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"Bit of luck": How Berkeley Square managed Ballarat Cup win
Connor Scanlon • December 7th, 2025 12:29 pm
Berkeley Square went back-to-back in the $500,000 Ballarat Cup (2000m), defeating Cadmus and Statuario who finished second and third respectively.The Dan O’Sullivan-trained gelding was winless in his preparation prior to the Listed Race, but was competitive in multiple Group 3s, such as the Queen Elizabeth (2600m), Geelong Cup (2400m) and Bart Cummings (2520m), proving his talented staying ability.
When asked about the decision to drop the horse in distance and run the bay in the Ballarat Cup again, O’Sullivan revealed that after the Queen Elizabeth was when he knew that they could go back-to-back.
“After the Queen Elizabeth (we knew we could go back-to-back),” the trainer told RSN’s Correct Weight.“He’d been going along okay at 2000m, and we went out in the Bart Cummings to 2520m because he had a bit of a question mark about him running to 2500m. And that day on a very fast tempo, he hit the line so strong.
“So, we thought the 2500m was going to be his answer.
“He could’ve gone over and had a crack at the Adelaide Cup (3200m), but timing wise it was going to be a long campaign to get to that.
“So, after the Queen Elizabeth we just decided to pull up stumps and come back to the 2000m at the Ballarat Cup.”
Berkeley Square’s scintillating 2.75 length victory didn’t come without a bit of luck though, according to O’Sullivan.
“A bit of luck with a couple of things,” O’Sullivan admitted.
“I think with the rain that came, the fence started to chop out a little bit.
“Also, it was looking like most races were being won by horses on pace, there wasn’t many making ground. I think people changed their mind a little bit heading into the race because there’s no tempo on paper and it’s an on-pace day, so some people started to go forward.
“With Craig Williams going forward on that grey horse (Saint George), it certainly helped us because it applied pressure to Air Assault who was one of the favourites in the race.“We knew our horse was going to be very strong at the 2000m, and he was the only horse in the race to break 36 seconds in the run home, and he did that by being the widest runner, so it just worked out really well.”
See Berkeley Square’s Ballarat Cup victory here:
