Champions Stakes Tips & Predictions 2026: Best Bets

His win in the Cox Plate was excellent, and it’s tough to bet against him based on that, where he got the better of many of his rivals on Saturday.

The Andrea Leek-trained gelding owns 12 wins from 24 starts, and despite that impressive strike rate, we still believe he’s going under the radar with betting markets. The Cox Plate winning should be paying shorter odds, so we’re happy to take the odds available.

He is a lovely type, and although some punters might be concerned by the wide barrier, he tends to run his best races when settling back and working into the race in fine style. William Pike rides, and he’s riding well this Melbourne Cup Week.

We’re jumping on the $3.20 with our Champions Stakes predictions, and we would be surprised if he didn’t finish strongly down the outside.

It has been a disappointing preparation for Sir Delius, who didn’t fire in the Cox Plate, but the stable believes he’s firing on all cylinders now, and the Waterhouse/Bott team isn’t often wrong in their assumptions.

He was up on his toes before the Cox Plate, and Craig Williams made comment that he needs to settle pre-race to show his best, so it could pay to watch how he performs before heading down to the start.

However, he’s good enough to beat this field either way. He loves 2000m, and he defeated Lindermann and Autumn Glow over 2000m in the autumn. That’s good form, and the $7 odds are too good to pass up, so include him in Champions Stakes tips for Saturday’s race.

Joseph O’Brien lines up Omni Man, who is an interesting runner, and his one start in Australia was a third placing behind Melbourne Cup winner Point of Law in the Geelong Cup.

There is nothing wrong with that form going forward, and although this race is over 2000m, and he’d prefer longer, ruling out European runners has never worked out well for punters. Therefore, we’re happy to include him in our picks as a value runner.

He has been backed in from an opening $17 quote, so that’s a decent move, and he could give payouts a handsome boost.

Punters get value odds with our Champions Stakes SRM, which includes our three selected runners.

We have Cosmic Crusader Top 2, Sir Delius Top 3, and Omni Man Top 5, which pays $10.50 for our three-runner SRM.

The top two picks should figure in the finish, and we expect Cosmic Crusader and Sir Delius to battle down the straight. If Omni Man can run top-five, we’ll be happy with the odds.