Spring notes – third edition

A scud hits Sydney

If Smart Missile’s awesome last-to-first win in the Group 3 Run to the Rose (1200m) at Rosehill on Saturday didn’t get your spring carnival juices flowing, then jockey Glen Boss certain put the performance into context.

After the exuberant Boss (pictured) slipped off the colt’s back, he let flying with these three gems:

“I think we have seen the birth of a superstar.”

“He could be the best horse I have thrown a leg over.”

“I always thought Fastnet Rock (sire of Smart Missile) was the best 3YO I have ridden, but this colt is better”

Racing is a game known for outlandish statements. If those comments had come from Gai Waterhouse or Graeme Rogerson, I’d be putting them in the “here we go again” basket, which sits right next to the waste paper bin.

And while Boss might be the most flamboyant jockey in the saddle, his pre- and post-race statements by comparison are generally well considered and conservative.

Boss also said that Smart Missile was a better chance of winning the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m, Caulfield) in October than he is of winning the Group 1 Golden Rose (1400m, Rosehill) on Saturday week. “He will be much better at a mile (1600m) … I can’t wait for him to get to a mile,” Boss said.

I think we can sum up the Run to the Rose like this. Smart Missile is potentially a superstar, Foxwedge (2^nd) is a B-grader and Helmet (3^rd) is only marginally inferior to Smart Missile.

After Foxwedge won the San Domenico Stakes, I raised the doubts that he was a serious top-draw colt after Anise gave him a long start and almost pipped him on the line. Saturday confirmed that to me. Although Foxwedge did the chasing behind the speedy Karuta Queen, he had his chance to win. He’s good but I doubt he’s a Group 1 horse at this stage of his career.

Helmet, on the other hand, was super. Again his performance was marred by his antics under pressure. Turning for home he had a big look inside and ducked to the left – baulking Smart Missile – and again near the finish he wanted to do the oppostite and lay in before getting on to the heels of Foxwedge. If he had run straighter, I think he would have finished a lot closer to Smart Missile.

Boss raised the point that in the Golden Rose he expects Helmet to dictate the tempo of the race from the front, while his colt will be back in the field – “Helmet will be a lot harder to run down.” Helmet also will appreciate a rail to follow.

Trainer Anthony Cummings hasn’t held back in his opinion that Smart Missile is the colt of any trainer’s dreams – although in Cummings’ case he can claim witness to his father Bart trot out a seemingly endless string of superstars over many decades.

This current crop of three-year-olds looks to be exceptional, and just what the industry needs following the loss of So You Think to Europe. Sepoy is a sprinting colt of the highest level; Smart Missile and Helmet are the “milers” that could easily dominate the Cox Plate (2040m); and we wait to see whether the stayers in this crop can reach the same heights.

Show bags for Moody

Peter Moody warned punters that he expected a lot of the high-class New Zealand mare, King’s Rose, in her first run in Australia and for his stable. King’s Rose didn’t let him down with a strong win in the Group 2 Memsie Stakes, beating the battle-hardened Heart Of Dreams in a close finish.

Moody has doubts that the daughter of Redoute’s Choice will be at her best beyond 1600 metres, so I expect he will target the Group Myer Classic (1600m) at Flemington on Derby day with her. On the way she is likely to run in the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield next month.

Moody kept referring to the race as the “Show Day Cup” – that’s one of the many names the race has carried after starting out as the Invitation Stakes – but we know what he means.

The cup contenders that competed in the Memsie were: Rekindled Interest (4^th good), Absolutely (5^th super), Precedence (6^th good), Linton (7^th good), Shamrocker (8^th fair), Midas Touch (10^th unsuited), Anacheeva (11^th ordinary), Herculian Prince (12^th unsuited) and Anudjawun (13^th unsuited).

Also heading for the “Show Day Cup” for Moody is the Group 3 McNeil Stakes (1200m) winner Golden Archer, who fits the profile of several smart 3YOs who have performed well against the older horses over the 1400 metres.

Caulfield Guineas contenders that ran well behind Golden Archer included David Hayes’ impressive colt Cross Of Gold, who has a heap of improvement in him, John McArdle’s underrated Delago’s Lad, who needs blinkers, and Bart Cummings’ promising Do You Think.

Across the Tasman

Perhaps the most significant race from a spring point of view was across the Tasman, the Group 1 Makfi Challenge Stakes (1400m) at Hastings.

The winner Mufhasa convincingly won his sixth Group 1 race and he’s definitely a horse that can win a Group 1 race in Melbourne in the spring – maybe the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield next month.

Behind him came the Cox Plate and cups contenders – Jimmy Choux (2^nd super), Lion Tamer (4^th super) and Scarlett Lady (7^th super), while St Germaine, a 5YO mare by Keeper, caught the eye by matching strides with Scarlett Lady in a powerful finish from the back of the field to finish sixth. St Germaine, trained by John Sargent, is one to watch when she comes to Melbourne for minor races between 1400m and 1600m.

The usually confident John Bary, trainer of Jimmy Choux, said the horse ran right up to expectations – “on track for the Cox Plate and Hong Kong”; Trainer Murray Baker had every reason to smile about Lion Tamer’s first run for nearly 10 months.

Jimmy Choux will stay in New Zealand for two more Group 1 races, while Lion Tamer is heading to Melbourne for a possible next start in the Group 2 Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes (1600m, Moonee Valley) on September 10 or the Group 1 Underwood Stakes (1800m, Caulfield) on September 17.