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Champagne Stakes 2025 Betting Tips - Can Nepotism overcome a wide draw?

Alex Marsh

Editor

Last updated: Thu 17 Apr 2025 12:33

Alex Marsh 17 Apr 2025

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The Champagne Stakes is a prestigious 1600m race for two-year-olds at Royal Randwick
Nepotism is the top contender, with a significant win in the Baillieu Handicap
Spicy Lu and Federalist, though less favoured, are notable challengers in the field

Expired

Spicy Lu completed a hat-trick in the Fernhill Mile. (Getty)

The Group 1 Champagne Stakes rounds out the two-year-old autumn majors on Saturday, where the juveniles now get tested over 1600m at Royal Randwick.

2025 Champagne Stakes Tips
2025 Champagne Stakes Field & Odds

Early famous winners of the Champagne Stakes include Ajax, Todman and Vain, while Samantha Miss and Pierro are a few of the recent champions to win this feature.

At $4 with Betr, Nepotims is favourite to win the 2025 Champagne Stakes.

2025 Champagne Stakes Tips

2025 Champagne Stakes Best Bet - Nepotism

The Baillieu Handicap produced the quinella of last year's Champagne Stakes (Linebacker and Broadsiding) and Nepotism was a stylish winner of that key lead-up race over 1400m.

He overcame trouble on debut for a third-often finish in the Group 2 Todman Stakes and the Team Hawkes-trained galloper progressed off that when stepping up in trip last time.

Nepotism is a superbly bred colt, being by Brutal and out of Brigite, who is an unraced half-sister to Black Caviar and 1600m is unlikely to worry the youngster in this Group 1 tilt.

He's still in his first prep and this two-year-old is likely to furnish into a Caulfield Guineas type next campaign, but he's the one to beat in the Champagne Stakes despite a tricky draw.

2025 Champagne Stakes Next Best Bet - Spicy Lu

Nick Olive is a very astute trainer, however, the bookies continue to underrate his unbeaten juvenile and there's no doubting that she'd be shorter if a big Sydney yard had her.

While her first two victories were recorded at country level, there was merit to those March triumphs and the form through her Albury win suggested that the Fernhill was within reach.

Spicy Lu was heavily supported for that last Saturday's two-year-old mile event and after taking the early lead, it was a soft win in the end (Rachel King was kind to her late).

Broadsiding, Tom Kitten, Converge, Prize Icon and Dear Demi are among the past Fernhill Stakes winners who have gone to win Group 1's, while she's the only proven miler in the field.

2025 Champagne Stakes Value Bet - Federalist

A big colt who is still learning the caper, Federalist wasn't afforded any room on debut via a maiden won by a handy Buffalo and that form was almost franked in the Group 1 Inglis Sires'.

He did contest that same 1400m feature and there was merit to that second race day attempt, where he had to overcome two bumps rounding the turn before balancing up late.

Federalist recorded the second-fastest last 400m and 200m of the Inglis Sires', while given the debut was effectively another trial, there should still be some upside for now.

The first foal from the very talented Arcadia Queen, Federalist retains the services of Nash Rawiller and the veteran hoop will have a better handle on him this time around.

You can also watch Adam Cusworth's Champagne Stakes video preview.

2025 Champagne Stakes Field & Odds

No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Odds
1	State Visit	Ciaron Maher	James McDonald	12	56.5kg	$6.50
2	Nepotism	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Tyler Schiller	11	56.5kg	$4
3	Buffalo	David Atkins	Jason Collett	5	56.5kg	$6.50
4	Is It Spectacular	Sara Ryan	Mark Zahra	2	56.5kg	$61
5	Michelangelo	Chris Waller	Zac Lloyd	4	56.5kg	$26
6	Federalist	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Nash Rawiller	9	56.5kg	$19
7	Within The Law	Bjorn Baker	Kerrin McEvoy	3	54.5kg	$5
8	Bellazaine	Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott	Tim Clark	6	54.5kg	$8
9	Spicy Lu	Nick Olive	Rachel King	8	54.5kg	$18
10	Tupakara	Annabel Neasham & Rob Archibald	Tommy Berry	1	54.5kg	$18
11	Lady Pankhurst	John Sargent	Craig Williams	10	54.5kg	$51
12	Next Jen	Annabel Neasham & Rob Archibald	Chad Schofield	7	54.5kg	$10

Odds courtesy of Betr & correct on 16/04/2025.

Verdict

Champagne Stakes

Our tips for the 2025 Champagne Stakes are:

Nepotism

To Win

$4.00 - 2 Units

The GOAT.

Ahead of the Game.

Join Australia's newest online bookmaker with code BETSAU and enjoy exciting new ways to bet. The app is among the fastest in the market. What are you prepared to lose today? Set a deposit limit.

Bet at betr

Spicy Lu

Each Way

$18.00 - 1 Unit

The GOAT.

Ahead of the Game.

Join Australia's newest online bookmaker with code BETSAU and enjoy exciting new ways to bet. The app is among the fastest in the market. What are you prepared to lose today? Set a deposit limit.

Bet at betr

Federalist

Each Way

$19.00 - 1 Unit

The GOAT.

Ahead of the Game.

Join Australia's newest online bookmaker with code BETSAU and enjoy exciting new ways to bet. The app is among the fastest in the market. What are you prepared to lose today? Set a deposit limit.

Bet at betr