Some Enchanted Afternoon–Magic Bletchingly Result

Vega Magic wins the Bletchingly Stakes

It wasn’t really an enchanted afternoon, unless you count the blessedly balmy weather, but otherwise it was comfortably normal.

Yes, it was good to be back at the races despite the majority of the card being mainly uninteresting.

It was however worth attending for the feature race, where Vega Magic signalled that he was back with a vengeance, winning the Bletchingly Stakes by 3 lengths after leading throughout. Voodoo Lad finished second and Jungle Edge third. Vega Magic has now been snapped up by a stakeholder to contest the super sprint competition, The Everest, a race in which he finished second last year.

Shortly after the Bletchingly Stakes was run, the highly anticipated clash between Sunlight and Nature Strip was on, where Nature Strip blitzed the field to win by 6 lengths from the totally outclassed Sunlight, and lived up to the high expectations placed on him. 

I reached Caulfield around 1.15pm, just after Race 3 and stayed for the following four races. It was an opportunity to get back into photography and catch up with my fellow photographer friend Rebecca.

We both have Casual Membership cards for the Melbourne Racing Club which gives a season’s access to General Admission areas. We were offered, via a text message, an opportunity last Saturday to enter the Members Stand, which we were curious to accept, thinking it might give better views of the track for taking photos. In brief, it did not as the rails were too high to get a clear shot of horses crossing the finish line, and we both decided we preferred our usual possies for snapping pics.

So I watched Race 4 the Ladbroke’s Multiverse Handicap from the hill above the stalls area. Thankfully the rail was in a true position so rail free shots were easy to get.

Race 4 finish – Chiavari, Mariquita & Moonlover the first home

Races 5 and 6 were long distance races over 2400 metres and were won by Zedinator (race 5) and Self Sense (race6)

The feature race was scheduled as race 7, so I got some photos of the main contestants in the pre-parade ring.

Vega Magic

Black Heart Bart

Voodoo Lad

Jungle Edge

Vega Magic returns to scale

There’s not much happening in racing next weekend other than the Missile Stakes at Randwick,  so there are a few more weeks to wait before the incipient Spring racing season really kicks off and I eagerly return to the track.