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.

The Love Horse Returns!

Lankan Rupee – Blue Diamond Stakes Day – 22 February 2014

This Saturday Moonee Valley Racing Club hosts the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes, a Group 2 race over 1600 metres. Though there is no Group 1 action this weekend, the Moonee Valley meeting has two very interesting Group 2 races, the aforementioned Dato Tan and the McEwen Stakes.

I have been attending this meeting for over ten years; in fact for many years it was the only race meeting I went to at all.

Over the years it has changed complexion, and different races were run. Up until 2009 the Manikato Stakes was the feature race, but that is now run Cox Plate eve.  

Also up to this year  there was the W H Stock Stakes a Group 2 race for mares, but that has been moved as well to the Moir Stakes night meeting later this month.

And this year the Dato Tan race meeting has been moved back a week, which has affected the acceptances for the feature race. Normally horses contesting the Memsie Stakes would run in the Dato Tan, but now the natural progression will be to go to the Makybe Diva Stakes, formerly run on this date, but now moved forward a week.

So it’s lucky that horses of the calibre of Lankan Rupee, acknowledged as the best sprinter in the world, will be competing on Saturday, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered to attend.

Lankan Rupee will be starting his spring campaign in the Group 2 McEwen Stakes and will no doubt start hot favourite.  Dubbed the “horse with a heart”, due to the distinctive heart marking on his forehead, he is also known as the “love” horse by others. Gone are the days when you could get good odds on him, as you could in the autumn, so he’ll be at unbackable odds tomorrow.

I can’t really see him being beaten, but fighting out second place will be eight other contestants chief among them being the filly Eloping and New Zealand horse Cauthen, thrown in at the deep end for his first start in nine months. He was also nominated for the Drummond Golf Stakes, but failed to make the field.  Others with a place chance are Our Nkwazi, Angelic Light, Orujo and Unpretentious.

The Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes generally attracts an interesting field of middle distance and long distance stayers starting their spring campaigns on their way to hopefully greater glory in the big cups and the Cox Plate. As previously mentioned, I have been going to this race meeting for over 10 years and have seen the stars of the turf of the day in action. I witnessed Northerly and Sunline racing against each other for the first time in 2001 in the Feehan Stakes as the Dato Tan was known then. Northerly overcame Sunline in the straight and won by a short margin.  I also saw Makybe Diva race twice in the Dato Tan, running second each time before going on to win her second and third Melbourne Cups in 2004 and 2005.  It certainly was something to see her burning around the outside of the field from the 600 and just narrowly missing out on a win.

This year’s Dato Tan has the current Melbourne Cup favourite in the field. The Offer won the Sydney Cup by almost 4 lengths, so it’s no wonder he is favourite. He’s trained by Gai Waterhouse who also trained last year’s Dato Tan and Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente. Looking at The Offer’s form, he obviously performs best over longer distances, but as proved by Fiorente last year a genuine stayer can still win over the 1600 metres.  By all accounts he’s a really good looking horse, so I’m keen to see him in the flesh.

His main opposition comes from crowd favourite The Cleaner, a speedy front runner with fitness on his side. If you follow Astrology his name is perfect for the zodiac sign of September – Virgo. Attributes of the sign of Virgo include  a compulsive need to tidy and clean. They’re handy if you’re having a party as they’ll do most of the clearing up for you at the end of the night.

Also in the picture is Star Rolling who won the PB Lawrence Stakes at long odds a fortnight ago. However, there is a hoodoo on PB Lawrence Stakes winners, as the the last four or five winners have failed to win again through the season, e.g. Puissance de Lune last year.

Old tried and true campaigner Foreteller is part of the field, and though he has not won a race for over a year, he occasionally springs a surprise.

Others with a chance are Lidari who finished second in this race last year and Mourinho who recently won at Moonee Valley over a similar distance.

In Sydney, the Randwick race card is much more interesting than what is on offer in Melbourne, with a host of horsey stars resuming in various choice Group 2 races.

The first of these is the Furious Stakes where Blue Diamond Stakes winner Earthquake kicks off her spring.  As usual Sydney has been wet so the track will be slow,  a condition Earthquake does not handle all that well and led to her defeat in the Golden Slipper. Still, she’s a very classy filly and wasn’t beaten by all that much in her only loss. Her greatest opponent in the Furious Stakes appears to be dual Group 1 winner Peggy Jean who has good wet form.  Alpha Miss, Winx and Memorial look the best of the rest.

The Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes is the feature race on the Randwick card and has attracted an outstanding field that include Sacred Falls, Royal Descent, Hawkspur and Criterion – all Group 1 winners with wet form. It is run over 1600 metres so suits middle distance runners and stayers.  It’s hard to pick the winner as any of the above could take home the prize.  Whatever, it is the race to watch on Saturday.

And finally for the Sydney racing scene I will make a point of watching the Group 2 Tramway Stakes (1400 metres) where Oaks winning mares Kirramosa and Rising Romance are in the mix along with Storm Queen Stakes winner Lucia Valentina in a big open field.  Top weight Tiger Tees will be gunning for a hat trick of wins, if he can defeat the likes of Weary and the aforementioned mares.

To finish this entry, the latest news on two former queens of the turf.

Black Caviar is expected to drop her first foal this month, an event that will no doubt be reported in the news headlines.  Will it be a colt or a filly? Check out this recent video shot at the secret location where she is waiting to give birth.

The other star mare More Joyous had her first foal (by star British horse Frankel) in early August – a chestnut filly.  There are photos of the filly here.

Hearts & Roses – Super Saturday Review

Fiorente being walked in the parade ring early in the afternoon prior to winning the Australian Cup

Super Saturday certainly lived up to its name with Flemington hosting a great afternoon of racing action that thrilled this dedicated race enthusiast for one. It was an afternoon for favourites to salute, and featured several exciting head to head competitions between rival horses.

Hearts and roses is an appropriate title for this post as the “love horse” Lankan Rupee blitzed the Newmarket Handicap field, and the last two Melbourne Cup winners, Fiorente (whose name means blooming in Italian) and Green Moon, fought out the Australian Cup up the rose bordered straight.

Arriving pretty early, shortly after 1.00pm, I was in time to watch the running of the Group 2 Sires Produce Stakes.  Though I didn’t have a bet on it, I was barracking for Marcado who I had included in my Star Stable. He ran third behind the winner Zululand and Awesome Rock, though only a length or so off them, so for the moment I won’t banish him from my stable.

I decided after that to check out the stalls and parade ring, and took the above photo of Fiorente and the following one of Lankan Rupee in his stall.

Lankan Rupee – highly recognisable with the heart on his forehead

I was also hoping to see the Living Legends representatives for the afternoon – Efficient and Zipping – but they hadn’t arrived at that time.

Meanwhile back at the track, Race 4 the Group 3 Schweppervescence Trophy was about to start. Bonaria started favourite and didn’t disappoint winning comfortably from Text’n Hurley and the amusingly named Bippo No Bungus.

Bonaria returns to scale after winning the Schweppervescence Trophy

Returning to the stalls area I finally caught up with Fish and Zip. Their lovely strappers obligingly brought them out from their stalls for a pat. Efficient seemed more interested in eating the roses, but I snapped a few good photos of the pair of buddies together.

Efficient won the 2006 Victorian Derby and the following year won the Melbourne Cup.  I remember his Cup win vividly as an intuition half an hour before the race had me rushing to put a bet on him as the only grey in the race. He won me over $100 as he paid something like $25.00 for the win. His career was dogged by niggling injuries, but he managed to win the 2009 Turnbull Stakes and ran second in the 2012 Sydney Cup.  If he hadn’t been injured, who knows what he would have achieved.

Zipping was a grand old stayer who retired with a sterling record of wins and places in prestigious races. He won the 2010 Australian Cup and also the 2010 Turnbull Stakes and won the Group 2 Sandown Classic (which is now named after him) in four consecutive years (2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009), was placed in the Cox Plate three times, and has overall a great record of 16 wins, 10 places from 47 starts.

It was a great pleasure to make the acquaintance of these fine old gentlemen of the turf and to give them a pat.

Anyway, back at track, the field for Race 5 the Group 2 Kewney Stakes for three year old fillies was parading.

Solicit was the hot favourite after her 2¾ length win in the Vanity Stakes back in February. She was another of my Star Stable horses so I was delighted that she made it back to back wins with her Kewney Stakes victory. The seemingly eternal bridesmaid Marianne ran second again and Suavito was third.

Solicit returns to scale after winning the Kewney Stakes

After the Kewney Stakes I hastened to the Bookies area to watch the Wiggle Stakes on the small screen there, which is the only place I’ve found at Flemington where you can watch the Sydney races. I had my first bet of the day, not on Catkins who was odds on favourite, but on Dear Demi who was at really good odds for one her class – investing $2.00 each way. Catkins won really easily. She has come on in leaps and bounds over the past year and looks primed to win a Group 1 this season. She has been known as the punter’s friend, always starting at good odds up until now. I know, I’ve won lots on her in the past when she has been underrated in the betting. Dear Demi managed to run third and payed very well for the place, doubling my outlay. By the way, Catkins is in my Star Stable too, so I was doubly pleased with her win.

The first of the Group 1 races for the afternoon the Newmarket Handicap was the next scheduled race.  I put money on both Samaready and Lankan Rupee as they were my top two picks. Lankan Rupee, courtesy of a superbly judged ride by young jockey Chad Schofield, was sensational. He won by 2½ lengths from Spirit of Boom and Knoydart, which interestingly is the exact same order the three of them finished in the Oakleigh Plate. Lankan Rupee paid a very generous $6.00 for the win, so my pockets were enriched by his payout. And you guessed it, he’s another of my Star Stable horses.

Lankan Rupee returns to scale after winning the Newmarket Handicap

Shortly after the Newmarket Handicap, the Group 1 Chipping Norton Stakes was due to run in Sydney, so I returned to the bookies area to watch it.  Boban had a turnaround of form, or maybe it was just his regular jockey Glyn Schofield (Chad’s dad) being back on board, but he denied It’s A Dundeel a first up win.  Dundeel was probably let go too soon, which left him a sitting duck for the swooping Boban, or  he was not as fit as Boban who had two runs under his belt. I was disappointed, but I won’t banish him from Star Stable yet.

The Australian Cup was next up, so after placing bets on Fiorente as a dead cert, and Voleuse De Coeurs as a ruffie, I made my way back to the mounting yard to watch the parade.

Fiorente – the winner

Foreteller who ran third

Mourayan who ran fourth

Shamus Award – finished sixth

Voleuse De Coeurs finished fifth

Green Moon ran second

Shamus Award as expected raced to the front and led for most of the race with Green Moon running close behind him in second spot along with Star Rolling. Fiorente was towards the back of the field until halfway up the straight, then Damian Oliver eased him wide and let him go. He exploded away and he and Green Moon fought it out down the final stretch, with Fiorente proving too strong in the end, scoring by half a length. Shamus Award was no match for the seasoned WFA performers, fading to finish sixth.

 
Fiorente returning to scale after winning the Australian Cup

Last year’s Group 2 Blamey Stakes ended in a draw between Budriguez and Puissance de Lune.  This year’s edition resulted in a clear win for the Peter Moody trained Lidari. My money was on the Lloyd Williams Irish import Foundry, who had won his first race in Australia at Flemington in February. He fought on bravely for second going down by a length and Sertorius, the favourite, finished 4 lengths behind in third spot.

Foundry on his way to the barriers

After collecting my winnings on Foundry, I called it quits and headed up the long stairs to the station. It was a long day, and I certainly got plenty of exercise during the afternoon, as the vast expanses of Flemington mean you have to walk quite a way to place a bet or get a drink.

There were plenty of people there, but it was not unbearable or overcrowded as it was on Derby Day, and the sun shone down all afternoon.  And the roses as usual were blooming in gorgeous array.

It was indeed a super day to be at the races, and for a change I came home with more money in my purse than I left with.

The focus of racing moves to Sydney from now on, and even if I will not be attending any local races, I’ll be closely following the Group 1 action at Randwick and Rosehill.