Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Victorian jockeys’ premiership tightens between Shinn and Willo
The friendly rivalry between Blake Shinn and Craig Williams will intensify this Saturday as the leading hoops continue their battle for the Victorian jockeys’ premiership; Shinn is 43 wins ahead in the whole state premiership, but Williams sits just seven metropolitan wins behind him with a full book of rides on Caulfield’s nine-race card on Saturday.
Operating with one of the best strike rates across the country at 23.2 per cent, Shinn has seven rides on the card, and will pilot multiple Group-winning Kallos (Medaglia D’Oro {USA}) in Caulfield’s sole stakes race, the G3 Sir John Monash Stakes. He has been vocal of his admiration for Williams, particularly as the season wraps up.
Kallos | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“Craig, he's a legendary jockey,” Shinn told racing.com earlier in the week. “It's going to be an exciting back end of the season. it gives him and I, and also the participants, something to watch over the back end of the winter.
“It's a good, friendly rivalry, we're good friends, we've got a lot of respect for each other. Whoever the winner will be, I'm sure we'll be delighted for each other. He's shooting for his 10th (metropolitan premiership), he's giving it his all.”
“It's a good, friendly rivalry, we're good friends, we've got a lot of respect for each other. Whoever the winner will be, I'm sure we'll be delighted for each other.” - Blake Shinn
Williams, who sits just shy of 100 total wins, will partner the in-form In Flight (Flying Artie), who comes to the race from back-to-back Listed wins in Queensland and New South Wales. He also takes the reins on $1 million Inglis Ready To Run Sale graduate Signature Scent (Written Tycoon), who makes the leap to city grade after a rousing four and a quarter length debut win at Bendigo.
Craig Williams | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“Despite being in front, I'm not taking it for granted that I'm going to win it,” Shinn said. “That's for sure when I've got someone like Craig chasing me, because I've got the utmost respect for him.
“He's had a wonderful, wonderful season, so I take my hat off to him. He's a great competitor and a beautiful human being, so it's going to go down to the wire and I'm excited to see what happens.”
“He's (Craig Williams) a great competitor and a beautiful human being, so it's going to go down to the wire and I'm excited to see what happens.”
Shinn had his first day back in the saddle on Wednesday since sustaining a foot injury in late May; he rode two close thirds from a book of five rides.
Blake Shinn | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Mister Bianco aims for four straight after Winx miss
The Peter Tighe-owned Mister Bianco (Zousain) looked set up to hand his owner a fairytale victory in the G3 Winx Guineas last weekend, but after Ryan Maloney was injured earlier in the race card and trainer Paul Shailer couldn’t find a suitable replacement, he was late scratched from the event.
Deviated from his Group path, the 3-year-old lines up in the $85,000 QTIS 3YO Handicap at Doomben on Saturday. Kyle Wilson-Taylor is booked to take the ride.
“I felt it wouldn’t be fair to the punters or my connections that the horse goes around,” Shailer told racenet.com.au earlier in the week. “He was the favourite in a $300,000 race so obviously we had every intention of running the horse.”
Mister Bianco | Image courtesy of Trackside Photography
Shailer expressed that he just didn’t feel confident that the three available jockeys, one of whom was an apprentice, would be the right fit for the gelding.
“I've got nothing against these jockeys, I'm sure they're great human beings. But when they've got 100 rides between them and they've ridden two winners, and they're riding the favourite in a $300,000 race on a horse that's been a work in progress and has its vices, I felt it wouldn't be fair to the punters or my connections that the horse goes around.
“My connections and myself were all in agreement that it was best for the horse's welfare and benefit that we scratch and save him for another day. Whether that's our right or not, people have their views on it and they're entitled to that, but we're entitled to our views on it.”
Paul Shailer | Image courtesy of Trackside Photography
Winner of the $150,000 TL Cooney at Ipswich last month, Mister Bianco is currently the clear favourite in the betting. Amongst his biggest rivals are last-start winning filly Amuseantes (Rothesay), a half-sister to Group 1-winning Startantes (Star Turn). The gelding also holds a nomination for Wednesday’s Listed Ramornie Handicap at Grafton.
Trio of mares primed for Monash test
The G3 Sir John Monash Stakes at Caulfield is set to see an interstate clash amongst three mares bidding for a chance at Group glory. Traveling down from Warwick Farm, Joe Pride’s In Flight is looking to take that swing at Group level after back-to-back Listed wins in the Listed Bright Shadow Stakes and the Listed Bob Charley AO Stakes.
“She's a really nice mare, she's done everything right,” he said earlier in the week, hopeful for a little rain to help the 4-year-old’s chances in the 1100-metre contest.
“It's a little step up in grade, although I think that Listed race in Sydney was pretty strong, so there won't be too much difference. She's stepping up to weight-for-age but everything about her tells me she's going really well, so she'll run well.”
In Flight | Image courtesy of Sportpix
It will be the third run in a different state for the mare, and Pride is contemplating a break after the Monash, but will be guided by how In Flight pulls up.
Travelling across from South Australia, Peter and Belinda Blanch’s Lingani (America) will be looking to recapture her spring form after a hamstring injury ruled her out of the autumn. The 4-year-old has five wins on her record from 11 starts, including the Listed Lightning Stakes at Morphettville from last August.
“Like any footballer, she needed some time for it (her hamstring) to heal,” Peter Blanch told racenet.com.au during the week. “She's come back and it hasn't bothered her at all. She is a stakes winner, we are reasonably high in the ratings here in Adelaide, so it's time to see where she sits.
“She's had that run under her belt and come through it really well, she looks great.”
Lingani | Image courtesy of Racing SA
Warnambool-trained Cleo Cat (American Pharaoh {USA}) won’t have to travel as far as her rivals for the Monash, and trainer Tom Dabernig is hopeful for a repeat performance from the 4-year-old mare of her G3 Proud Miss Stakes win back in May.
Jockey Jordan Childs is confident she has what it takes; “There's good form around her. Speaking to Tom, he said she's in good shape so I'm going in confident on Saturday.
“Every time I've ridden her, I've just let her race where she's comfortable. You don't pull but you don't push her either. Whether that lands us in front or (means) taking a sit, you've just got to be really smooth on her to keep the momentum and keep her in a happy spot.”
Cleo Cat | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
The field of 11 features seven fillies, including James Cummings-trained Kin (Impending), who won the Listed Gai Waterhouse Classic last month at Ipswich. The dual Listed winner will be chasing her first Group win, with her best effort to date running fourth in the G3 Thoroughbred Club Stakes as a 3-year-old.
Service fees of all levels amongst juvenile runners
The end of the season is nigh, and juveniles across five states and two New Zealand tracks will bid on Saturday to end their first season on a high by scooping a win in one of nine races. Examining their sires’ 2022 service fees shows an interesting spread in relation to the value of each race’s prize pool.
| Newcastle | $92,675 | $165,000 | $16,500 | $42,000 |
| Caulfield | $63,525 | $220,000 | $8,800 | $150,000 |
| Doomben | $58,895 | $220,000 | $13,750 | $85,000 |
| Randwick | $52,311 | $154,000 | $16,500 | $160,000 |
| Bunbury | $40,975 | $165,000 | $4,400 | $80,000 |
| Murray Bridge | $27,500 | $44,000 | $13,200 | $55,000 |
| Gold Coast | $25,143 | $66,000 | $4,400 | $30,000 |
| Ruakaka | $22,400 | $70,000 | $5,000 | $35,000 |
| Hawera | $10,750 | $16,000 | $5,000 | $35,000 |
Table: Average stallion fees for Saturday's juvenile races, New Zealand races in NZ$
Newcastle and Caulfield are the only fields boasting multiple runners born off of six figure cover fees, including three offspring of Written Tycoon and three runners by Zoustar spread between them.
This results in the Newcastle field having the highest average service fee, sitting just under $100,000, and that number would sharply increase if factoring in the 2025 breeding season’s fees, given Wootton Bassett’s (GB) sharp increase to $385,000 (inc GST). Coolmore-owned Royal Air Force and the Inghams’ Bella Wahine, a half-sister to Fangirl (Sebring), represent him in the race. The latter is on debut after closing well in her last trial on a Heavy 8 track.
Wootton Bassett (GB) | Standing at Coolmore Australia
Tagaloa has the greatest spread of entrants amongst the first season sires, with entries across five tracks in three states. His daughter Teine Auleilei lines up at Caulfield in a fillies’ only race after breaking her maiden at Bendigo strongly at the end of last month.
The penultimate crop of the pensioned Deep Field are as far flung as Doomben, Caulfield, and Bunbury; his son, the debutant Hubble’s Dragon, represents him at Bunbury where he is the second most expensive sire after Written Tycoon, whose son Slip The Jab has been gelded since failing to fire on debut.
Deep Field | Image courtesy of Newgate Farm
Crossbow ready to fire at Randwick
It will be a field of 10 mostly unknowns lining up at Randwick in the $160,000 juvenile contest on Saturday, and Star Thoroughbreds’ Denise Martin is never one to get ahead of herself with juveniles - but promising Crossbow (Better Than Ready) gives her hope for a late season win. The gelding was second at Canterbury on resumption this preparation, with a shrinking margin.
“He’s a lovely horse,” Martin told punters.com.au on Thursday. “He ran second to one last start that is beautifully bred, by Wootton Bassett out of Sunlight. Chris (Waller) has been very happy with him. He has trialled well and raced well and we look as though we’re going to get a decent track and small field.
Crossbow as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“He is a really handsome, almost black horse. He’s by Better Than Ready and he’s got a really nice way about him. It’s a good race for him after the nice run at Canterbury.”
Crossbow’s two runs makes him one of the more experienced runners in the race, alongside the Ridgmont-owned winners Pillow Fight (Zoustar) and Tomato Toastie (Too Darn Hot {GB}). Three of the 10 will jump as debutantes, including trial winner Feazabeel (Cool Aza Beel {NZ}), and Martin knows that anything could happen at this stage of the season.
“He (Crossbow) is a really handsome, almost black horse. He’s by Better Than Ready and he’s got a really nice way about him.” - Denise Martin
“All I know is when you’ve got 2-year-olds and there are unraced horses, you don’t know whether your horse is running against Usain Bolt or me,” Martin said. “You just don’t know what they’re up against.”
