Group 1 Action Swings To The Valley as speedsters take centre stage
Ahead of the Spring Carnival, Michael Lynch looks at some of the country's fastest sprinters making their spring reappearance in the Group 1 Moir Stakes.
The weather may be distinctly blustery and gloomy, but in racing terms, there is no doubt that spring has already sprung in Melbourne.
Last weekend saw Pinstriped give popular Cranbourne trainer Enver Jusofovic his first Group 1 winner when the gelding took out the first Victorian major of the new racing season, the Memsie Stakes. The Ben Allen-ridden galloper saw off the challenge of Mr Brightside with the star of the autumn Pride of Jenni well in arrears on her seasonal reappearance.
This weekend it is the turn of the speed merchants to lay down markers as to what status they will take in the next few months with many looking to win The Everest in Sydney, the $20 million showstopper that remains the world's richest turf race.
The main event at The Valley is the group 1 Moir Stakes over the helter-skelter 1000-metre dash at the inner city venue.
The club's decision to rejig their spring sprinting programme by bringing the Moir Stakes forward to this early part of the season has been rewarded with a high-quality field of nine runners.
Top of the bill is the Peter Moody/Katherine Coleman trained I Wish I Win, whose career arc rather suggests that those who named him have had a successful dose of wish fulfilment.
The now six-year-old gelded son of Savabeel has racked up prizemoney of almost $12 million from his seven wins and 12 places in 21 lifetime starts: that sum would have been even more impressive had he won, rather than finished a 0.4 length second, in last year's Everest.
His regular partner Luke Nolen is back in the saddle and if ratings are any guide then he has little to fear from his opposition except, perhaps, his stablemate Chain of Lightning, whose figure of 114 is just three beneath I Wish I Win's number of 117.
However ratings are only a figure relevant to a horse's previous form and they cannot reflect how much improvement may still be to come, which is where the greatest interest in the Moir lies.
The two Moody runners have been there and done it and therefore set the benchmark, but it will be fascinating to see how some highly regarded but younger rivals fare against them and whether they can improve on their promising ratings to achieve something much more impressive this campaign.
High up in the betting is the Ciaron Maher prepared mare Estriella. She ran up an impressive hat trick in group 3 and listed company last autumn before failing when a well-backed favourite in the Group 1 Sangster Stakes in Adelaide last May.
She has had only eight starts and can be expected to show plenty of physical and mental improvement now that she is a year older (four) so will continue to attract plenty of support - especially given the fact that she is trained by Maher and will be ridden by champion jockey Blake Shinn.
For me, the really fascinating contenders are the three at the foot of the racecard - the three-year-old fillies Lady of Camelot and Hayasugi and the three-year-old colt Coleman.
As representatives of their generation, particularly in the sprinting division, they could not come more highly recommended.
Hayasugi sprang a $16 surprise when she took out Victoria's richest two-year-old race, the Blue Diamond last February before running down the track in the Golden Slipper.
The latter event was won by Lady of Camelot, who gave Gai Waterhouse another win in the country's leading two-year-old contest. In the Slipper, she stamped herself as a really tough and consistent filly as she had finished runner-up to Hayasugi in the Caulfield feature at their previous start.
Tying in nicely with the two fillies is the Matt Laurie-trained Coleman, a three-year-old colt. He disappointed in the Diamond but bounced back to form when he was brought up to Sydney where he finished a narrow second in the Slipper before signing off with a third in the Group 1 Sires Produce Stakes.
Coleman gets in here with 52 kilos while the fillies are both asked to carry just 50 compared to the 58.5 that will be shouldered by I Wish I Win.
Still, history is littered with the tales of brilliant two-year-olds who disappointed the following year when taking on their slower maturing age cohort as three-year-olds. It is far harder to make the leap to open class weight for age, as this trio is seeking to do at The Valley.
Sometimes at this early stage of the season, it is not always the best horse that wins the Group 1 but the fittest, so those punters looking for a bit of value will probably check out the likes of Mornington Glory, the only galloper in this field who is not resuming from a spell.
Gavin Bedggood's six-year-old gelding has been kept on the go all winter and has won his last two starts, a handicap over the course and distance on August 10, and then the listed Carlyon Stakes over the Moir's 1000 metre trip at the last Valley meeting on August 24.
He has a lot to find on ratings but he will be fit, well suited to the track and distance and this, rather than The Everest, is likely to be his Cup Final so his connections will be hoping that anything is possible. Ethan Brown, who won on him last time at The Valley, will take the mount again.