Spring Racing Carnival Wrap Up

Winx winning the 2016 Cox Plate

Alas, the Spring Racing Carnival is over for another year, and I must say it was one of the more interesting in recent times, with some astonishing performances.

The star of the Spring was undoubtedly Winx, the wonder horse, who accumulated four more pickets to the fence against her name in the form guide. Three were at Group 1 level and augmented her perfect record to thirteen consecutive wins over a year, nine of them at Group 1 level. The crowning moment was her second Cox Plate victory where she blew away a top quality field, winning by a record eight lengths.

Other memorable moments were Jameka’s three length Caulfield Cup win…

Jameka wins the Caulfield Cup

…and Hartnell’s Turnbull Stakes.

Hartnell wins the Turnbull Stakes

Hartnell finished second in the Cox Plate and third in the Melbourne Cup and also won two Group 2 races in Sydney by huge margins.

Most of the main Group 1 races of the spring were won by a variety of horses, but Black Heart Bart won two – the Memsie Stakes and Underwood Stakes - and finished second in the Makybe Diva Stakes and Caulfield Stakes, one of the few horses to win more than one Group 1 race.

The final day of the carnival, which I missed, was held last Saturday and the feature races were won by longshots Awesome Rock (Emirates Stakes) and Malaguerra (Darley Classic).

The longest priced Group 1 winner was Lasqueti Spirit, who romped home in the Oaks at  120/1 odds.

As for wagering, I hardly had a bet all spring, which made attending the races a cheap outing. With my general admission season tickets to the three city racecourses covering entrance fees, my only expenses were on a race book and a drink. My travelling costs on public transport were covered by my Senior’s Myki Card which is free on the weekend.

Several old stars of the turf have been retired this spring, still sound of body thankfully. The Cleaner and Buffering now share a paddock at Living Legends, and it was announced on Saturday that Happy Trails has run his last race. He’ll spend his retirement with his devoted strapper Chelsea Moss who is interested in developing him into a show jumping, dressage and event horse.

Happy Trails with Chelsea Moss at Flemington 10/9/16

Also gone from the scene is Tarzino and Alpine Eagle, both off to stud, and the handsome Xtravagant has returned to New Zealand after a very disappointing spring campaign.

I’ll have to find something else to do with my Saturday afternoons for the next few months, while waiting for the autumn racing season to begin.

Horrible Race Name–Good Race Though

Winx - Moonee Valley Cox Plate Day  2015

The time honoured George Main Stakes has been renamed the Colgate Optic White Stakes, in my opinion a totally absurd change and somewhat disrespectful to the many champion racehorses who have won the race in the past.

Anyway, it is of great interest due to the return of super mare Winx, having her second start for the spring.

She faces a very small field of five other starters that include two of her stablemates, Spirit Jim and Vanbrugh and a couple of Godolphin hopefuls in Hauraki and It’s Somewhat.  Japanese horse Tosen Stardom was an acceptor but he has been scratched after he sustained a minor injury on his trip to Sydney.  Winx of course is the short priced favourite and Hauraki is seen as her greatest threat.  It should be an easy win for Winx and, barring the unforeseen, she will achieve her 11th consecutive win.

For a change the track at Randwick shouldn’t be too soggy, as Sydney hasn’t had as much rain this week, unlike Melbourne, where it has rained solidly all week, and rural areas are flooded all over the State of Victoria.

There are no Group 1 races in Melbourne this coming weekend, but Caulfield is holding a fairly interesting meeting that features the Group 2 Naturalism Stakes, a race over 2000 metres for stayers aiming to gain automatic admission into the Caulfield Cup.

It has attracted a huge field of 16 starters plus 4 emergencies and includes staying mares Real Love, who ran second to Awesome Rock in the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes, Set Square who ran third on that occasion, and Jameka who will have no worries running on a heavy track.  An interesting runner is French mare Gabella who raced at Flemington last Saturday and finished a close fourth.

The favourite will no doubt be Tom Melbourne an Irish import who has a good reputation and several wins under his belt.

As I plan to get to the track later rather than early, I will miss seeing Cauthen in the first race. Now six years old he has been only lightly raced, but he has the distinction of defeating 2013 Cox Plate winner Shamus Award and Long John, 2013 Caulfield Guineas winner  at Moonee Valley back when he was three. He hasn’t raced for two years, so it’s surprising to see him back, but the recovery from various injuries kept him off the track all that time.

Also returning from a break is Hucklebuck, 2014 Emirates Stakes winner, in Race 7 the Testa Rossa Stakes.

And Alpine Eagle is entered in a Listed 1800 metre race at Morphettville on Saturday; no doubt an attempt on the part of his connections to restore his reputation and confidence.

Hopefully the rain will hold off tomorrow, but it will most likely be overcast again, the up side of that being better lighting for photographs than bright sunlight.

A Weir Quinella–Makybe Diva Stakes Review

Palentino beats stablemate Black Heart Bart to win the 2016 Makybe Diva Stakes

The Darren Weir machine rolls on with remarkable success,  the Ballarat based trainer scoring his second Group 1 win for the season.

No other Victorian trainer gets a look in when it comes to the major races these days, though that may change as the spring racing carnival progresses and the Sydney stars come to Melbourne to challenge for the riches on offer.

My afternoon at Flemington began early where I got to the course in time to watch race 2, the Cap D’Antibes Stakes, a Listed race for three year old fillies run over 1100 metres.

Down the straight in the Cap D’Antibes Stakes – eventual winner Kentucky Miss is on the far left of the picture

The trouble with taking photos of sprints down the Flemington straight is that the field generally splits into two sections, one moving to the grandstand side, the other staying on the inside or in the middle. It’s hit or miss, depending on which side you are focussing on, whether you will get a photo of the winner crossing the line.

Such was the case in the Cap D’Antibes Stakes where the winner, Kentucky Miss came down the grandstand rail and I was concentrating on the inside rail.  So I got a nice shot of fourth placed Super Too and missed the winner and runners up, Beyond The Dream and My Country who  ran down the middle of the track.

Kentucky Miss returns to scale

Race 3, the Starlight Express Room Stakes was a 1400 metre race for three year olds and less complicating to photograph, the runners sticking to the inside of the track.

Approaching the finish line in race 3 – Detective (dark green silks) has the edge over Tessera (blue silks & blinkers) and Throssel (blue & white silks)

Detective returns to scale

In between the races, as usual, I tramped back to the stalls, about six times in all, so I got plenty of exercise over the afternoon.

The Living Legends special guest was Paris Lane who was being polished up in his stall, preparatory to parading in the mounting yard.

Paris Lane in his stall having his hooves polished

To refresh your memory, Paris Lane won the 1994 Caulfield Cup and MacKinnon Stakes, and ran second in the Melbourne Cup. He’s now 26 years old, looking pretty spry none the less.

It was a bit early in the day at this time (1.3opm) for the Makybe Diva Stakes field to have arrived, but  I pleased to see New Zealand colt Saracino in his stall. He was entered in Race 5, the Danehill Stakes, scheduled to run at  2.50pm.

Saracino

Alpine Eagle had arrived early, and was in the stall next to Saracino.

Alpine Eagle

Back trackside, it was pleasing to see Bon Aurum take out race 4, The Sofitel (aka Tontonan Stakes), a Listed race over 1400 metres. I’ve been following Bon Aurum for awhile, and he hadn’t won a race since winning the Guineas Prelude in late September last year.

Bon Aurum wins The Sofitel from Ulmann & Hi World

Bon Aurum rugged in the mounting yard posing for photos

Ulmann on his way to the barriers

Hi World on his way to the barriers

The first of the Group races was next on the program. This was the Group 2 Danehill Stakes for three year olds over 1200 metres.

I keen to see how Saracino would go in this and he exceeded expectations leading the field from start to finish, scoring by a narrow margin from Archives and Samara Dancer.

 
Down the straight in the Danehill Stakes – Saracino (yellow & green stripes) just ahead of Archives (blue silks) with Samara Dancer (blinkers) behind him.

Saracino returns to scale

Archives returns to scale

Back in the stalls area, most of the Makybe Diva field had arrived, so I cruised through to get snaps.

The Weir mob were in neighbouring stalls…

Palentino

Black Heart Bart

Prince of Penzance

Nearby were Happy Trails and Rising Romance…

Happy Trails

Rising Romance

It was certainly a case of handsome is as handsome does in the Group 2 Bobbie Lewis Quality, race 6 on the program. 

New Zealand stallion Xtravagant is a stunner to look at, but he disappointed, finishing last. His jockey Damian Oliver stated that the horse raced on his wrong leg, and refused to respond to any urgings to race on the right leg. Perhaps he needs to corner as he obviously doesn’t like the long Flemington straight, or maybe his mind is on other things judging by his tumescent state when leaving the mounting yard.

I photographed the contenders in the mounting yard and leaving for the track.

Under the Louvre

Xtravagant

Durendal

Tivaci

Faatinah

We’ve Got This

The race was won by Faatinah from Tivaci and We’ve Got This. Can’t say I’ve ever heard of Faatinah before, but he’s done most of his racing in Adelaide.

Down the straight in the Bobbie Lewis Quality

Faatinah returns to scale

The excitement was building for the next race which of course was the feature Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes.

As it was a pretty even field it was hard to single out a winner, other than Black Heart Bart who started as the warm favourite, despite there being a question mark over his ability to win over a mile.

It ended up with Palentino and Black Heart Bart fighting out the finish down the straight, the stablemates winning the quinella, Palentino scoring by a length from Black Heart Bart with He Or She three lengths behind in third place.

I got some nice photos of the field in the mounting yard and going to the barriers…

Prince of Penzance

Happy Trails

Black Heart Bart

Alpine Eagle

Palentino

Rising Romance

Tarzino

Maykybe Diva Stakes finish – Mark Zahra celebrates Palentino’s win

Palentino returns to the mounting yard

Alpine Eagle was again disappointing, finishing at the tail of the field. Like Xtravagant, perhaps his mind is on other things. Rising Romance raced on the pace, but faded to finish seventh.

As I’d been at the track since 12.45pm  I decided to head home after the feature race. I didn’t have any bets on the day, and having hardly sat down all afternoon, I was somewhat tired.

The afternoon was mostly overcast with the sun rarely showing its face, but the time as usual passed really fast. And I seem to have solved the Nikon’s light problem, the exposure compensation settings doing the trick. Despite the overcast day, I didn’t get any dark photographs.

Next week the only Group 1 race is in Sydney at Randwick where the feature race is the George Main Stakes which is now strangely called the Colgate Optic White Stakes. Anyway, Winx will be making her second appearance for the spring in this race and so far only six other competitors have nominated, which makes it look like a walkover for the wonder mare of Australia.

The racing in Melbourne will be at Caulfield and the feature race is the Group 3 Naturalism Stakes, a race over 2000 metres for Caulfield Cup bound horses.

And finally…

The news today was of the death of 1991 Melbourne Cup winner Let’s Elope. She apparently passed away in her sleep during the night. She was 29 years old.

As well as the Melbourne Cup, Let’s Elope won the 1991 Caulfield Cup and MacKinnon Stakes and in 1992 won the Turnbull Stakes, Australian Cup, Orr Stakes and St George Stakes.

She was a great race mare and I was pleased to see her grand-daughter Let’s Make Adeal win The Bart Cummings last year at Flemington in early October.

Sign at Flemington – Turnbull Stakes Day 2015

Makybe Diva Stakes–Is a Spring Romance on the Cards?

Rising Romance on her way to the barriers in the Memsie Stakes

The wide open spaces of Flemington beckon this coming Saturday with a super race meeting making the trip out west worth the effort.

The feature race is the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes, where a field of 13 runners will be contesting it.  Black Heart Bart is the hot favourite. It’s understandable considering he won Memsie Stakes in fine fashion at his first start for the season.  However, there are a few questionmarks as to whether he can win. He has never won over 1600 metres, and his recent form shows him running first, then second, then first, second, etc, though in his younger days in Western Australia he strung together several consecutive wins.

Happy Trails, now nine years old, is resuming for another spring season, his sixth in succession. I feel that he is probably past his glory days  where from 2012 to 2014 he won a Group 1 race each year – the Emirates Stakes in 2012, the Turnbull in 2013 and the Mackinnon in 2014. He’s grand old trouper who seems to have been around forever.

When I saw Rising Romance at Caulfield on Memsie Stakes Day I thought she looked a picture of health, so it was not surprising that she ran second in the race. Can she go one better in the Makybe Diva Stakes?  She’s due for a win having run against quality fields most of her career and finished second or third in several Group 1 races.

The handsome Alpine Eagle is also entered in the Makybe Diva Stakes. It would be good to see an improvement from him after his rather disappointing sixth in the Memsie Stakes, but he is bred to be a stayer and may have found the pace too hot.

Also worth considering are Australian Guineas winner Palentino and Derby winner Tarzino. Stayers often win the Makybe Diva Stakes, for instance Fawkner last year.

Due to the train timetable, I’ll be obliged to get to Flemington fairly early in the afternoon, so it’s fortunate that the support card has several other interesting races to keep me amused.

The Group 2 Danehill Stakes is scheduled as race 5 and is for three year olds and run over 1200 metres. I’m keen to get a look at New Zealand trainer Murray Baker’s new star Saracino having his first race in Australia. He’s up against smart local colts like Defcon, who recently won the HDF MCNeil Stakes, the  runners up Highland Beat and Wazzenme, Trenchant who has won at Flemington previously, and sole filly Samara Dancer.

We last saw New Zealand bred Xtravagant race in Australia in this  year’s Australian Guineas, where he started as hot favourite and failed to run a place. He’ll be out to redeem his reputation in the Bobbie Lewis Quality a sprint over 1200 metres. His greatest rival is Stradbroke Handicap winner Under The Louvre who always runs an honest race. This race was won by Chautauqua in 2014, which was when he first came to notice, and we all know how good has become since then.

In Sydney at Rosehill the feature race is the Golden Rose Stakes. It has a great field comprised of 12 colts/geldings and 3 fillies.

Of the boys, the top picks are Astern and Divine Prophet who both won their last starts, followed by Winx younger half brother El Divino, who was rather disappointing in the Run To The Rose and Melbourne colt Derryn who ran second to Divine Prophet at his last start.

Both Omei Sword and Yankee Rose are highly regarded fillies, the former being in the almighty Chris Waller stable, winning her last start by three and half lengths, the latter winning against the boys in autumn in the Group 1 Sires Produce Stakes and also running second in the Golden Slipper Stakes. If Yankee Rose has recovered from the minor injury she sustained recently, she is a force to be reckoned with and is one of the horses I’ve been looking forward to seeing this spring if she ever makes it to Melbourne.

Though the weather in Melbourne has been warm and sunny most of this week, a change on Friday is forecast to bring some rain, though it is expected to clear briefly on Saturday in time for the races.

Rosehill, for a change, may even present as good, with not much rain falling in Sydney before the weekend.

Bart Blows Them Away in the Memsie

Black Heart Bart in the pre-parade ring before winning the Memsie Stakes

Black Heart Bart has truly shown what a great horse he is since joining Darren Weir’s stable. He now has two Group 1 victories on his CV, winning the Goodwood in the autumn and now the Memsie Stakes at his first run this spring.

It was a pleasant afternoon at the races on Saturday and the hours spent at the track passed in a flash.

I arrived in time to watch Race 4, a 1200 metres sprint handicap that was won by outsider Lord Barrington from Camdus with Bon Aurum running third. As the outside fence had been restored flush against the hedge, it was easier to take photos, but as I stuffed up the shot of the Race 4 finish and don’t trust the Nikon’s ability to adapt to the light,  I opted for the hill above the stalls for the rest of the afternoon.

Before Race 5 however I decided to cruise through the stalls area to see who had arrived.

The Weir mob – all twelve of them – were stabled together, so it was convenient to get photos of the four Memsie Stakes contenders from Weir’s stable – Mahuta, Black Heart Bart, Palentino and Prince of Penzance.

Mahuta

Black Heart Bart

Palentino

Prince of Penzance

Race 5 was the Group 3 Resimax Stakes, a sprint over 1100 metres.  Under The Louvre was the favourite, but he was upstaged by Redzel a Sydney horse having his first start in Melbourne.

Redzel in the pre parade ring

Under The Louvre

Race 5 – just past the winning post

Returning to the stalls area my aim was to get photos of Alpine Eagle and more of the Memsie Stakes field.

Alpine Eagle was being walked in the main ring, along with Rising Romance and Tarzino.

Alpine Eagle

Rising Romance

Tarzino

Alpine Eagle looked magnificent (photos don’t do him justice) and Rising Romance was glowing with health. Tarzino has grown since I last set eyes on him and is a big burly boy.

Also hanging out in their stalls were…

Sofia Rosa

and

Tashbeeh

The H.D.F. McNeil Stakes is generally a fairly interesting race, it being a Group 3 race for Guineas bound three year olds, run over 1200 metres.

The starting favourite was Highland Beat, but a very clever ride by Dwayne Dunn on Defcon, squeezing through an inside gap denied him the bikkies. Wazzenme finished third.

Race 6 just past the post – Defcon leads with Highland Beat trailing

Defcon returns to scale after winning the McNeil Stakes

Highland Beat returns to scale

Wazzenme returns to scale

There wasn’t long to wait for the Group 1 Memsie Stakes and the field were assembling in the pre parade ring by the time I got back from buying a drink.

Black Heart Bart

Tarzino

Charmed Harmony

Mahuta

Rising Romance

Alpine Eagle

Tashbeeh

Palentino on his way to the barriers

Prince of Penzance on his way to the barriers

Sofia Rosa on her way to the barriers

Black Heart Bart started as the short priced favourite, and certainly didn’t disappoint. The race was run at a rattling pace, Charmed Harmony taking the lead from Tashbeeh early on with Rising Romance and Mahuta racing in third and fourth spots, closely followed by Black Heart Bart.

Black Heart Bart took control in the straight, charging down the outside with Rising Romance at his heels. He won by 1.25 lengths from the game Rising Romance and Mahuta was third a couple of lengths behind. Alpine Eagle was a tad disappointing finishing in sixth place.

And so Black Heart Bart joins the illustrious list of Memsie Stakes winners. He could go on to greater glory as the Spring racing season progresses.

Memsie Stakes just past the post – the first three in sequence

I called it quits after the Memsie Stakes, the afternoon chill setting in and deteriorating light discouraged lingering any longer.

Walking back through the stalls area heading for the gate, I came across a raven strutting around on the grass. It was being tormented by another species of bird, a mynah perhaps. As I have long strived to get a decent photo of a raven, the close proximity and tameness of this raven enabled me get a good shot of it sitting on the wire fence surrounding the stalls, its black plumage glowing steely blue in the late afternoon sun.

Raven

Next weekend the racing action is at Moonee Valley featuring the Group 2 Dato Tan Chin Stakes. And in Sydney Winx will be striding out in her second race for the spring in the Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes.