Mares aim for Group win before Magic Millions
Delectation Girl, Krone, Strome and Mewstone Rock can add one final feature to their record before they go through the Gold Coast sales ring next month
Today’s Sapphire Stakes (Gr 3, 1630m) at Doomben shapes as the last opportunity for a number of mares to add a Group win to their record before they are retired to stud.
Delectation Girl (Delegator), Krone (Eurozone), Strome (Smart Missile) and Mewstone Rock (Fastnet Rock) are all entered for next month’s Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, with all of them likely to be having either their penultimate or their final start here.
Black-type racing will continue in Brisbane over the next three Saturdays, with one further Group race – the Winx Guineas (Gr 3, 1600m) for the three-year-olds at the Sunshine Coast – but for the older mares, this is their last opportunity to add a Group win or placing to their page.
The one who could most benefit from a win today is Strome who, for all her consistency throughout her career, is yet to add black type – either a win or a placing – to her record. She has only lined up in stakes races twice, with a first-up sixth in the Hawkesbury Crown (Gr 3, 1300m) behind Sweet Scandal (Sepoy) and In Her Time (Time Thief) giving Gary Portelli confidence that she can gain that elusive black type today.
“She’s probably a horse that’s underrated in this race,” Portelli told Perth’s TABRadio. “I know she’s at big odds but if you go through her form, she’s matched it against some pretty handy horses in town down here.
“I don’t think this race in Brisbane looks like it is a genuine Group race. I think it’s a pretty handy race, don’t get me wrong, but if she gets any luck at all on a track that should be a lot better than what she’s been racing, she should have her chance.”
Stephanie Thornton, who takes the ride on Strome, will be aiming to cap a breakout season by scoring her first Group win too, having ridden her first Listed winner in November. Thornton and Strome will jump from barrier seven.
“Stephanie is a patient rider and the barrier looks ideal for Strome’s style of racing,” Portelli said. “Her work on Tuesday morning suggests she will be right in the race. She worked brilliantly on Tuesday and that was on a firm surface. Her form is pretty ordinary on the wet.
“She will be retired to stud soon and I tell you what, it will be a job well done if we’re able to get a Group 3 win before she’s retired, that’s for sure.”
Mewstone Rock has a Listed placing to her name, but the John Symons and Sheila Laxon-trained eight-year-old is yet to record a black-type win. A victory today would make her a valuable commodity, as a Fastnet Rock mare that is from the family of multiple Group 1 winners Danzdanzdance (Mastercraftsman) and Lucia Valentina (Savabeel).
Krone is a two-time Listed winner who also boasts a Group 2 placing to her name. The Tony Gollan-prepared mare has only had three runs in his care, the best of those a second in the Helen Coughlan Stakes (Listed, 1350m) to stablemate Shalwa (O’Reilly).
“Her first run for us was at the Gold Coast and it was pretty ordinary, but we made a slight change to her race gear and her other two runs here have been very good,” Gollan said earlier this week. “She has been getting back in her races but the pace is usually on in 1600-metre races at Doomben so that should suit her.”
For the Kris Lees-trained Delectation Girl, a Group 3 winner in the UK and Germany, a win in today’s Sapphire Stakes would be a bonus at the end of a globetrotting career.
Australian Bloodstock bought Delectation Girl off a Thirsk maiden as a two-year-old in 2016, with the filly heading up to Scotland to take out the Firth Of Clyde Stakes (Gr 3, 6f) at Ayr.
“They’ve been hugely important to our stable, they’ve been great supporters,” Lees told SEN. “Jamie (Lovett) and myself go back a long way, back to our teenage years. They are a growing influence in racing and it’s been great for us that we’ve been able to build that relationship with horses like this.”
Switched from Bryan Smart to Andreas Wohler, she made it three from three when winning the Schwarzgold-Rennen (Gr 3, 1600m) at Cologne before facing defeat for the first time in the French 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m).
At three, she added one more win, a runaway success in the Grosse Europa Meile des Porsche Zentrum (Gr 3, 1600m) at Dusseldorf, while she also finished fifth in the Falmouth Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) at Newmarket.
She subsequently had five starts in the United States, joining the Wesley Ward yard, and then she was passed in at the 2018 Arqana December Sale before heading to Australia and to Lees’ stables. Winless from 13 starts, she has been runner-up in two Group 3 contests.
Trying to upset the apple cart for the Magic Millions-bound horses will be Ryan Maloney, who has been called upon by trainer David Vandyke to ride Baccarat Baby (Casino Prince).
The Maloney-Vandyke partnership has already struck success with Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Alligator Blood (All Too Hard) this season. Vandyke is hoping that a change of rider may help Baccarat Baby, with Maloney replacing Micheal Hellyer, who has ridden the four-year-old at 19 of her 22 starts.
“She pulled up so well we decided to have another shy at the stumps,” Vandyke said. “She was three deep in the Dane Ripper so it was a very good run considering and this race is easier.”
Baccarat Baby was the $3.60 favourite with TAB last night, with Krone at $4.80 and Delectation Girl at $10. Strome and Mewstone Rock are considered among the outsiders at $34 and $51 respectively.