‘I won’t be backing him’: Owner Rupert Legh questions odds for his 2025 Stradbroke Handicap favourite War Machine

Big-time owner Rupert Legh has won three Stradbrokes but says he won’t be backing his favourite War Machine at the short odds on offer in the 2025 edition of Queensland’s greatest race.

Prominent owner Rupert Legh says his Stradbroke Handicap favourite War Machine is silly odds in the betting market and he couldn’t possibly back him in the famous Queensland Group 1 on Saturday.

Legh knows he has a talented and progressive horse on his hands but can’t believe bookmakers have the Lindsay Park galloper the raging $2.70 favourite with a huge gap to anything else in the Stradbroke market.

While War Machine was dominant in winning the Group 3 BRC Sprint, Legh said he was unproven at Group 1 level and was far from the finished product.

He questioned whether War Machine’s stranglehold on Stradbroke betting spoke more to the quality of the field in the $3m race.

It doesn’t shape as a vintage Stradbroke.

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“I won’t be backing him, I think he’s ‘unders’,” Legh told Racenet.

“Is that a true price?

“I think it must be a reflection of the actual quality of the race.

“Given another three or four starts with some more experience, he will get better and better this horse.

“But is still unproven in this sort of class.”

War Machine is a winning machine taking out the BRC Sprint, see you in the Stradbroke!@lindsayparkrace@blake_shinnpic.twitter.com/aNmdzoGkkA

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• Stradbroke Handicap field and news

In War Machine’s only previous Group 1 attempt, he finished 11th when being beaten almost eight lengths by fellow Stradbroke contender Kimochi in last November’s Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield.

War Machine races in Legh’s striking colours and the owner is aiming to score his fourth Stradbroke.

He has previously claimed Stradbroke glory with Tofane (2021), Santa Ana Lane (2018) and Mr Baritone (2008).

Legh has never been on track at Eagle Farm to witness any of his Stradbroke wins and he said maybe it was a good luck omen that he would not be there again, instead heading to England for the famous Royal Ascot carnival.

Lindsay Park is searching for its first Stradbroke but it should not be forgotten that the Hayes boys – Ben, JD and Will – got to train War Machine after legendary trainer Mike Moroney’s sad passing earlier this year.

Co-trainer Ben Hayes declared Lindsay Park had its “best hand” to secure a first Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap following the barrier draw on Tuesday night.

STORY: https://t.co/1kHOR42Gvwpic.twitter.com/aVAgZT8Mcu

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It would be an emotional moment if War Machine won and Legh said his great mate Moroney always thought he had a special horse in the making.

“We got War Machine out of New Zealand and Mike gave me a call one day and said ‘I think I have got the right horse for us’,” Legh recalled.

“He had a big opinion of him, he really liked the horse.

“He is a horse who used to over-race a bit and the reality is, he is still learning his craft.

“Mike thought he was a horse who could one day stand up and run in a big race, but could he get to a Group 1?

“No owner or trainer knows until you go through the grades and start racing against better horses, which is what he is doing.

“He couldn’t have done any more than what he did last start, it was a pretty dominant sort of win.

“You would like to think there’s more to come and he will only get better.

“But this is a big Group 1 – it’s a Stradbroke.”

War Machine was elevated to Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap favouritism after his dominant win in the BRC Sprint. Picture: Grant Peters / Trackside Photography

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War Machine has won five of his 12 starts and rocketed into Stradbroke favouritism when destroying the Group 3 BRC Sprint field in a blistering two-and-a-half length win.

War Machine carried 56.5kg in the BRC Sprint and now drops to 53kg in the Stradbroke with Tim Clark to ride.

The four-year-old gelding, a son of Harry Angel, drew barrier 13 at Tuesday’s night’s barrier draw function.

“I don’t actually mind barrier 13, it gives Tim Clark more options,” co-trainer Ben Hayes said.

“There will be a lot of horses crossing from out wide, so he should be able to get into that three-wide line and get a nice run in transit.”