Geelong Racing Tips for October 21 – Comeback galloper a great chance at odds in strong Geelong Cup

Here are our best bets from the meeting, with the Geelong Cup shaping as a pivotal race towards the Melbourne Cup.

Mr O’Reilly can open Geelong Cup Day with a win. The five-year-old gets out to his preferred distance range and tuned up nicely for this with a tough on-pace effort to finish runner-up behind Zeb over 2000m at Mornington on September 26, a race that has since produced four winners. The Richard Laming-trained gelding went hard out in front, travelling seven lengths faster than standard to the 600m mark, but still had enough in the tank to hold onto second. He comes into this third-up and, while yet to win at the trip, produced excellent figures in harder company during his previous preparation in Queensland. The son of Dubious draws much better this time around in barrier two and shouldn't have to work nearly as hard early on, with limited pressure expected up front. He should be in this for a long way.

Power And The Beat can go close in Race 4. The four-year-old resumed at Geelong earlier this month over 1247m, settling towards the rear of the nine-runner field before producing the fastest 400m to 200m split and just peaking late to finish third behind Insane Harry. He was well supported in betting that day and should take plenty of improvement from the performance. During his previous campaign, he improved to win third-up at Geelong when leading throughout on a Good surface, and he gets similar conditions here. Jamie Mott takes the ride and strikes at an impressive 22% for the stable, providing a 37% profit on investment.

The feature is the Geelong Cup (2400m), and keen on comeback horse Soulcombe to produce his best performance since his eye-catching runner-up finish in the 2023 Melbourne Cup (3200m). The eight-year-old has spent much of the past three years in the wilderness but has shown encouraging signs this preparation. He needed the hit-out first-up at Cranbourne over 1700m before finishing a three-length 11th in the Naturalism Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield. His most recent effort saw him finish seventh in the Might And Power Stakes (2000m), beaten just over four lengths. The son of Frankel went 12 lengths faster than standard benchmark, the best last-start figure of any runner in this field. At his previous preparation, he improved fourth-up when finishing seventh in the Caulfield Cup (2400m). He should save plenty of ground from barrier two, gets in nicely with 56kg and, with Damian Lane aboard, looks a serious chance to take out the $500,000 feature.

Somewhere has been racing in consistent fashion this preparation and can chalk up a much-deserved win in the final race of the afternoon. The five-year-old has placed in four of his five starts this campaign and comes off a last-start third at Sandown behind Changing Colours, who subsequently finished runner-up in the Toorak Handicap (1600m). Prior to that, he was third at Sandown and had little luck in a couple of earlier runs this preparation. The Archie Alexander-trained gelding has gone more than eight lengths faster than standard benchmark at his past two starts and gets back onto his preferred Good surface. With any luck finding a position early from barrier nine, he looks a live chance to take out the last.