Ladbrokes Tip: The Liverpool City Cup serves as a potential lead-up into the Group 1 Doncaster Mile in the autumn
The latest edition of the Liverpool City Cup ran on Saturday March 1, 2025 at Randwick on Verry Elleegant Stakes Day and was won narrowly by the brave Bjorn Baker trained Iowna Merc ($4.20).
2025 Liverpool City Cup Results
The official Liverpool City Cup 2025 results will be published in full below when the race is run and won on Saturday March 1, 2025.
- 1st: #3 Iowna Merc
- 2nd: #9 With Your Blessing
- 3rd: #1 Gringotts
Bjorn Baker’s tough Winning Rupert gelding Iowna Merc ($4.20) improved on a lead-up second in the Group 2 Expressway Stakes with jockey Josh Parr getting every inch out of the five-year-old to nail the front-running With Your Blessing right on the line to win the 2025 Liverpool City Cup results by the bob of a head.
2025 Liverpool City Cup Odds
The updated Liverpool City Cup 2025 odds on the Group 3 event at Randwick Racecourse will be available the week of the race so stay tuned.
Early market betting odds on the 2025 Liverpool City Cup will be displayed below once available. Odds are subject to fluctuation. For current odds on all of our live markets, please visit ladbrokes.com.au.
2022 Liverpool City Cup winner Ellsberg. Photo: Steve Hart.
The Group 3 Liverpool City Cup is a Group 3 race run and won at Royal Randwick in late February on Verry Elleegant Stakes Day (formerly Chipping Norton Stakes Day).
A key support act on the Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival card that is headlined by the Group 1 Verry Elleegant Stakes (1600m) and Group 1 Surround Stakes (1400m), the event runs over 1300m and offers $250,000 in prize money.
The Liverpool City Cup is a quality handicap race open to horses aged three-years-old and above and was first run in 1970.
It has held Group 3 status since 1979 and serves as a lead-up into the Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) during ‘The Championships’ in April.
Liverpool City Cup Race Facts
- Date: Saturday March 1, 2025
- Track: Randwick Racecourse
- Distance: 1300m
- Conditions: Quality Handicap – 3YOs & Upwards
- Status: Group 3
- Prize Money: $250,000
- First Run: 1970
Liverpool City Cup Betting
Liverpool City Cup odds and betting markets favour the season’s in-form middle-distance gallopers eyeing a run in bigger and better races over the autumn like the Doncaster Mile.
Many runners are resuming in the event so first-up performers with a good fresh strike-rate often dominate Liverpool City Cup betting.
Think It Over (2021) scoring an upset at odds of 50/1 followed in 2022 by the favourite Ellsberg ($2.60F) and double-figure hopeful Phearson at $12 in 2024 are the latest first-up runners to win the Liverpool City Cup.
Think About It ($3.90 in 2023) was the last favourite in Liverpool City Cup betting to win.
Liverpool City Cup Field
2021 Liverpool City Cup winner Think It Over pictured winning the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes. Photo: Steve Hart.
The Liverpool City Cup race field attracts a quality line-up of mile types that often have bigger races in mind over the coming weeks.
Following a run in the Liverpool City Cup a good next-up race for runners is the Group 2 Ajax Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens.
Looking further ahead the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes (1500m) makes a nice target for Liverpool City Cup graduates. Think It Over (2021) was the last horse to complete the Liverpool City Cup – George Ryder Stakes double.
Liverpool City Cup nominations close the Monday before the race with the final field of acceptances and barrier draw released on the Wednesday.
2025 Liverpool City Cup Field
The official Liverpool City Cup 2025 field and barriers will be announced below on the Wednesday of race week so bookmark this page to see the Group 1-bound gallopers lining-up in the Verry Elleegant Stakes Day Group 3.
The Liverpool City Cup 2025 final field features an open line up of autumn contenders led in betting by Marc Conners’ last start Group 3 Southern Cross Stakes winner Willaidow.
2025 Liverpool City Cup Nominations
The official Liverpool City Cup 2025 nominations are open until the Monday of race week.
| |
Last 10 |
Horse |
Sex |
Age |
Trainer |
Hcp Rating |
| 1 |
370x6617x5 |
AIRMAN |
G |
5 |
Michael, John & Wayne Hawkes |
110 |
| 2 |
x29225x70x |
AMENABLE |
G |
5 |
Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr) |
105 |
| 3 |
60x714053x |
ENCAP |
G |
4 |
Gary Portelli |
102 |
| 4 |
4x120100x6 |
GIVEMETHEBEATBOYS (IRE) |
H |
4 |
Michael Freedman |
103 |
| 5 |
27x634024x |
GLINT OF SILVER |
G |
5 |
David Pfieffer |
86 |
| 6 |
1393x7843x |
GOLDEN MILE |
G |
5 |
James Cummings |
107 |
| 7 |
111x22110x |
GRINGOTTS (NZ) |
G |
5 |
Ciaron Maher |
113 |
| 8 |
03×8311422 |
IOWNA MERC |
G |
5 |
Bjorn Baker |
|
| 9 |
7x76190x89 |
KA BLING |
G |
6 |
Peter Snowden |
92 |
| 10 |
125548×031 |
LIQUOR TALK |
G |
4 |
Geoffrey Crothers |
50 |
| 11 |
24x3652x2x |
MATCHA LATTE |
G |
5 |
Sara Ryan |
95 |
| 12 |
583674832x |
MIRACLE SPIN (GB) |
G |
6 |
Matthew Smith |
80 |
| 13 |
09x658610x |
NEW ENERGY (IRE) |
G |
6 |
Ciaron Maher |
105 |
| 14 |
x110x4070x |
REDIENER |
G |
5 |
Chris Waller |
104 |
| 15 |
2126243×85 |
TASHI |
M |
5 |
Peter Snowden |
94 |
| 16 |
60x21811x1 |
WILLAIDOW |
G |
6 |
Marc Conners |
100 |
| 17 |
593989×141 |
WITH YOUR BLESSING (NZ) |
G |
6 |
John Thompson |
90 |
| 18 |
6x182x065x |
ZARAKEM (FR) |
H |
5 |
Ciaron Maher |
Table Credit: Racing Australia.
Liverpool City Cup Tips
Good Liverpool City Cup tips include backing first-up performers with a nice Randwick record and previous winning form fresh.
2025 Liverpool City Cup Tips
Our Ladbrokes’ insider Liverpool City Cup 2025 tips and betting selections will be available for punters below the week of the race sorting the best from the rest in the race for potential Doncaster Mile-bound runners.
- To Win: #3 Iowna Merc ($4.50 at time of publish) – BET NOW
Wide open race with a small Liverpool City Cup field full of winning hopes but have landed on the consistent Iowna Merc looking to return to winning form. Bjorn Baker’s Winning Rupert five-year-old has been knocking on the door coming off back-to-back seconds in Sydney this season when narrowly beaten at Rosehill in the Group 3 Southern Cross Stakes before finishing behind Magic Time only 0.21 lengths off the winner in the Group 2 Expressway Stakes here on February 15. Presents fit and ready to fire with previous winning form at 1300m so the extra distance suits now. Loves the course (11:4-3-1) and gets the rails run for Josh Parr. Big hope.
Liverpool City Cup Form Guide
The Liverpool City Cup form guide lists all the important facts and stats on the runners in the event including jockeys, trainers, barriers, weights, track/distance records and win/place rates.
2023 Liverpool City Cup winner Think About It made history winning that spring’s $20 million The Everest race. Photo: Steve Hart.
The Liverpool City Cup form has gone on to stack-up in better races a number of times over the years including in 2019 when the winner Dreamforce went on to run third in the George Ryder Stakes before a second in the Doncaster Mile results that campaign.
In 2022 the Liverpool City Cup form was franked with Ellsberg returning in the spring to win the Group 1 Epsom Handicap (1600m), $1 million The Five Diamonds Prelude and $2 million The Five Diamonds treble.
In 2023 Think It Over won the Liverpool City Cup before a huge winter in Brisbane taking out the Group 1 Kingsford Smith – Stradbroke Handicap double. He further franked the form that spring back in Sydney claiming victory in the world’s richest turf race – the $20 million The Everest.
2025 Liverpool City Cup Form Guide
A link to our comprehensive Liverpool City Cup 2025 Form Guide will be provided for punters below the week of the race.
Liverpool City Cup Results
Notable Liverpool City Cup winners throughout history include Lord Nelson (1973), Pharaoh (1993), Danleigh (2008), Triple Elegance (2011), It’s Somewhat (2015), Dreamforce (2019), Think It Over (2021), and that year’s subsequent The Everest champion Think About It (2023).
Liverpool City Cup Winners
Past Liverpool City Cup winning horses, trainers and jockeys dating back to the year 2000 are detailed in the below table.
| Year |
Winner |
Trainer/s |
Jockey |
Weight |
Time |
| 2025 |
Iowna Merc |
Bjorn Baker |
Joshua Parr |
57 kgs |
1:15.38 |
| 2024 |
Phearson |
Brad Widdup |
Tom Sherry |
55 kgs |
1:15.62 |
| 2023 |
Think About It |
Joseph Pride |
Sam Clipperton |
53 kgs |
1:16.51 |
| 2022 |
Ellsberg |
Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou |
Tim Clark |
57.5 kgs |
1:20.42 |
| 2021 |
Think It Over |
Kerry Parker |
Glen Boss |
57 kgs |
1:17.22 |
| 2020 |
Quackerjack |
Mark Newnham |
Joshua Parr |
56.5 kgs |
1:15.35 |
| 2019 |
Dreamforce |
John Thompson |
Blake Shinn |
59.5 kgs |
1:15.07 |
| 2018 |
Crack Me Up |
Bjorn Baker |
Jason Collett |
59 kgs |
1:16.52 |
| 2017 |
McCreery |
Chris Waller |
Hugh Bowman |
56 kgs |
1:19.28 |
| 2016 |
Charlie Boy |
Paul Snowden |
Blake Shinn |
57 kgs |
1:15.08 |
| 2015 |
It’s Somewhat |
John O’Shea |
James McDonald |
57 kgs |
1:15.88 |
| 2014 |
Terravista |
Joseph Pride |
Jason Collett |
55 kgs |
1:16.58 |
| 2013 |
Skyerush |
Guy Walter |
Blake Shinn |
56 kgs |
1:16.41 |
| 2012 |
Ofcourseican |
Ron Quinton |
Kathy O’Hara |
54 kgs |
1:17.97 |
| 2011 |
Triple Elegance |
Chris Waller |
Jim Cassidy |
53 kgs |
1:15.92 |
| 2010 |
Dreamscape |
Gai Waterhouse |
Stathi Katsidis |
53 kgs |
1:17.27 |
| 2009 |
Judged |
Joseph Pride |
Jim Cassidy |
53 kgs |
1:15.54 |
| 2008 |
Danleigh |
Chris Waller |
Darren Beadman |
55 kgs |
1:16.59 |
| 2007 |
The Free Stater |
Paul Cave |
James Innes |
54 kgs |
1:10.25 |
| 2006 |
Utzon |
Les Bridge |
James Innes |
53.5 kgs |
1:09.51 |
| 2005 |
Sam Sung A Song |
Gerald Ryan |
Scott Seamer |
53.5 kgs |
1:09.85 |
| 2004 |
Carael Boy |
Bob Milligan |
Brad Pengelly |
53.5 kgs |
1:12.19 |
| 2003 |
Planchet |
John Hawkes |
Rod Quinn |
53.5 kgs |
1:09.82 |
| 2002 |
Bomber Bill |
Russell Cameron |
Michael Cahill |
57.5 kgs |
1:09.75 |
| 2001 |
Continuum |
John Hawkes |
Larry Cassidy |
52 kgs |
1:10.50 |
| 2000 |
Catatonic |
John Hawkes |
Larry Cassidy |
52 kgs |
1:10.87 |
FAQ
Who won the 2025 Liverpool City Cup?
The 2025 Liverpool City Cup was won by Iowna Merc at $4.20 for trainer Bjorn Baker with jockey Joshua Parr in the saddle from barrier 1 on 57kg to win by 0.01 lengths in a time of 1:15.38.
When is the Liverpool City Cup 2025?
Saturday March 1, 2025
What is the prize money for the Liverpool City Cup 2025?
$250,000
Where is the Liverpool City Cup 2025?
Randwick Racecourse, Alison Rd, Randwick NSW 2031.