Al and The Cat and Black Caviar

Alligator Blood wins the CS Hayes Stakes from Catalyst

It was a shame about the weather, which was truly atrocious, but the racing action was superlative last Saturday at Flemington.

A drizzly fine rain was leaking from the sky as I set out for Flemington from Ivanhoe, and was pretty much the same out west at the big track for most of the afternoon.

Upon arrival I headed directly for the Western Lawn to my usual photography spot just past the finishing post. Race 3, the Talindert Stakes was set to run, so I captured the action as best I could  in the conditions. Black Caviar’s cousin Ole Kirk kicked off his career with a win and paid big odds of over $30.00. He beat Nitrous and favourite Mildred by a narrow margin.

Ole Kirk (no. 12) noses out Nitrous on the line

Ole Kirk returns to scale after winning the Talindert Stakes

The fine rain created a misty haze on the photo above, but otherwise the afternoon light was quite lovely as a contrast to bright sunlight.

After the Talindert I headed off to the stalls area to see who had arrived.

Alligator Blood was in his stall looking super confident…

Alligator Blood

…and Catalyst was being groomed in his stall.

Catalyst

Also present were the special Living Legends equine guests, champion greys Efficient and Fawkner.

Efficient

Fawkner

Further along was the hot favourite for the Black Caviar Lightning, Nature Strip…

Nature Strip

…and Loving Gaby.

Loving Gaby

Back trackside it was almost time for race 4, the Ebor Trophy, a race over 2000 metres for middle distance runners and not terribly interesting over all.

It resulted with Salsamor narrowly winning from Skelm and Classic Wei Wei.

Ebor Trophy finish – Salsamor has the lime green & blue silks

With time to kill before the highly anticipated CS Hayes Stakes we headed back to the mounting yard to grab a prime spot. Efficient and Fawkner were parading around as their illustrious careers were displayed on the big screen.

Efficient

Fawkner

Soon enough the field for the CS Hayes Stakes were filing into the mounting yard.

Alligator Blood

Catalyst

Chenier

Dalasan

Soul Patch

Yourdeel

The 2020  CS Hayes Stakes lived up to expectations and was the highlight of the afternoon racing program. A terrific race, with Alligator Blood and Catalyst racing side by side from the start with Alligator Blood having a slight lead over Catalyst. As they turned into the straight, the real competition began as they upped the tempo, going head to head to the finish line, Alligator Blood winning by a nose. It was classic stuff reminiscent of the great two horse duels of the past – Our Waverley Star vs Bonecrusher, Testa Rossa vs Redoute’s Choice are two that come to mind. Chenier finished third a length behind.

Alligator Blood returns to scale

Catalyst on his way to the barriers

Chenier returns to scale

Catalyst and Alligator Blood meet again in a fortnight in the Group 1 Australian Guineas and Super Seth will be there as well.

Race 6 was a sprint, the Royal Ascot Handicap and was won by Sirius Suspect from Taniko and Prezado.

Sirius Suspect (yellow silks) wins the Royal Ascot Handicap from Taniko

After the Royal Ascot  we dashed back to the mounting yard as Black Caviar was scheduled to parade after the post race 6 ceremonies and we wanted to get a front fence position.

Though the crowds were down at Flemington last Saturday, no doubt due to the weather, everyone converged on the mounting yard for the great mare’s arrival and the crowd was three deep on the fence. We were lucky enough to score a special poster of Black Caviar being handed out behind us.

Black Caviar’s appearance was heralded by flag bearers who stood around the mounting yard until her connections were in place then marched off elsewhere.

Flags herald Black Caviar’s appearance

I took over a hundred photos of Black Caviar I reckon. Continuous shooting tends to result in a surfeit of shots, but I saved 50 as they were mostly alright and I couldn’t decide what to keep and what to discard.

Black Caviar parade 1

Black Caviar parade 2

Black Caviar parade 3 – Peter Moody offers the mare a carrot

Black Caviar parade 4 – the great mare surveys her old kingdom

Black Caviar parade 5 – not more photographers!

She paraded around the mounting yard for quite some time, doing at least three circuits. She looked extremely well, her coat dappled and glowing with health and it was great to see her again after a 7 year hiatus.

She had no sooner left the mounting yard than the Black Caviar Lightning field were making their way thence.

Loving Gaby

Nature Strip

Redzel

Gytrash

Nature Strip was the short odds favourite for the Black Caviar Lightning, but ended unplaced after over-racing on the wrong side of the track (outer rail) and tiring before the finish. Loving Gaby who also raced along the outer rail finished third. However, the winner Gytrash, raced along the inner rail with Redzel, hot on his heels, running second. Luckily I focussed my camera on the inside rail so got a photo of the finish.

Black Caviar Lightning finish – Gytrash heads off Redzel as they approach the finish line.

Gytrash returns to scale

As trains back to the city were running again I headed home after the Black Caviar Lightning.

It had been a better than usual race meeting despite the less than perfect weather but worth it to see Alligator Blood and Catalyst fight out the CS Hayes Stakes.

Next Saturday is Blue Diamond Stakes Day at Caulfield with the Group 1 Oakleigh Plate and especially the Futurity Stakes being sterling accompaniments to the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes.

Hopefully the weather will be more clement next week.

Seeing Double - Blue & White Stripes to the Fore

Harlem wins the 2018 Australian Cup

The training team of David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig certainly had a good day last Saturday, winning both Group 1 races with imported horses.

Redkirk Warrior accomplished a rare consecutive win of the Newmarket Handicap and Harlem, unfancied in the betting, won the Australian Cup at big odds of 60/1.

Despite the extreme heat of the day, it was worth making the effort to attend, though it seemed to me to be a long drawn out afternoon, and it was with relief that I climbed onto the train after the running of the Australian Cup.

Being obliged by train timetables – the last Flemington train was at 12.30pm – I arrived at the course as horses engaged in Race 2 were filing onto the track.  I didn’t bother photographing the action, but noted that Kings Will Dream notched up his fifth win in succession.

I headed for the stalls and dallied there, missing  Race 3 as well, as it didn’t strike me as all that interesting. It was almost impossible to get photos of the horses in their stalls owing to the rampant roses, and besides many of the Group 1 runners had not yet arrived.

Rose hedge around the stalls

Might and Power and Efficient were the special guests from Living Legends so I did manage to snap a shot of old fave Efficient.

Efficient

The Group 2 Sires Produce Stakes was the fourth race on the card, so I trudged up the public lawn to my favourite spot at the access gate on the west lawn. As the rail was out 4 metres, it was difficult to get shots without the outer rail intruding. I’d normally move further up the west lawn to get clear photos of horses going to the barriers, but this area was blocked off by a wine and food pop up facility.

A race for two year olds over 1400 metres, it was won by the unfancied Not A Single Cent, having only his second start.  Favourite Seberate ran second with Akkadian running third.

Sires Produce Stakes finish – Not A Single Cent is about to overtake Seberate

Not A Single Cent returns to scale

As it was far too hot in the sun, between races I sought out shade in various spots around the public lawn, and only returned to the access gate when the runners in the next race were leaving the mounting yard for the track. I don’t know why I bothered taking photos with the rail being a problem, but I suppose it was a distraction from the relentless sunshine.

Race 5 was the Group 2 Kewney Stakes for three year old fillies and is run over 1400 metres.  The so far unbeaten Summer Sham was the starting favourite and led for most of the race, but she was outclassed over the distance and finished well back in eighth place.  The winner Bella Martini raced just off the speed in third place and toughed it out to beat Shokora and Palazzo Vecchio.

Bella Martini wins the Kewney Stakes

The Newmarket Handicap was the next race to jump, so I pegged out a rose free spot on the mounting yard fence for the pre-race parade.

Here are some of the main contenders.

Brave Smash

Redkirk Warrior

Merchant Navy

So Si Bon

As is the norm in sprints down the long Flemington straight, the field split into two, one on the inner rail and the other on the outer. As a result, Redkirk Warrior who was brushing the roses on the outer fence, defeated Brave Smash on the inner fence by a half head, with Merchant Navy running third.

A distant shot of the Newmarket halfway up the straight with split field

Outer fence view approaching the winning post

Inner fence view approaching the winning post

Redkirk Warrior returns to scale

The first of the Group 1 races at Randwick, the Canterbury Stakes,  was scheduled shortly after the running of the Newmarket Handicap, so I sauntered closer to the big screen to watch it and found a place to sit down, albeit in the sun.

The rose hedge was splendidly in full bloom…

Rose hedge close to the Clock Tower

Anyway, the Canterbury Stakes resulted in a win for Happy Clapper with Global Glamour running second and Invincible Gem third.

Back at Flemington, Race 7 was the Group 3 Schweppervescence Trophy, a race for fillies and mares over 1600 metres. Spanish Reef was one of the few favourites to win at Flemington on Saturday. She defeated Samovare by three quarters of a length with Jester Halo two lengths back running third.

Spanish Reef wins the Schweppervescence Trophy

As I was fed up with trying to get rail free photos, I decided to go back to a spot opposite the finish line where the horses returning to scale enter the path to the mounting yard. It’s not a bad spot for taking photos from a different angle, with the bonus of the winning post in the background.

Spanish Reef returns to scale

Samovare returns to scale

Jester Halo returns to scale

Before the Australian Cup field assembled in the mounting yard, I watched the Randwick Guineas on the big screen. Kementari was the outstanding winner.  Pierata ran second and Trapeze Artist third.

I’d been at Flemington for four hours, so I was thankful the feature race was finally ready to race.

Here are some of the major contenders in the mounting yard…

Harlem

Gailo Chop

Single Gaze

Ventura Storm

It was reported in the racing press that Lloyd Williams, who had three horses entered in the Australian Cup (Almandin, The Taj Mahal and Homesman)  had advised that he would recommend that The Taj Mahal and Homesman be ridden positively (i.e. on the speed) and Almandin ridden quietly. This all sounded as if he was using the former two horses as pacemakers for Almandin, and a challenge for Gailo Chop who likes to lead.

That plan unravelled when The Taj Mahal and the Gai Waterhouse trained Supply and Demand fought out the lead for most of the race, only to fade and finish well back. Harlem raced handy in fourth spot on the fence, then was blocked for a run, but he found a gap and went on to beat Gailo Chop by half a length with Ventura Storm another length back running third. Almandin ended up running fourth.

Harlem returns to scale

Gailo Chop and Homesman return to scale

And that was another Australian Cup run and won.

I was contemplating going to the Blamey Stakes meeting at Flemington next Saturday ostensibly to see 2017 Melbourne Cup winner Rekindling who was nominated for the feature race, but owner Lloyd Williams has decided not to run him this autumn after all.

Anyway, next Saturday is forecast to be as hot as the previous one, so I’m glad not to attend.

As for Melbourne’s autumn carnival, as I’ve mentioned before, it has been underwhelming with very few highlights that I can think of, though of course I can say I saw Redkirk Warrior win both the Lightning Stakes and Newmarket Handicap. 

Group 1 racing continues on in Sydney and we have Winx next race to look forward to on 24 March.