The Flemington Spring Carnival comes to a close with a flourish on VRC Champions Day - Is it really over already? Only 350- odd sleeps to go until we're back again!
We've got a final day of great racing to enjoy - and with a few showers forecast, and the track staying around the Good 4/ Soft 5 range we'll see some epic contests to decide our champions.
The last day of the famous carnival has entered a new era with the introduction of Champions Day, which features three world class G1 races and important supporting races on the card
The VRC relocated and renamed the time-honored G1 WFA Mackinnon Stakes - run on Derby Day since 1869 (originally the Melbourne Stakes) - when it had become less used as a traditional final hit out for Melbourne Cup hopefuls.
The aim was to attract horses who had contested the Cox Plate, and other leading WFA performers and is now simply the VRC Champions Stakes.
The old Salinger / VRC / Darley Sprint Classic became the VRC Champions Sprint, and the time honoured closing G1 of the carnival, the old Cantala / Emirates Stakes became the VRC Champions Mile.
This venerable race was inaugurated by the VRC as the Coburg Stakes in 1881 and initially run over 1800m. The first edition was won by Courtenay.
In 1919 the race was set at the more classic mile distance and renamed the Cantala Stakes (still its registered name) - from this point on we begin to see some of the turf greats on its honour roll.
The first of these was the imported stallion Violoncello in1922 - and he has a special place in Australian turf history - he won the very first WS Cox Plate, which was run that year.
The next great horse to win was Hall Of Famer Amounis.
As a four year old in 1926, Amounis won the first of his two Cantala Stakes, the first of two Epsom Hcps (one in Australasian record time) and the Chipping Norton Stakes.
At five, he won the Cox Plate and the mighty son of Magpie was just getting started! He won the 1930 Caulfield Cup as an eight year old carrying a record 61kg.
Amounis was going so well at eight years he even beat Phar Lap by a head in the Warwick Stakes!
He retired as a ten year old with the equivalent of 16 G1 races to his name, and prize money second only to the immortal “Big Red.”
In the decades leading up to the 1980s, the Cantala was won by the likes of Royal Gem, Prince Courtauld, Matrice, the great West Australian Aquanita (twice), the magnificent mares Wenona Girl, Storm Queen and Maybe Mahal, breed shaping sire Vain, and legends Gunsynd, Taj Rossi and Family Of Man to name a few.
From the 80’s onwards we revisit some familiar names - gallopers like Better Loosen Up, Shaftesbury Avenue, Planet Ruler, Seascay (twice), Catalan Opening, Bonanova, Testa Rossa, Scenic Peak, Divine Madonna, All Silent, Wall Street and good old Happy Trails!
Two of the last three winners of the race, Pride Of Jenni (2023) and Mr Brightside (2024) will attempt to join the elite list of dual winners on Saturday.
Number one saddlecloth is fittingly carried by the best miler in Australasia, the 10 x G1 winning Mr Brightside ( Bullbars).
This remarkable horse is coming off a close second to his Champions Mile rival Ceowulf (Tavistock) in Sydney.
Joe Pride's Ceowulf is having his first race in Melbourne and his sixth start of this campaign. The son of Tavistock is now a 3 x G1 winning miler. The blinkers went on and sparked his last start win, will they keep him sharp enough? And he is now on Mr Brightside's turf.
Eight year old Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai) turned in one of her best ever frontrunning performances in the Empire Rose. This is a significant step up, which combined with Jenni's tendency to throw in a poor run after a good one, gives the punter pause.
That's no disrespect to this mighty mare - it's a compliment to the genuine character that she is. Jenni gives it absolutely everything, every time - and as many of us will know only too well, with age comes the need for recuperation from excess!
In these big mile races, the scorecard reads Brightside 1 - Jenni 3
You can bet that record doesn't sit well with Mr Brightside. If he senses a chink in Jenni's armour, the old boy will be ruthless.
Treasurethe Moment (Alabama Express) was magnificent in the Cox Plate to finish third behind one of the greats in Via Sistina.
She gets a lot of ticks - unbeaten at Flemington, never unplaced at a mile, proven G1 WFA form and loves a bit of rain around.
The William Haggas trained Lake Forest (No Nay Never) was going nowhere on the rail and last in the same race. That wasn't a true reflection of the 2024 Golden Eagle winner's ability - but then again he hasn't placed in two starts at the distance. Bit of a tricky customer.
Stefi Magnetica (All Too Hard) is a ripping mare and the G1 Stradbroke / Doncaster heroine arrives here third up in winning form. Beaten only by Fangirl at WFA mile after that and a good fourth to Brighty in this last year.
G1 NZ Oaks winner /ATC Oaks fourth Leica Lucy (Derryn) is quality - and she has J Mac to ride and Waller training so big pluses there.
Good third in the Toorak - then had the unenviable task of chasing down the rampaging Pride Of Jenni last start, beat everything else home but was still four and a half lengths in arrears. She seems to like Flemington which suits her racing style, but I’m not yet convinced she can match it with the best of these.
What an exciting contest awaits! One thing we know - Jenni will ensure this is a strongly run race, so the backmarkers should get their chance.
Top pick MR BRIGHTSIDE
I can't find any reason to think the champ can't win consecutive editions of the Champions Mile. He is arguably the best miler in Australasia. He’s won three straight G1 Maybe Divas 1600m at Flemington, a G1 All Star Mile and he's the defending champion in this race having placed in it each of the two years prior.
The old boy seems to be racing with as much zest as ever, and he will love getting back to his comfort zone.
Last year Mr Brightside won this coming out of a fourth in the Cox Plate and it was his sixth run of the preparation.
The Hayes team have kept him fresher for it this year.
He's a heavyweight. He’s a unicorn. He's an absolute star. He’s a champion! And he can win this.
With earnings now approaching $19 million to his name, Mr Brightside’s career is truly one of the great rags-to-riches tales.
There are horses which spring from unfashionable matings which give no obvious clue to the greatness embedded within the foal-to-be.
But Mr Brightside isn't really one of them - he just slipped through the cracks. His fourth dam is Cambridge Stud's original Blue Hen Taiona by Sovereign Edition, and his dam Lilahjay was foaled there.
Thanks to the deeds of her great son, Lilahjay was awarded NZTBA Broodmare Of The Year, following in the hoofsteps of Taiona who won that great honour twice.
Lilahjay (by Tavistock) is out of the unplaced Keeper mare Keepable, a half sister to 3 x G1 winning mare Foxwood.
Their dam Delia's Choice by Sir Tristram was a winning full sister out of Taiona, to G1 winners and champions Gurner's Lane and Sovereign Red and top mare Trichelle, from a family littered with black type performers.
Lilahjay sold for $3,000 online with this pedigree and with her only foal to race at that time already a 2 x sprint winner in HK. Hindsight is a gift!
Mr Brightside was bred by Ray Johnson in partnership with his late wife Martha, and sold as a yearling for $22,000 at the 2019 NZB May Sale.
He failed to meet his $50,000 reserve when offered at the NZB Ready to Run Sale and karma was looking after Ray when he bought his horse back on gavelhouse.com for just $7,750!
Mr Brightside became the first G1 winner for ill-fated Tavistock as a broodmare sire,
His own sire Bullbars is out of Blue Hen Accessories by Singspiel ( so a half brother to Helmet, Epaulette, Pearls, Pericles and Lavalier)
Mr Brightside is bred
Northern Dancer 5m x 5m
Sir Ivor 5f x 5m sex balanced
Sadler's Wells 5m x 4m
He is linebred to Nasrullah through Secretariat, Blushing Groom, Nashua and Grey Sovereign (and his three quarter brother Nimbus).
Keeper is important here, as he traces to the same taproot as Grey Sovereign and Nimbus, and is bred x 2 to His Majesty over Secretariat - while Elusive Quality carries His Majesty's full brother Graustark, and is bred x 2 to Secretariat.
Craig Williams and Mr Brightside will be remembered as one of the great bromances of the Australian turf. They're quite alike, so that tracks. Both gentlemen, extraordinarily gifted athletes, fierce competitors, all round good guys and crowd favourites.
But no closing chapter on their story is being drafted yet!
G1 number 11 is up for grabs.
Mr Brightside and Willo will jump from barrier 9.
Next best: TREASURETHE MOMENT
The G1 Memsie form is the way I'm going here. Treasurethe Moment was effortlessly brilliant beating Mr Brightside first up, then a colic scare threatened to derail her spring.
But she was second to Jenni in the G2 Feehan and to shock winner Globe in the G1 Might And Power before her gutsy third in the Cox Plate.
Her sire Alabama Express had a scintillating turn of foot and won a G1 Orr Stakes at 1400m. He's putting it into his stock too, with another daughter Alabama Lass placed in the G1 Moir Stakes this spring.
Treasurethe Moment is a homebred for Yulong out of the blueblooded Street Cry mare Draconic Treasure.
She was the third, and sadly the final foal from her dam who died in 2022.
Draconic Treasure was out of Hazy Glow by the great Invincible Spirit - a half-sister to G1 winner Rich Tapestry who was a fixture on the global sprinting scene for five years, becoming the first HK trained horse to win a G1 in the USA - he was also runner up in the G1 Golden Shaheen.
Their dam Genuine Charm by Saler's Wells was a full sister to 4 x G1 winning classic miler and excellent sire Refuse To Bend, and a half sister to Melbourne Cup champion Media Puzzle.
This is an American family tracing to Hampton Belle who was bred 3 x 3 to three quarter sisters Lady Langdon and The Pet, from Haricot, a daughter of taproot mare Queen Mary ( to whom she carried a third line!)
Queen Mary (family10) fell at her only race start! but she produced 18 foals and became one of the greatest foundation mares of the studbook.
From her descend all members of the branches of the 10 family but from Treasurethe Moment's direct ancestress Haricot came champions Blink Bonny, Blair Athol, Bayardo, Lemberg and Pavot, also Charismatic, Deputy Minister, Exclusive Native, Kris S, Riverman, Rock Of Gibraltar, Sydeston, Lucky Vega, Nation's Pride, Romantic Warrior and Let's Elope!
Treasurethe Moment is bred
Northern Dancer 5m,5m x 5m
Danzig 4m x 5m
Blue Hen Fairy Bridge 5m x 5m
Her pedigree boasts the extraordinary speed enhancing combination of Danzig, Bletchingly and Rockefella meeting with their female relative, Blue Hen Rafha, the dam of Invincible Spirit.
As well as Fairy Bridge, Treasurethe Moment is linebred to Blue Hens:
Almahmoud through daughters Natalma and Cosmah
Flower Bowl through full brothers Graustark and His Majesty
Best In Show through Try My Best and Redoutes Choice
Lalun through half brothers Bold Reason and Never Bend.
She will appreciate the showers that are forecast and getting back to the wider expanses of Flemington where she is undefeated. With Jenni setting a hot pace, this 4YO mare of elite talent will get the chance to unleash her big finish.
Treasurethe Moment and Damian Lane will jump from barrier 3.
Roughie: STEFI MAGNETICA
Stefi's just a beauty and not really a “roughie” but her odds might get out to double figures so good enough.
Bjorn Baker's superstar was fourth in this race last year and that was her first go over the mile. Since then she's won a G1 Doncaster at the trip to go with her G1 Stradbroke, and again proved she's up to WFA at this distance with her narrow second to Fangirl in the G1 Queen Of The Turf.
I reckon Stefi's in this right up to her ears. She's coming off an excellent G2 win second up (off a little setback if you don't mind).
She peaks third up, races well at the track and - as long as we don't get one of Melbourne's infamous spring downpours - she can handle some give in the track.
Her sire All Too Hard already has a winner of this race in the mighty Alligator Blood. His best runners are incredibly gifted, super competitive and tough - like he was.
Stefi is one of seven foals from her G1 Stradbroke Hcp winning dam Mid Summer Music by the blindingly fast sprinter Oamaru Force.
Sadly Mid Summer Music passed away last year, one day after delivering a special little colt - a full brother to Stefi Magnetica.
Stefi Magnetica is bred
Danzig x 5m,5m
Vain 5f x 4f
Mr Prospector 5f x 4m sex balanced.
Her sire Oamaru Force was an interesting one! The son of Geiger Counter set race and course records in the G3 AJC The Shorts and Listed Starlight Stakes both over 1100m, and he also won a stakes race down the Flemington straight course.
Mid Summer Music was his only G1 winner but he sired several other very fast sprinters. Remarkably his third dam Indian Maid produced a 2 x French G1 winner of the Prix du Cadran 4000m!
So both Stefi’s sire and dam were very fast horses with mix of speed and stamina and the result - an electrifying sprinter miler!
Stefi and Jason Collett will jump from barrier 1.
Blowout: LAKE FOREST
A bit of an enigmatic character is Lake Forest, and he hasn't placed in two goes at the mile - but he is a talent, and I've just got a feeling that Flemington is his sort of track.
His sire No Nay Never is extremely successful - as a sire of sires too - in the NH, particularly at Royal Ascot, but failed to make a similar impact when shuttled to Australia.
It's the Scat Daddy line that produced Justify.
Bred by Sahara Group Holdings, Lake Forest was a 130,000gns purchase for Eighteen Bloodstock from the Newsells Park Stud draft at 2022 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1.
Lake Forest is bred
Mr Prospector 4f, 5m x sex balanced
Northern Dancer 5f x 4m, 5m sex balanced
What takes my eye about him is firstly his damsire El Prado - one of the greats, who established the Sadler's Wells sireline in North America.
Secondly, his regal damline which is that of the one and only Zabeel, also Carnegie, Hallowed Crown and a plethora of international stakeswinners.
Lake Forest's third dam Durtal by Lyphard was Champion 2YO Filly in England and dam of 2 x Ascot Gold Cup winner Gildoran.
Durtal is the third dam of G1 VRC Derby winner Magicool and another VRC Derby winner Manzoice descends from her..
Both those horses lost all form after their classic triumphs. Magicool never regained it, Manzoice did - but it was a long time between drinks!
It's obvious why the speed genes of No Nay Never were sought out for the dam of Lake Forest, and the horse certainly showed a dazzling turn of foot when winning the 2024 Golden Eagle over 1500m.
Lake Forest hasn't hit the same heights but has twice placed at G1 level, and I can forgive his King Charles flop when stuck on the rail going nowhere.
I reckon Lake Forest is going to enjoy the open spaces at Flemington - and also think it's key that his regular partner Tom Marquand is back in the saddle, because he seems like a slightly quirky horse that performs best for someone who knows him well.
Lake Forest and “Aussie Tom” Marquand will jump from barrier 6.
