabaj share the second line of betting at $6 but both have been drawn out in double digit barriers.
The past two winners of The Ingham - Robusto ($18) and Loch Eagle ($61) - are also set to get their chance in a race which offers Doncaster Mile exemption to the winner.
In-form trainer Joe Pride will have a feature double firmly in his cross-hairs with Estadio Mestalla ($8.50) flying the flag for the stable in The Ingham.
He will be in the driver’s seat in the Listed $200,000 Razor Sharp Handicap (1200m) on the same card with stablemates Weeping Woman ($3.40) and Coal Crusher ($3.90) heading the betting for the sprint undercard.
Bjorn Baker’s Hollywood Hero ($3.40) headlines a field of 12 runners for the Listed $200,000 Christmas Cup (2400m) with Elio ($3.50) leading a field of 11 runners in the $400,000 Inglis Nursery (1000m).
Originally published as Gringotts draws outside in The Ingham with history stacked against him
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