Dark days ahead as All-Star Mile poll reaches pointy end

The All-Star Mile is heading into its fourth edition on March 19, a concept race that has grown legs since its inception in 2019. Worth a tidy $5 million, it’s the only fan-voted horse race in Australia, and on Sunday voting closes, going into a blackout on Friday night.

As it stands, Melbourne Cup heroine Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed {NZ}) heads the leader board with over 12,000 votes, albeit it’s unlikely the star mare will take her place in the field. Behind her is triple Group 1 winner Zaaki (GB) (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}), and behind him is I’m Thunderstruck (NZ) (Shocking).

These three round out the top spots, with the likes of Behemoth (All Too Hard), Espiona (Extreme Choice) and Probabeel (NZ) (Savabeel) inside the top 10. It’s possible that a number of these horses won’t run, leaving space for some interesting names further down.

Gallery: Some of the horses within the top 10 of The All-Star Mile voting

Ten of the 15-horse field will take their place by votes, while the remaining five will be added as wildcards, so for the few horses there or thereabouts the top 10, it’s a nervous wait until the final votes are announced next week.

Among them are Elephant (NZ) (Shocking), Lightsaber (Zoustar), Flying Mascot (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}), Lighthouse (USA) (Mizzen Mast {USA}) and King Magnus (Magnus).

Elephant in the room

The New Zealand horse Elephant is currently ninth in public voting, netting 3650 votes at the time of writing. He’s a popular horse by name alone, but he’s earned his oats for this field.

Elephant is a winner of six races from nine starts to date on both sides of the ditch. He was second in the G2 Feehan S. last spring before winning the G3 Sandown S. in the same month, and he was a last-start third in the G2 Crystal Mile at Moonee Valley.

“He’s really well right now,” said his co-owner and co-trainer, Emma-Lee Browne. “He’s had two light trials which we were using just as track gallops, and he’ll be going to Flemington next Saturday.”

The son of Shocking was close to his autumn debut at Te Rapa this weekend, but Browne, alongside her husband David, opted instead for a Melbourne start. Elephant will kick off in the Listed Elms H. on February 19.

“Hopefully it will give him a look around Flemington, just so he gets to see the the track and what have you, but we do think it’s a track that will really suit him,” Browne said.

For the relocating Kiwi trainers, Elephant’s involvement in The All-Star Mile this year has been exceptional fun.

“It’s been really exciting being a part of the whole voting process,” Browne said. “It’s a little bit nerve-wracking, and I’m starting to annoy everyone I see with my constantly telling them to vote for Elephant. We’re packing up all our stuff to relocate to Australia as we speak, and I got all the guys packing the container for us to vote for him.”

Browne has been rallying the Kiwi vote as much as she can ahead of the weekend’s blackout. After Friday, no one will be able to see the leader board and, after Sunday, voting will be over.

With Elephant sitting ninth, how confident is Browne that her 5-year-old gelding will make the field?

“I waver between thinking we’re good and then that we don’t have enough votes,” she said. “We were talking about the blackout this week, and David said that at least I’d stop checking every five minutes.”

All-Star wars for Lightsaber

At 10th in the order of voting, the 3-year-old Zoustar colt Lightsaber has a markedly different story to Elephant.

Trained by Peter Moody and raced by a Bluebloods Thoroughbreds syndicate, Lightsaber has the option of a stallion career ahead of him, and he’s being campaigned as such.

The colt won the G2 VRC Sires’ Produce S. in the autumn of his juvenile season, and he won the G3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude in the spring. He was subsequently fourth to Anamoe (Street Boss {USA}) in the G1 Caulfield Guineas, and the same on debut in the G2 Australia S. this preparation.

David Mourad, of Bluebloods Thoroughbreds, said Lightsaber’s inclusion in The All-Star Mile was exciting, even more so that the horse was on the cusp of the top 10, but there were other rainbows to chase, namely the G1 C.F. Orr S. this Saturday.

“He’s lining up in the CF Orr S. and then the Futurity in two weeks’ time, so we’ve been focussed on those races with this colt who has some sort of a stallion future,” Mourad said. “It’s been fantastic to see the support he’s been given for The All-Star Mile, but I’ve had a lot of focus on this Saturday, to be honest.”

It’s a forgivable attitude given the significance of any 3-year-old colt’s autumn career, in particular one with a Group 2 already behind him. The CF Orr and the G1 Futurity S. have been long-time targets for Lightsaber.

“They’ve been our focus since the end of last preparation, these first two Group 1s coming up,” Mourad said. “So it’s been a touch of a surprise for us that he’s inside the top 10 in voting for The All-Star Mile because I wasn’t initially sure what sort of support he’d get.”

Mourad said the syndicate was very excited ahead of this weekend’s voting closure, despite the Group targets they had for Lightsaber.

“If we can get him into the field, it will be fantastic,” he said. “It’s a race with big prizemoney and a race that’s also become very exciting in the last few years.

“It’s something of a popularity contest, so Lightsaber must have plenty of admirers out there. He’s a beautiful horse, nice and flashy looking, but more than that he’s a great racehorse. He runs really well and gives his all, and he certainly would be in the mix in a big race like this.”

Second time’s a charm

Sitting behind Lightsaber on The All-Star Mile leader board, the 4-year-old mare Flying Mascot has had love to the tune of over 2850 votes, just a shade less than the Zoustar colt. The Tavistock (NZ) mare is with Tom Dabernig at Warrnambool, and she’s won four races in 10 starts, namely the G3 Tesio S. last October.

Many of The All-Star Mile contenders are resuming this weekend or next, and Flying Mascot is among them. The mare will kick off her autumn on Saturday in Caulfield’s G3 Geoffrey Bellmaine S.

“It will be really exciting for my owners and her ownership group if we can get her into The All-Star Mile,” said Cameron Bennett of Flying Start Syndications, in whose colours this mare races. “For a lot of small shareholders to get into such a big race with so much prizemoney, it would be a big thrill, so we’re trying our best to get the votes.”

Flying Mascot doesn’t have some of the stellar credentials as other horses in contention, and Bennett said in that respect it’s been hard to muster popularity. Nevertheless, the mare is looking very possible at 11th in the voting.

“She’s racing on Saturday first-up, and if she runs a big race there it will help the votes,” he said. “We’re not confident she’ll get in yet because she’s right on the edge. There’s a few horses close-by her, but we’ll do a big push in the next couple of days with our ownership group and my database, just to get her votes up before the blackout.”

Flying Start Syndications has had the good fortune of already being in The All-Star Mile. Bennett and his owners raced the filly Amphitrite (Sebring), who was sixth to Mystic Journey (Needs Further) in the inaugural event of 2019.

“I’m not the biggest syndicator going around,” Bennett said, “but if I can get Flying Mascot into this field, that will be two starters in the last three or four years of a big race, which is a pretty good effort. It’s testimony to our syndicator group and all our owners involved.”

In partnership with Pinhook Bloodstock (FBAA), Bennett picked up Flying Mascot at the 2019 Magic Millions National Yearling Sale for just $25,000. She was sold by Alexia Fraser Bloodstock.

Amphitrite had a similar tale, sold by Goldin Farms to Flying Start Syndications and Darren Weir for $50,000 at the 2017 Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale.

“They were the right sort of horses at the time, going towards the right race,” Bennett said of his pair of horses that have targeted The All-Star Mile.

“Being in a syndicate helps because you get a lot of people who aren’t even in that horse following along and voting, which is really good for us.”

Leading Light

For the Ciaron Maher-David Eustace stable, the 5-year-old American-bred mare Lighthouse might be the glamour option of the race.

Lighthouse belongs to LNJ Foxwoods, the racing name for Larry and Nanci Roth and their daughter Jaime. The trio has a clutch of horses in Australia, and many more in America, but Lighthouse has been their proverbial light since her import to Melbourne in June last year.

For five starts in Australia she’s four wins and a second. She won the Listed Chester Manifold S. on New Year’s Day, and she was a runner-up on Australia Day in the Listed Barton S. last time out. The grey mare is now a stakes winner on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, which is no mean effort.

So far, Lighthouse has netted over 2700 votes to be in The All-Star Mile. She ranks 12th at the time of writing and, with a weekend to go and a very prolific stable behind her, her chances are strong.

“It would be an amazing story, this mare coming over from America and running in The All-Star Mile, let alone winning it,” said Will Bourne, bloodstock manager for Ciaron Maher Racing. “She’s got a fantastic record at the moment in Australia, and last time out she got back over the 1400 metres to run second, so I think she’s looking for the mile now.”

Lighthouse will run in this Saturday’s CF Orr S. alongside Lightsaber, and she’s drawn perfectly in barrier two. Bourne said she’s clearly up in the grades but she’s not against it.

“History says horses that can pinch this race are fit, in-form and ready to go competing against first-up horses, which is the case this weekend for a number of them, like I’m Thunderstruck, Tofane, Sierra Sue and Cascadian,” Bourne said. “Even if she comes top three, Group 1-placed would be an enormous achievement for her page and her residual value.”

Bourne said that Lighthouse will still consider The All-Star Mile should she win the CF Orr on Saturday. He said nothing is off the table.

“It’s hard to ignore the prizemoney for The All-Star Mile,” he added. “And it’s hard to ignore the race itself. It’s a great concept and there’s a lot of good behind the idea, like the charity aspect of it.

"There’s also a lot of engagement with the general public, so anything to do with promoting the industry and the sport in Melbourne, we’re proud to have something to do with it.”

The royal Mile

At 13th in the order of voting, the last-start Listed Cranbourne Cup winner King Magnus is hovering on his chances.

Trained by Robbie Griffiths and Mathew de Kock, the 6-year-old gelding is a seasoned campaigner with 22 starts behind him for seven wins, but he’s probably not as credentialled as some of the Group 1 horses ahead of him in the voting.

“It was always going to be difficult for him because he’s a fairly unexposed horse,” de Kock said. “He’s only had one start in a Group 1, which was the Cantala, whereas a horse like Verry Elleegant is a 10-time Group 1 winner. He’s definitely the underdog.”

As The All-Star Mile heads into this weekend’s blackout, however, King Magnus might have the people-power factor behind him.

His fairy-tale win in the Cranbourne Cup, landing Griffiths his hometown race for the first time, engendered plenty of local support around the traps, but does this make his trainers confident of his reaching the final field?

“I would say his chances are 50/50 at this stage,” de Kock said. “He’s thirteenth, so if three don’t run and the voting stays as it is, then he’s in. People’s plans often change and things happen during preparations, so with a bit of luck he’s a big chance of being a runner.”

Griffiths had Mr Moneybags (Written Tycoon) contest The All-Star Mile in its inaugural year, so the stable is versed in the race’s theatrics.

“It’s a very interesting concept and I think it’s quite a unique one,” de Kock said. “It’s quite fun to be a part of, and we’re pretty fortunate that our social media platforms are quite strong, so we’ve been able to utilise those to drum up votes, and lots of my friends and family have all sent me texts to say they’ve voted for King.

"The owners are very keen as well so they’ve been walking around the races with flyers, trying to get the votes going.”

King Magnus will kick off his autumn next Saturday, February 19, where he’ll meet Elephant in the Listed Elms H. He won an official trial at Cranbourne early this week, so he’s returned in tune.

“He’s doing very well,” de Kock said. “He’s full of confidence, but obviously his fitness is the question right now. But he’s quite a natural athlete so it doesn’t take him very long to get back to his peak fitness.”