Super Saturday–Caulfield Guineas Day

Mighty Boss wins the 2017 Caulfield Guineas

With fine and sunny weather forecast for Saturday, the Caulfield Guineas meeting promises to be a sterling afternoon of first class racing with four Group 1 races and a strong support card.

It’s going to be a very long day with the races run at 35 minute intervals early in the day, but longer intervals of up to 50 minutes from Race 7 to Race 9, to accommodate coverage of The Everest in Sydney.

I normally would take my time getting to Caulfield on Guineas Day but this year I’m keen to get a look at an unusual white filly running in the first race. Aptly named Utzon, she is a daughter of The Opera House,  a pure white mare who raced briefly without much success earlier this decade. I mentioned her in a blog post back then.

Exceptionally well bred, being a three quarter sister to Might and Power, The Opera House has produced three white foals and Utzon is the first hit the racetrack. Utzon trialled the other day and showed great promise, winning comfortably after leading throughout.

There is a plethora of quality racehorses performing at Caulfield on Saturday, several of whom I have not seen in the flesh, such as the Chris Waller contingent of D’Argento, Unforgotten and The Autumn Sun, all potential stars who have previously won at Group 1 level.

Then there are the Internationals having their first run on Australian soil, and personal favourites such as golden girl Sunlight who is one of a field of 13 in Race 3, the Group 3 Thoroughbred Club Stakes. Sunlight shares topweight with the talented Enbihaar who was the Blue Diamond Stakes runner up, so it looks a match race between these two fillies.  Others in the picture are Humma Humma and Meryl.

The first of the Group 1 races to run is the Thousand Guineas, the fillies equivalent of the Caulfield Guineas and a stellar field of talented girls will contest the 1600 metre event. Top picks are Smart Melody, Thrillster, Amphitrite, Fiesta and El Dorado Dreaming.

More class is on display in the Group 1 Toorak Handicap, run over 1600 metres as well. Hartnell, the surprise Epsom Handicap winner is top weight and faces stiff competition from the likes of Rupert Clark Stakes winner Jungle Cat, Dollar for Dollar, Land of Plenty and mares I Am A Star, Shillelagh and Noire.

Two high class International race horses, out here for the Cups and Cox Plate, have accepted for the Caulfield Stakes (now called Ladbroke Stakes), these being Benbatl, a Group 1 winner in the UK and Thecliffsofmoher trained by the canny Aiden O’Brian from Ireland.  It will be interesting to see how they fare against the locals – Humidor, Night’s Watch, D’Argento and Unforgotten – and acclimatised imports such as Tosen Basil and Homesman. 

The Caulfield Guineas is scheduled to run at 5.15pm as Race 9, but is well worth hanging around for, having attracted an excellent field.  Last year rank outsider Mighty Boss won at 100/1 denying highly fancied Sydney colt Kementari the prize, and this year the top contenders are Sydney colt The Autumn Sun and the locally trained Native Soldier and Leonardo Da Hinchi.  Also in with a chance are the Hawkes trained contender Outrageous, the Mick Price trained Tavisan and sole filly, the ever honest Oohood.

In Sydney, The Everest,  the richest sprint race in the world is run at 4.15pm on a heavy track. There are many chances the best being last year’s winner Redzel, latest sprint sensation Santa Ana Lane, Vega Magic who ran third last year in the race, and speedy mares Viddora and Shoals.

Moonee Valley Magic

Magic Consul wins the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes

What a contrast between one Saturday and another with the Caulfield race meeting beset by rain, and Moonee Valley this weekend being fine and mostly sunny.

I was rather hoping for overcast weather where the lighting is less dramatic in terms of light and darkness, knowing how the Moonee Valley Grandstand overshadows the track in the late afternoon at this time of year.

So my photos of the feature race, the Group 2 Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes are dark, though I notice that even official photographers had trouble with light viz The Age Sports Page today.

However, earlier in the afternoon it was perfect for taking photos.

I reached Moonee Valley at around 2.10pm, again travelling on the 510 bus, which I will definitely be using to get to the Cox Plate on 27 October. It will be mostly unaffected by the heavy traffic, being farther north of the area that surrounds the near environs of the racecourse on that day, which slows down the other three buses I could take.

Race 4, the Harrolds Handicap, run over the same distance as the Cox Plate (2040 metres) was about to start as I reached the public lawn. Trap For Fools, last seen winning the I Print Handicap a fortnight ago started as favourite and won easily after leading from the start, despite being troubled by the unruly Gai Waterhouse trained Hush Writer, to defeat the fast finishing Yogi by a length with Bondeiger running third.

Trap For Fools has a good lead up the straight

Trap For Fools returns to scale

I headed out to stalls area after Race 4 to see which of the equine stars had arrived at the course. The first I saw was none other than Might and Power, the Living Legends guest of honour.  Might and Power won the Cox Plate 20 years ago, so it was apt that he was present for Cox Plate Qualifier Day.

Might and Power

Also out and about was Hartnell, cruising around the parade ring and instantly recognisable.

Hartnell

The Group 2 McEwen Stakes had a whiz banger of a field that included exciting new sprinter Nature Strip, triple Group 1 winner Shoals and 2017 Magic Millions Two Year Old Classic winner Houtzen, now a four year old mare.

Here they are parading before heading to the mounting yard.

 
Nature Strip

Shoals

Houtzen

The race was run at the speed of light, Nature Strip leading from the jump, unchallenged throughout, to break the course record. Houtzen came closest to beating him, losing by a nose on the line. Shoals was almost 4 lengths behind the leading pair in third place and a further 2 lengths separated her from fourth placed Viridine.

Nature Strip & Houtzen cross the finish line

Shoals crosses the finish line 3.85  lengths behind Nature Strip & Houtzen

As I had not seen Nature Strip in action before, the McEwen Stakes was the highlight of the day for me. He’s a handsome dark chestnut horse. Also, as I’ve been following Houtzen since her juvenile days, I was delighted that she performed so well. Another few strides and she would have beaten Nature Strip.

Nature Strip returns to scale

Houtzen returns to scale

Shoals returns to scale

Fortunately the rail was in the true position last Saturday, so there was no obvious bias, horses winning from the inner rail to wider on the track, swoopers and on pacers all having a fair go.

As the feature was scheduled as Race 8, there were two races to watch before it was run, the first of these being the Listed Atantic Jewel Stakes for three year old fillies run over 1200 metres. Shoals won the race last year and this year’s winner was Thrillster who defeated Humma Humma and Krone to win the bickies.

Thrillster wins the Atlantic Jewel Stakes

Thrillster returns to scale

Humma Humma returns to scale

Krone & Assertive Play (4th) return to scale

As you can see the light was getting problematical as the afternoon advanced, and there was still one race to run before the Dato Tan.

This was the Bendigo Bank Stakes, another race over 1200 metres.

The Darren Weir trained Land of Plenty and Peaceful State ran the quinella with race leader Al Passem holding on for third.

Land of Plenty is about to overtake stablemate Peaceful State to win the Bendigo Bank Stakes

Land of Plenty returns to scale

The Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes resulted in 19/1 shot Magic Consul stealing the prize from his classier opponents. Hartnell looked as if he was a winner as they approached the finishing post, but he weakened, allowing  Magic Consul, Homesman and Night’s Watch to overtake him, relegating him to fourth. The disappointing runner was New Zealand mare Bonneval who was never a winning chance. Ditto Mighty Boss.

Magic Consul returns to scale

Homesman returns to scale

Night’s Watch returning to the stalls area post race

Bonneval – head shot in the parade ring

And so ended another stimulating day at the races.  I won’t be returning to Moonee Valley until Cox Plate Day,  Flemington and Caulfield being the major Group 1 venues over the next month or so.

Next week features the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington, and Winx will be contesting the Group 1 George Main Stakes at Randwick and aiming to win her 27th race in succession and 20th at Group 1 level.

A last photo before I  publish this post of an aeroplane that flew over the Moonee Valley Racecourse late in the afternoon. As I had my camera handy (ha!) I snapped a picture as it passed overhead. It turned out quite well I think.

Plane over Moonee Valley