Caulfield Cup 2026 Betting Tips - 3 long range predictions for the 2026 Caulfield Cup

We originally sided with Strictly Business at $15 as our Best Bet, She’s A Hustler at $15 as the Next Best and Apulia at $26 as our Best Value.

Strictly Business and She’s A Hustler remain in our updated selections, while Apulia was not nominated and drops out. Saint George is the big addition and takes over as our Best Bet at $11.

Here are our updated predictions for the 2026 Caulfield Cup.

Saint George comes into our selections as the new Best Bet at $11 and looks to be building perfectly towards the Caulfield Cup. The Ciaron Maher-trained import produced arguably the best performance of his career when carrying 61.5kg to victory over 2000m at Caulfield in August. He settled back in a genuinely run race and sustained a strong run from the 800m, recording a new career-best rating in the process. Importantly, the Caulfield Cup is very much the target. Maher has indicated Saint George is likely to head through weight-for-age races to protect his handicap, a similar approach to the one the stable successfully used with Duke De Sessa before his 2024 Caulfield Cup victory. Saint George has already proven himself over longer distances and looks to have returned better than ever this spring. At $11, he is our updated Best Bet.

She’s A Hustler was our $15 Next Best when these predictions were first published and we are sticking with her in that position at around $21. She went through the autumn and winter without winning but continued to race competitively at a high level, including a fourth in the Group 1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes before progressing out to middle distances in Queensland.

Her first-up appearance in the Makybe Diva Stakes over 1600m was always going to be well short of her ultimate target but she produced the fastest last 200m to place a very respectable 5th behind Sheza Alibi and she should improve considerably as the distances increase. The Caulfield Cup has always looked a suitable race after she won last year’s Zipping Classic over the same 2400m course and distance. She is proven at the trip, handles Caulfield and should be approaching her peak when the Cup arrives. We tipped her at $15 in December and are happy to keep her on side at $21.

Strictly Business moves from our original Best Bet to Best Value and can now be backed at around $34. The VRC Oaks winner didn’t do a great deal in her first three runs during the autumn, but there was much more to like about the way she finished the campaign when runner-up in the Group 1 South Australian Derby. That performance was another reminder of her staying ability after she won the VRC Oaks over 2500m at just her fourth career start.

Trainer Thomas Carberry has confirmed both Cups are on the agenda and believes the light weight she is likely to receive could work in her favour. She is already qualified courtesy of her Oaks victory and should only improve as she gets deeper into her campaign and out over ground. The question is whether she can make the jump into the elite open staying ranks, but the price now compensates for that risk. We tipped her at $15 in December and she is more than double that quote now.

Two of our three original selections remain.

Strictly Business was our original Best Bet at $15 and has drifted to around $34. She remains firmly in calculations but moves to the Best Value position.

She’s A Hustler was our Next Best at $15 and retains that position at around $21.

Our original Best Value selection Apulia was tipped at $26 but has not been nominated for the Caulfield Cup and therefore drops out.

Saint George is the new addition and takes over as our Best Bet at $11.