Melbourne Spring Racing Finale–Emirates Stakes Day Review

Emirates Stakes finish – Damian Lane celebrates Tosen Stardom’s win

For a change, the weather in Melbourne last Saturday was more Summer than capricious Spring, with blue skies and sunshine the whole day – hot in fact.

Arriving at Flemington around 1.45pm I headed directly to the stalls area to get some photos of the leading runners in the two Group 1 events.

The first horse I came across was none other than old Living Legend Might and Power, having a day out at the races. A crowd of admirers surrounded him outside his  stall, feeding him carroty treats and giving him a pat.

He seemed to be enjoying himself enormously, and looked remarkably well for his age. He’s now 24 years old.

Might and Power

Also present was the grey flash Chautauqua…

Chautauqua in his stall

and his great rival Terravista.

Terravista

New sprinters on the block, Everest winner Redzel, as well as Redkirk Warrior and Impending were also out and about

Redzel

Redkirk Warrior

The handsome Impending

Considering the drama that occurred when the field for the feature Emirates Stakes was headiing out to the starting gates, with Gingernuts unfortunately suffering an injury in transit, I’m glad I got a nice photo of him in the stalls area early in the afternoon. He reportedly suffered a pastern fracture, which his jockey Michael Dee felt as it happened. He pulled Gingernuts up and dismounted instantly. The injury is not considered life threatening, but Gingernuts will be out of action for a very long time.

Gingernuts

The crowds were not half as bad as Derby Day, so it wasn’t all that tedious to walk to the access gate east of the winning post – the favourite spot for Rebecca & I to snap photos.

From there we watched race 5, the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes, a consolation prize for stayers who missed running in the Melbourne Cup.  It had a good field  that included 2016 Geelong Cup  & 2017 Bendigo Cup winner Qewy and Vengeur Masque who won the 2017 Geelong Cup and finished a close second to Cismontane in the Lexus Stakes.

After winning $100.00 on Vengeur Masque in the Geelong Cup, he’s now promoted to a personal favourite, so I was pleased that he proved his credentials as a fine stayer in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, leading from the start ot the finish. Grey Lion challenged in the straight, but Vengeur Masque stuck to his guns and prevailed by ¾ lengths. Wheal Leisure finished third.

First time past the post in the QE Stakes – Vengeur Masque leads with Grey Lion tailing him

QE Stakes finish – Vengeur Masque wins from Grey Lion

Qewy started as favourite but finished sixth. He has since been retired.

Vengeur Masque returns to scale

Grey Lion

Qewy returns to scale

First Lady of Racing, Gai Waterhouse had a wonderful Melbourne Spring Carnival, training five Group winners, Pinot in the Group 1 Oaks being her top result. So it looks as if we shall have to take Gai’s runners seriously again.

Savapinkski enhanced Gai’s reputation by winning the Group 2 Matriarch Stakes, race 6 on the program on Saturday, leading all the way in 2000 metre race to win by almost three lengths from Payroll with Token of Love running third another length behind.

Savapinski wins the Matriarch Stakes

Savapinski on her way to the barriers

Payroll returns to scale

Token of Love on her way to the barriers

It was too hot to stay on the public lawn between races, and it got boring watching the Winning Post patrons on the opposite side of the track, to and froing from one side of the track to the other, so Bec and I headed for one of the scarce shaded areas behind us. I’d never been to the Boags Deck, so we decided to investigate. There were a couple of guys providing musical entertainment up there and a shaded area, so we lingered there until it was time for the first of the Group 1 events.

Musicians

As the horses paraded in the mounting yard prior to the running of the Darley Classic sprint, the official photographers clustered in front of us to get a good vantage point for horses running along the outside rail. Flemington sprints are problematical for photographers due to the tendency of the field to split into two sections, one lot on the inside rail and the rest on the grandstand side.

Along with the photographers on the rail, the security guards also plonked themselves in such a way as to block the view of the finish.

So it’s no wonder that my photos of the Darley Classic finish are pathetic, and don’t picture the winner Redzel, who raced along the outer rail. Terravista ran second and Impending was third. Chautauqua ended up running fourth.

Darley Classic finish

Redzel returns to scale

Terravista returns to scale

Impending returns to scale

It was getting on to 5.00 pm when the feature Group 1 Emirates Stakes was run. The pesky security guys were again blocking the view…

So Si Bon in the background & security guy

But by shooting between the gaps I managed to get photos of the main contenders, including Gingernuts before his unfortunate break down.

Gingernuts on his way to the barriers, shortly before his injury

Gingernuts breaks down – Clerks of Course attend the stricken horse

On course Vet bandages Gingernuts leg

It’s very fortunate that jockey Michael Dee realised that something was wrong, and that the injury happened before the race start and not during the race. Gingernuts was eventually led into a veterinary ambulance and taken off to horse hospital at Werribee.  The latest on his condition has him recovering well from surgery to have screws inserted in the fractured area.

This incident delayed the start of the Emirates Stakes by 10 minutes, but eventually they were off and running.

Gailo Chop lead the field for most of the race with Cliff’s Edge and Folkswood on the pace as well, but as the field turned for home it was anyone’s guess who the winner would be. Tosen Stardom was blocked for a run, but found a gap close to finish line and stormed to victory, winning by 1½ lengths from Happy Clapper, also swooping from the back of the field, with It’s Somewhat running third.

Tosen Stardom on his way to the barriers

Happy Clapper on his way to the barriers

It’s Somewhat on his way to the barriers

And so ended the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival for this year.

Overall the racing action has been quite interesting this year as compared to last year, even though there were many long odds winners upsetting the favourites.

Highlights of the season:

Winx  - in every one of her starts this Spring she has been astounding and kept her winning sequence intact through thick and thin,  and has now at 22 straight wins and is drawing closer to Black Caviar’s record of 25. She also created history by matching Kingston Town’s Cox Plate Treble and I’m glad I was there to witness it.

Bonneval – looked to be a potential star of the spring in her first two runs in Melbourne, winning the Group 2  Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes and  Group 1 Underwood Stakes, the first mare to win either of these races in many years. Unfortunately she fell under an injury cloud before the Caulfield Cup, which probably accounts for her poor performance in that race.

Ace High – a promising young stayer who took home two Group 1 trophys this season, the Spring Champion Stakes and Victoria Derby.

Rekindling – although I thought the Melbourne Cup field was boring, I was very pleased that Rekindling won the race. Technically only three years of age, he became the first 3yo to win the big race since Skipton in 1941.

Disappointments:

Royal Symphony – a beautiful looking colt, Royal Symphony started his Spring campaign early in July winning his first four starts. Bad luck dogged him thereafter and he ran fourth in his other three starts in the Spring, the last being the Cox Plate, where he had a torrid run monstered by Happy Clapper all the way.

Russian Revolution – looked as if he would be a force to be reckoned with in his first race this spring where he impressively won the Group 2 McEwen Stakes at Moonee Valley, then failed to place in the Group 1 Moir Stakes, whereupon he was sent for spell.

Chautauqua – competed in four races this Spring, but failed to place in any of them. Is he a spent force?

I hardly had a bet this Spring,  and except for Caulfield Cup day where I had my money on Bonneval and Jon Snow, my other two wagers were very successful and my Sportsbet Account ended up with more funds than it started with.

All Hail the Queen – Cox Plate Review

Poster from Racing Victoria

When I arrived at Moonee Valley Racecourse on Saturday shortly after midday it was already crowded with racegoers keen to peg out a claim on the Public Lawn.

My journey for a change was without public transport hiccups, and after purchasing a race book and a Cox Plate Charity Pin, I met up with my fellow photographer friend Rebecca in the Stalls area.

Winx had not yet arrived at the course, so we made our way to the Public Lawn to secure a spot on the fence.  Our first attempt to get close to the finish line was a failure owing to a prior claimant taking poorly to our attempt to hijack their position.

So we moved on after watching Race 2 and found an unclaimed position on an access gate halfway down the straight.  And there we stayed for the rest of the afternoon, and like everyone else on the fence didn’t dare move in case our spot was stolen by someone else. A couple from Adelaide were our adjacent companions for the afternoon, and the bloke remarked that they had to take turns to go get food, drinks etc.

It wasn’t a bad position and at least it was on the fence, even though it meant standing there for over four hours.

Winx colours were everywhere and Winx flags and banners were given out at the entry gate to everyone.

Signage opposite where I was standing

We got plenty of photography practice watching the next six races before the main event. The Cox Plate was scheduled as Race 9, to run at 5.00pm

Race 3 was the Group 3 Telstra Phonewords Stakes, a race for three year olds over 1200 metres.

As has happened frequently during this spring racing season most of the race favourites were rolled by outside chances, and such was the case in Race 3, where Eptimum – whom I’ve never heard of – beat the more favoured Single Bullet by three lengths. Trekking the favourite ended up third over five lengths behind the winner.

Eptimum on his way to winning the Telstra Phonewords Stakes

Thirty five minutes later Blondie at odds of 21/1 won the Crockett Stakes from 26/1 Tarcoola Spirit with the favourite Demerara running third.

Blondie on her way to the barriers

The favourite for Race 5, the Group 3 Powerflo Solutions Stakes was Invincibella who also ran third, the winner of the race being Lubiton who paid $6.50 for the win, beating Savapinski by over a length.

Lubiton burns up the straight

Lubiton on her way to the barriers

Race 6 was the Group 2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup (2500 metres), in the past a quite prestigious race that has been won by various grand stayers, but this year’s field was somewhat ho hum. Big Duke was the starting favourite but he failed to place. Who Shot Thebarman, now nine years of age, finished a narrow second to his stablemate Grand Marshall last year in this race, but this year was the winner. It was his first win in two years. He beat stablemate Libran by half a length and the Gai Waterhouse trained Cismontane finished third.

Moonee Valley Gold Cup down the straight. Who Shot Thebarman (orange silks) is about to overtake Auvrey and leader Cismontane

Who Shot Thebarman on his way to the barriers

The weather on Saturday was mostly overcast and mild, though at one time looked as if it would bucket down with rain, which failed to occur. As the afternoon progressed the clouds cleared to sunshine and  was quite hot at times.

In between the races, the big screen played reruns of Cox Plates of the past and the passing of time was not as onerous as you would expect, even when you have stood in the same spot over several hours.

The next two races were the Group 2 Fillies Classic – won by Banish  - and the Crystal Mile, where Lucky Hussler was back in the winners circle after having not won a race for a year. He beat the favourite Religify by three lengths.

Banish hits the front in the Fillies Classic

Lucky Hussler overtakes Religify in the Crystal Mile

Lucky Hussler on his way to the barriers

After the Crystal Mile there was 40 minutes to wait for the running of the Cox Plate, counted down on the big screen up to race time.

Big screen display

A stage was set up on the track for Daryl Braithwaite’s traditional rendition of “Horses”, and a bunch of track hands laid out a gigantic banner across the track and weighed it down with their bodies.

At 4.30 Daryl Braithwaite climbed on the stage, and after sorting out the sound issues launched into his famous song, eliciting an enthusiatic singalong from the enormous crowd.

Daryl Braithwaite

The excitement was mounting as Daryl finished and the stage was dismantled. The National Anthem was meant to be sung, but sound issues forced it to be abandoned.

Who cares,  an historical moment was imminent, and that was what we had come to see.

So much for our photography practice. It had been hassle free all afternoon, but all of our fence neighbours drew out their phones as Winx stepped onto the track to a thunderous cheer, in order to get a pic of the star attraction. It was challenging to say the least getting a clear space to focus. Somehow I managed, and got a few good photos of Winx heading to the barriers, and the race itself.

Winx on her way to the starting gates

The race was as breathtaking as expected, with Winx racing three wide throughout, Hugh Bowman astutely keeping her clear from interference. Poor young Royal Symphony was buffetted by the giant Happy Clapper who kept pushing him to the rail. Happy Clapper’s jockey, Damien Oliver was outed for 20 meetings over this incident.

 
Cox Plate start – Seaburge leads from Gailo Chop & Hardham. Winx is on the outside of Folkswood followed by Happy Clapper outside Royal Symphony. Humidor is behind them on the fence.

As the field approached the turn Hugh Bowman eased Winx to the extreme outside and was whizzing past the leaders at the turn. Winx looked to have it won easy as they flew up the straight…

Winx is ahead halfway up the straight

… but Humidor was in hot pursuit and at one stage looked like he would overtake, but Winx toughened it out to the line to record an historic win, and her 22nd in a row at that. A huge cheer erupted to register the star mare’s victory and we could breathe easy again. 

Humidor closes on Winx as they approach the finish line

Winx registered a half length win over Humidor and broke her own track record  that she achieved in her first Cox Plate back in 2015. Folkswood finished third five lengths behind.

As usual Hugh Bowman rode Winx back up the straight before returning to scale, to allow her multitude of fans to celebrate her victory with him.

Winx parades up the straight

Winx returning back down the straight along the outer rail

The Cox Plate had lived up to expectation, and the result made it worthwhile standing for all those hours to witness the historic moment. Winx has cemented herself into the record books, her brilliance undeniable.

I didn’t stay for the final race, and headed home after a brief visit to the stalls, Stall 54* in particular. Earlier in the afternoon you couldn’t get anywhere near it, with a twenty deep crowd of fans surrounding the stall, but the crowd was only three deep after the Cox Plate, so I got the following final photo for the day, shooting through heads.

Winx in her stall with devoted  strapper Umut Odemislioglu.

She looks tired here, but by all accounts recovered well, and may yet run another race before the end of Melbourne’s Spring Racing Carnival. I’d love to see her race again in the Emirates Stakes, but won’t be disappointed if she is spelled.

There are only two Saturdays of Group 1 racing left in Melbourne with Flemington staging its Spring Carnival over four days, starting with Derby Day next weekend.

* Stall 54 coincidently accommodated Black Caviar at Moonee Valley during her illustrious career.