The All Star Mile

Mystic Journey – Flemington 2/3/19

This Saturday at Flemington sees the running of the inaugural All Star Mile, a new “pop up” race devised by Racing Victoria to emulate Sydney’s Everest sprint.

A field of 14 contestants will vie for the $5 million prize money and the fame and glory that goes with winning a new race for the first time.

Half the field are given no chance, these being the horses elected by the general public whose form leaves a lot to be desired. They all have big ownership groups, hence their popularity. Old Foundry has been scratched which allows one of the better quality emergencies to run, in this case Le Romain, a triple Group 1 winner.

Despite the dross, there are several classy gallopers in the field, these being Group 1 winners Happy Clapper, Alizee, Hartnell, Grunt, Amphitrite and Mystic Journey.

Alizee is the favourite with Mystic Journey being highly fancied as well. Happy Clapper has not won a race in Melbourne to date, but is likely to be in the finish if he has recovered from his last race against the mighty Winx.

I’ll be barracking for the Tasmanian filly. Go Mystic!

It will be tricky getting to Flemington tomorrow with buses replacing trains again, between Heidelberg and Parliament Stations this time.  I think I’ll travel by a different route as I’ll have to get to Southern Cross Station to catch the train to Flemington – the 250 Bus perhaps which terminates in Queen Street in the city and takes about 45 minutes.

A Princess of Tasmania & The Queen of the World

Mystic Journey wins the Australian Guineas

Girl power was to the fore again last Saturday with Queen of the Turf, Winx, winning her 31st consecutive race, and also achieving 23 Group 1 wins - a world record.

At Flemington, Tasmanian filly Mystic Journey won the feature Australian Guineas, becoming only the 5th filly to win the race and the first Tasmanian trained horse to win a Group 1 on the mainland.

Because of the extreme heat, the races at Flemington were brought forward by two hours, so the last race on the card was at 3.20pm.

And hot it was, though it deterred the crowds making it easy to find a seat in the shade between races.

I reached Flemington earlier than I originally planned, shortly before midday, in time to watch race 3, the Bob Hoysted Handicap, a sprint over 1000 metres.

It was won by She’s So High by a length from veteran Thermal Current with I Am Someone running third.

She’s so High returns to scale

I decided to give race 4 a miss and go and check out the stalls. Not many of the star horses had arrived, so I didn’t get any stall photos, and besides the rampant rose hedges made getting clear shots very difficult.

Returning to my favourite spot on at the access gate, I retrieved my step from behind the rose hedge and pretty well stayed there for the rest of the afternoon.

The roses were out in abundance…

Rose hedge next to access gate, with my step ready to stand on

Race 5 was the not very interesting Seppelt Wines Plate, a handicap race for three year olds over 1400 metres.

Age of Chivalry, last seen running second to The Inevitable in the C S Hayes Stakes was the favourite, but he was beaten by a nose by 14/1 shot Mr Quickie, with Brilliant Choice a short distance back, running third.

Seppelts Wine Plate finish – Mr Quickie, Age of Chivalry & Brilliant Choice cross the finish line together

Mr Quickie returns to scale

Age of Chivalry on his way to the barriers

The next three races were of more interest and race 6, the Group 3 Shaftesbury Avenue Handicap also resulted in a long shot winner. Violate stole the prize from Streets of Avalon and Zebulon.

Violate & Streets of Avalon cross the finish line together

Violate returns to scale

Streets of Avalon on his way to the barriers

Zebulon on his way to the barriers

The David Hayes trained Fifty Stars, So Si Bon and Cool Chap ran the trifecta in race 7, the Group 2 Blamey Stakes.  2017 Melbourne Cup runner up Johannes Vermeer, having his first start since that race, finished fourth.

Blamey Stakes finish – Fifty Stars leads with So Si Bon on his outside

Fifty Stars on his way to the barriers

So Si Bon on his way to the barriers

Cool Chap on his way to the barriers

Johannes Vermeer on his way to the barriers

Due to the heat, the interval between races was reduced to 35 minutes rather than the usual 40 minutes, so it wasn’t long to wait for the feature Group 1 Australian Guineas, scheduled to run at 2.45pm.

Amphitrite was the starting favourite with Mystic Journey being second choice.

I got some nice photos of the field as they headed to the starting gates…

Amphitrite

Extra Brut

Long Leaf

Stars of Carrum

Ringerdingding

The Inevitable

Mystic Journey

Hawkshot

The talented Tasmanian filly had drawn barrier 1, either a blessing or a curse, so Mystic Journey raced close to the speed inside Amphitrite in about fifth place. Hawkshot, who had drawn a wide barrier took the lead shortly after the start and led throughout until Mystic Journey broke through close to the finish line to go on and win by over two lengths. Hawkshot held on to finish second ahead of Amphitrite (third) and Ringerdingding (fourth).

Mystic Journey travelled to Melbourne by boat, aboard the Spirit of Tasmania, the ferry that crosses Bass Strait from Devonport to Melboune.

A former ferry across the Bass Strait was the Princess of Tasmania which operated from 1959 to 1972, hence the title of this post. I travelled on it in 1971 with my boyfriend of the time and remember the adventures we had hitchhiking from Devonport to Hobart, then up the East Coast on the return journey.

We’ll next see Mystic Journey in the All Star Mile on 16 March at Flemington. She was chosen as one of the wild card entries yesterday along with Hawkshot and Hartnell. She is building up an impressive picket fence having won her last six races.

The last race on the card was the Group 3 Frances Tressady Stakes,  an interesting race for fillies and mares over 1400 metres. 

As the afternoon was still young I stayed for it and tarried another ten minutes at the track to watch the Chipping Norton Stakes on the big screen.

Oregon’s Day denied race favourite Clarice Cliffs victory in the Frances Tressady  Stakes, registering her first win for almost a year.  The 2018 Victorian Oaks winner Aristia finished third.

Approaching the finishing post in the Frances Tressady Stakes

Oregon’s Day returns to scale

Clarice Cliffs on her way to the barriers

Aristia on her way to the barriers

What more can be said about Winx other than a quote from the Bard:

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety.

In the Chipping Norton Stakes, Happy Clapper issued a challenge to the mighty mare, sprinting  away from the start and leading throughout, increasing the distance between himself and Winx by a wider and wider margin.  For a brief moment we all thought she could get beaten. But no, she overtook Happy Clapper close to the finish and won by over a length, setting a new course record into the bargain.

Winx has only two more races to contest before she retires, but she could easily have returned in Spring for another campaign as she appears to be just as good as she ever was.

As mentioned before, Flemington was not crowded at all. The Kid Zone was at the far end of the west lawn and the theme was Enchanted Forest. I didn’t bother going to investigate it, but two stilt walkers dressed as ladybirds stalked around the public lawn at intervals.

When they saw me focussing my camera on them, they adopted the following pose. They must have been boiling in their costumes!

Stilt walkers

Next week is Super Saturday, again at Flemington, featuring the Group 1 Australian Cup and Newmarket Handicap.

I’m looking forward to seeing Sunlight again, who is running in the Newmarket, and keen to get a glimpse of 2017 Melbourne Cup winner Rekindling in the Australian Cup.

A Class Act – Australian Guineas & Winx Again

Mystic Journey – Cox Plate Day 2018

It was hard to decide which racehorse photo I would use to illustrate this post, but I settled on one of Mystic Journey as she is the most intriguing runner in the Australian Guineas field.

In the past few years (from 2015) the Randwick Guineas has been run on the same day as the Australian Guineas, so fields for each race have been diluted with several top three year olds running in one or the other of them.

This year the scheduling of the two Guineas races has reverted to the old format and the Australian Guineas can shine once more as a quality Group 1 race. It has attracted a quite wonderful field of contestants that include Extra Brut (Victoria Derby winner), Amphitrite (Thousand Guineas winner)  and other recent impressive runners such as Hawkshot, The Inevitable, Mystic Journey, Verry Elleegant and Ringerdingding.

Mystic Journey was the early favourite for this race and I can understand why. With two very good wins under her belt already this season, she has marked herself as quite an exceptional filly. If she does win the Australian Guineas she will be regarded as a potential superstar of the turf.  It’s her greatest test to date and I’ll be quietly hoping that she passes with honours.

In Sydney Winx will be racing against five of her stablemates and trusty old Happy Clapper in the Group 1 Chipping Norton Stakes.  It looks a shoe in for the mighty mare, and if she wins, she will achieve another milestone by winning 23 Group 1 races -  a world record.

The other Group 1 race on Saturday is the Surround Stakes, also at Randwick. For three year old fillies run over 1400 metres, it has a classy field that includes well performed fillies such as Oohood, Fiesta, Fundamentalist, Miss Fabulass and Nakeeta Jane to name some of the main chances.

After this weekend  there are only two more Saturdays of racing in the Melbourne autumn racing carnival – super Saturday on 9th March and the new fangled, and quite bizarre, All Star Mile on the 16th March.

A Timely win in the Black Caviar Lightning & Winx Big 30

Approaching the finishing post in the Black Caviar Lightning

When I got on the bus to go to Clifton Hill railway station, a couple of fractious passengers were bristling with aggro over nothing much and looked as if they could get into fisticuffs. The driver threatened to throw them off the bus, so they settled down, thank goodness, and the rest of the journey passed without incident.

At Flemington all was peace, love, happiness and Woodstock Nation, a festive atmosphere typical of race meetings, where even children are catered for with various fun activities.

I arrived at the track at around 1.30pm and managed to get my step past the gates, as there was no security check point at the Railway entrance, though my friend George had to resort to subterfuge to get his ladder through security at the car park entrance.

The contestants for Race 3 were parading in the mounting yard, but after hiding my step behind the rose bushes near my favourite spot just past the finishing post, I headed to the stalls area to see who had arrived and gave that race a miss.

Living Legends Apache Cat and Silent Witness were the special equine guests for the meeting and were being pampered in their stalls.

Apache Cat

Silent Witness

I was particularly interested in seeing More Sundays, a son of the wonderful mare More Joyous sired by Fastnet Rock.

More Sundays

More Sundays has only had three starts for one win, and so far has hardly lived up to his illustrious breeding.

Sunlight arrived whilst I was in the stalls area, so I grabbed a photo of her in her stall.

Sunlight

As the next race was yet another Blue Diamond build up race, the Talindert Stakes, named for the property where famous steeplechaser Crisp was born, and owned by Sir Chester Manifold, I headed back to my spot on the access gate to photograph the race and pretty well stayed there for the rest of the afternoon.

Microphone, last seen running second to I Am Immortal in the Blue Diamond Preview, was the starting favourite for the Talindert, and he delivered in spades, winning by over two lengths from Talented and Charleise.

Microphone then daylight winning the Talindert Stakes

Microphone returns to scale

As you can see the light was perfect for taking photos. It was a warm sunny day but not exceptionally hot.

Race 5 was the Group 3 Vanity Stakes,  a race for three year old fillies over 1400 metres.

Fundamentalist was the favourite, but she was relegated to third by the former Darren Weir trained stablemates Amphitrite and Verry Elleegant. Amphitrite is now with the David Hayes stable and Verry Elleegant with Chris Waller.

The result struck me as a natural trifecta, not that I had any money on the race.

Vanity finish – Amphitrite is outside Fundamentalist with Verry Elleegant behind

Amphitrite on her way to the barriers

Verry Elleegant returns to scale

Fundamentalist on her way to the barriers

The handy thing about the step is that you can sit on it in between races, and this I did, mildly amused by the Sumo wrestling activity near the access gate. Yes, I was in the Kids Zone and the theme was Chinese New Year.

The sumo wrestling involved kids donning cumbersome sumo suits and facing off against each other. The kid who managed to topple its opponent and hold them down for the count of five, was the victor.

Sumo wrestling – droll amusement

Race 6 was the not terribly interesting Hong Kong Jockey’s Club Trophy, an open race over 1600 metres.

Heptagon was the pre race favourite, but he ended out of a place in fourth. The race was won by 10/1 shot Thunder Cloud from Antah and Mr Money Bags.

Thunder Cloud & Antah cross the line together with Mr Money Bags behind them

Thunder Cloud on his way to the barriers

Antah on his way to the barriers

Mr Money Bags returns to scale

By the time race 6 was run and won, there was a quarter of an hour until Winx’s first race of the season was set to run, so stowing my step behind the rose bushes, I headed closer to the big screen to watch the Apollo Stakes.

Randwick appeared to be packed with Winx fans, and a familar cheer greeted her as she moved onto the track. The race was like many that we have seen before with Winx running mid field, one off the inside rail. Of course she cruised to the front shortly after the field turned into the straight and went on to win her 30th consecutive race effortlessly and in doing so broke the course record. Happy Clapper ran second and Winx’s stablemate Egg Tart filled third place.

Watching the race on the Flemington public lawn with several other interested observers we cheered her to the post as if we were at Randwick in person.

Back in Spring I witnessed Tasmanian filly Mystic Journey win two races in impressive fashion and the C S Hayes Stakes resulted in a win by a fellow Tasmanian, The Inevitable, at big odds.

What do they put in the water?

Only a little fellow like his sire Dundeel, The Inevitable fought out the finish with New Zealand bred Age of Chivalry with O’tauto running third two lengths in arrears.

The Inevitable and Age of Chivalry cross the finish line together

The Inevitable returns to scale

Age of Chivalry on his way to the barriers

O’tauto on his way to the barriers

The Inevitable’s next race is the Group 1 Australian Guineas on 2 March, where he will be up against the classy Mystic Journey, who has had two starts for two wins in her own State so far this autumn.

The feature Group 1 Black Caviar Lightning was up next and fortunately the runners raced in a bunch down the centre of the track. Sunlight briefly hit the front at 300 mark but was overtaken by In Her Time and Osborne Bulls. She hung on to run third, less than a length from the first two home.

In Her Time returns to scale

Osborne Bulls returns to scale

Sunlight returns to scale with Written By

I headed for the station after the Black Caviar Lightning and made it home, one and a half hours later.

This coming Saturday features three Group 1 races at Caulfield including the Blue Diamond Stakes. Always a good day’s racing I’m looking forward to attending.