Racing at The Valley on Grand Final Eve in Melbourne - the southern capital doing what it does best, bringing people together in celebration of sporting greatness!
The buzz is tinged with wistfulness this year, as redevelopment looms and we approach the moment of farewell to the iconic racecourse as we know it. When the gates close in November, there's no going back.
When racing fans talk about Moonee Valley, one horse comes to mind. His story is legend - but not paying homage to the great one is unforgivable, so let's remember Manikato!
The son of Manihi was a beast - with a chest and barrel of epic proportions. His demeanour was intimidating. In the mounting yard, Manikato was a sight to strike fear into the opposition.
In all, the big chestnut won 20 races which were, or are now G1.
In 1978 Manikato burst onto the scene and took the rare Blue/Diamond Golden Slipper double. Sadly trainer Bon Hoysted passed away before he could witness the immortality his budding champion would go on to achieve, and Bon's brother Bob took over the gelding's training.
At three, Manikato won the Ascot Vale Stakes in record time, the Marlboro Cup, the Caulfield Guineas, and was a neck second in the now-Salinger Stakes despite battling illness.
He was back in the autumn to take the first of his five William Reids, the CF Orr and the first of his four Futurity Stakes ( it was then run over 1800m, and at Manikato's first try beyond a mile he bolted in by four lengths in course record time) Next stop the Australian Cup! This was one of Manikato's greatest runs, though he didn't win.
Manikato barrelled along in the lead and got no peace, with several runners daring to take him on throughout. Surely this great sprinter would be suspect at a strongly run 2000m?
One by one they fell away as their kamikaze tactics backfired spectacularly and Manikato shook them off like flies. He charged into the straight full bore with the crowd going wild.
The Man was going to do it! The knockers would be duly humbled!
But wait - here came Dulcify with some last gasp heroics. Colin Haye's parrot mouthed bay was unbeaten at Flemington and he was out after Manikato!
The line was near, the roar of the crowd shook the grandstand and both horses were all out. In the shadows of the post Dulcify lunged. Did he get there? Silence fell.
Yes he did! The great little horse had run Manikato down - and he was still unbeaten at Flemington.
Sometimes we forget how close Manikato was to winning that Australian Cup and it always begs the question, could he have won a Cox Plate?
Well if he could put up a performance like that at Flemington, they would have had Buckley's of getting near him at his beloved Valley, but he was never to run in the race, however Cox Plate day of 1982 lives on as one of the greatest of all racedays!
Against the odds, Kingston Town won his third Cox Plate and busted through the $1 million prizemoney barrier. The crowd heaved with emotion and celebration as “The King” returned to scale.
Down in the stalls, Manikato wasn't having any of it.
Forty minutes later he too steamrollered through the $1m ceiling. The old horse would not concede his Valley spotlight! There wasn't a dry eye in the house.
At least, at the all- new Moonee Valley, Manikato's grave will remain as a tangible connection to all the glories of the past. It truly represents the soul of the place.
The G1 WFA sprint which now bears his name is the old Freeway Stakes which he won twice. In 1984 it became the Manikato and in 1989 a G1 race.
In 2025 the total prizemoney is $2million, double what Manikato earned in his entire career - that’s amazing!
It was first run in 1968, and won by champion Winfreux who set the bar high followed by the likes of Vain, Dual Choice (twice), Century, Spinning Hill (twice), Vice Regal, Miss Andretti, Gold Edition, Redoute’s Choice, Chautauqua, Hay List, Sepoy, Buffering, Lankan Rupee, Hey Doc (ran the track record) and Bella Nipotina are just a few of the great names to have won this race.
Four Cox Plate winners have also won the Manikato - Strawberry Road, Rubiton, Dane Ripper and Sunline.
Who will add their name to the honour roll this year?
Interesting weather forecast with The Valley rated Good 4 on Thursday, but showers and a potential thunderstorm on Friday afternoon / evening!
A thrilling G1 contest awaits with absolutely elite mares Lady Shenandoah, Skybird, Magic Time, Charm Stone and Alabama Lass going up against the fragile but hugely talented Baraqiel who remains undefeated at The Valley and seeks to complete the Moir/Manikato double.
Sir Sway carries the hopes of SA, while Payline and Rothfire fly the flag for QLD
The Freedman stable show faith in their young mare Ameena, lining her up against some of the very best sprinters in the land
Top Tip LADY SHENANDOAH
It's a champion's race and the daughter of Snitzel owns that title against her own sex.
Already locked into The Everest via the Fairway Thoroughbreds slot, the Waller-trained Lady Shenandoah went undefeated in the Sydney autumn culminating in her stellar G1 Coolmore Classic win over the older mares. That was her fifth straight stakes win as a three year old and her third G1.
She did all this on sheer raw talent, being still a big girl with some maturing to do. That's scary.
She's had a spin round the circuit earlier this week and on breeding she’ll feel at home. The Snitzels just love the place and her damsire, the champion Starcraft placed in a Cox Plate.
Lady Shenandoah's winning dam Star Pupil also produced G1 HKJC Centenary Sprint Cup hero Stronger (Not A Single Doubt).
She is a full sister to stakes winner Ain'Tnofallenstar, dam of the very good stayer Ain'Tnodeeldun (Dundeel)
They are daughters of top race mare Ain't Seen Nothin - by Danehill's mighty son Nothin’ Leica Dane from Icecapade by Sir Ivor's son Ghengiz, she was at one time a leading Caulfield Cup contender, won three stakes races and was placed in a G1 Underwood.
She proved to be a brilliant broodmare producing G3 winner Bachman (All American) and dual Singapore Champion and HOTY Stepitup (Hussonet), as well as her two daughters to Starcraft.
Her dam Icecapade was a half sister to both Patou by Covetous, the dam of Golden Slipper heroine Polar Success (Success Express) - and to the dam of Bring Me The Maid (Sebring) - dual G2 winner at two and third in the Golden Slipper.
This is the immediate family of Australian and international champions Elvstroem and Haradasun, their dam the AJC Oaks winning, Caulfield Cup runner up Circles Of Gold, and of dual G1 winning miler Bit Of A Skite, top Kiwi racemare Shagolvin and her daughter Yankee Gold, Hveger and her champion son Highland Reel (Galileo), and Australian and European Champion sprinter Starspangledbanner ( Choisir).
This amazing family traces tail female to the matriarch Eulogy (22-b) from whom descend the likes of Bonecrusher, Vo Rogue, and our modern day champion Dundeel.
One thing can be said about the Eulogy line - the good ones don't do things by half measures,and Lady Shenandoah is another example.
Lady Shenandoah is bred
Northern Dancer 5m,5m x 5m
Danehill 3m x 4m
Snitzel x Starcraft is definitely an emerging nick to take note of with Lady Shenandoah the best of four SW’s bred this way and three are fillies.
Starcraft's third dam Entrancing Belle was sired by Bellborough, from the family of Snitzel’s third damsire In Reality.
Starcraft's sire the Nureyev son Soviet Star descends from the taproot mare Maid Of Masham (9-f) through a French line and this complements Snitzel's multiple lines to her North American bred descendants including Bull Lea, Star Shoot and Sun Again.
Sun Again is also carried by Starcraft tail male through Pompeii Court's damsire Damascus, and all of the above nick powerfully with Lady Shenandoah's third damsire Ghengiz!
Sex balanced inbreeding to Danehill also plays a big part - through his damsire His Majesty who traces to the mare Manganese - she is also Starcraft's ancestress.
History says horses drawn wide in this race have a pretty good record so I see no disadvantage to her.
She's adaptable, and J Mac will be able to keep her out of any argy bargy first time at the Valley.
Lady Shenandoah deserves to be favourite and must surely go close!
Next best: SKYBIRD
Skybird was the one who went to the line in the Moir bursting with running and the famous flashing light on maximum wattage over her head.
She needs galloping room and perhaps she and the favourite might even make their runs together, with one following the other home.
Her sire, Lonhro's excellent G1 Golden Rose winner Exosphere, bore strong resemblance to his Golden Slipper winning broodmare sire Danzero and was an enormous horse.
The imposing Skybird is very much her father's daughter in looks.
She remains the only G1 winner by her short lived sire, who proved himself a reliable source of exceedingly fast horses.
She's the fifth stakeswinner as broodmare sire for Fastnet Rock's G1 Newmarket winning son Wanted, who was a G1 runner up in the William Reid and just missed the placings in a Manikato Stakes.
Skybird's damline is all too familiar when it comes to elite speed.
Her dam Real Desire was a winning daughter of the Waajib mare Forest Finch. Waajib was a great sprinter but passed on a slower maturing kind of speed than his far more famous relative -no surprises here - it's Snitzel.
Skybird's immediate family is that of Snitzel and his half brother Hinchinbrook, Snitzel’s full sister Viennese (and her Champion Two Year Old Filly Arcaded), Epsom winner Redeiner, and the incredible Private Eye (who almost stole the 2024 Lightning from Imperatriz!)
Skybird is bred
Danehill 4m x 4m
Northern Dancer x 5m,5m
Some similarities here with the pedigree of Lady Shenandoah, with Skybird's damline of Snow Finch nicking with Marscay’s American lines to Bull Lea and Co and the double of Danehill boosting that affinity.
Skybird is linebred to the Blue Hens Loved One, Grey Flight, Sunshot and La Troienne.
The burst of acceleration this mare produced to win the G1 Lightning was awesome to behold. She was impressive winning her only other start at the Valley prior to the Moir, with a last to first win in the G2 Fillies Classic. Not many horses can go last to first at this track!
She's ready to fire second up with regular jock Johnny Allen aboard from barrier 6.
Roughie ROTHFIRE
Eight year old Rothy is never down for the count - a Queensland speedster in the very best tradition, and he's lining up for his second crack at a Manikato Stakes.
In 2022 he was unsuited leading and had no answer when Bella Nipotina ripped past him and bolted clear, but he held his ground for second.
Rothfire was certainly a bit unlucky in the Moir first up, but this is his comfort zone.
His sire Rothesay was a beautifully bred son of Fastnet Rock from the Canny Lass family.
Rothfire is out of the unraced Hussonet mare Huss On Fire, her final foal and the standout of her three winners.
Her dam Fibber McGee was by Zabeel - but Rothfire’s pedigree page is light on for black type.
His ancestress Verscay (Marscay) is a three-quarter sister to stakes winner Romare and his tail female line goes back to Bally Free, the third dam of champion sire Red Ransom.
Rothfire is bred
Mr Prospector 4m x 3m
Biscay 5m x 5m
Sir Tristram 6m x 4m
He descends from a daughter of My Babu and is strongly linebred to that sire, an enduring source of class and speed.
Rothy will be giving his all and he's not making up the numbers here - only three starts ago he was half a length off Sunshine In Paris at Doomben.
That was a second up performance too, and it's notable that Nash Rawiller is back on the horse for the first time since 2023 - he rode him twice that year for a G2 win and a second in the Straddie.
Two veterans out to prove age shall not weary them! Rothfire jumps from barrier 8.
Blowout: AMEENA
I'm not sure about The Valley being her track, but is Ameena the sort of sprinter that can ride the camber on a sustained run off a hot pace? She gives the impression she might be, and that sort of horse can go well in this race.
Ameena was hugely impressive first up last prep - her first try at G1 level - behind her older rival here Charm Stone, going down to that mare by a neck in the Robert Sangster Stakes, after being checked. She unleashed another huge effort in The Goodwood, just missing a place.
Ameena is a homebred for Emirates Park and like this year's Golden Slipper winning filly Marhoona, she descends from a mare by their wonderful stallion Secret Savings.
Ameena is bred
Danzig 5m,5m x
Mr Prospector x 5m,5m
It’s early days in his stud career but Brazen Beau's son Tassort is siring true to his breeding - hailing from a family of elite females, his two stakes winners to date are his daughters Manaal and Ameena.
Ameena's beautifully bred damsire Harbour Watch, shuttled to Australia by Emirates Park, was sadly short lived.
A member of the famed Fall Aspen family he was unbeaten at two years and a half brother to dual G1 winning South African filly Europa Point. They were foaled by Gorband, a three quarter sister to champion racer and sire Timber Country.
Ameena jumps from barrier 4 and Mark Zahra is aboard the four year old since riding her to her first city win at her second start.
Can Ameens put herself in the finish?
