Top Ranked and Ellsberg couldn’t be split at the line in the 2022 Epsom Handicap, with jockeys and fans alike waiting an agonising few minutes through the review.
The Annabel Neasham-trained Top Ranked Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou’s Ellsberg shared the top prize in the $1.5 million feature for only the third time in Epsom Handicap history.
Atalanta and Kingfisher shared the spoils in 1873, and Boaster and Metellus back in 1925.
MORE: Everything you need to know for the Everest | Everything you need to know for the Cox Plate
Safe to say that @tabcomau Epsom will go down as one of the greats 🙏 A DEAD HEAT result for Top Ranked and Ellsberg. @ANeashamRacing @HugeBowman @GRyanRacing @brentonavdulla pic.twitter.com/cCHr6uYqAt
— Australian Turf Club (@aus_turf_club) October 1, 2022
“Half way up I thought Hughie (Bowman) was home and the closer we got to the line I knew I was coming strong and I thought on the post I got him,” Ellsberg jockey Brenton Advulla said. “But racing is a funny thing.”
“When I came back (to scale) I would’ve been shattered if my number didn’t come up and the longer we were here (waiting for a result) we both said to each other ‘I just hope for a dead heat’.”
Top Ranked jockey Hugh Bowman agreed with Advulla: “I thought he ( Avdulla) got the bob. I felt like it was a bob of the head margin.”
“I felt like after the post I still had a margin on him, but on the line I wasn’t so confident. But there was a fair bit going on.”
Neasham confirmed after the race that Top Ranked will now target the Group 1 $5 million Ladbrokes Cox Plate at Moonee Valley on October 23.
Race favourite Icebath finished fourth, with James Macdonald unable to convert the pre-race hype. “Top Ranked left her flat footed and she just didn’t make up the ground. I was happy with her performance but still disappointed,” he said.
Hinged finished third.
SN’s pick in the pre-Epsom handicap betting guide - Fangirl - finished sixth.
We blame the heavy 8.
How winning bets are paid out in a dead heat
The best way to think of it is that as two horses won the race and you only picked one, the stake has to be halved
According to TAB:
The Win pool is split and dividends are paid to both winners, the amount being determined by the odds at the start of the race. There will also be normal Place dividends for both dead heaters and the third placed runner. The Win dividends cannot be less than a customer's bet.
