Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
The G2 Missile Stakes has traditionally been a wonderful lead up race for the spring with a strong list of winners coming through it and going on to Group 1 success. Last year, Schwarz won before adding the G2 Australia Stakes and G1 William Reid Stakes over the autumn. He’s now at stud at Rosemont for his first season.
In 2023, I Am Me (I Am Invincible) won the G2 Missile before adding the G3 Sydney Stakes and running second in both the G1 Manikato Stakes and G1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes that spring. In 2020, Eduardo (Host {Chi}) won the G2 Missile and went on to add the G2 Challenge Stakes and G1 Galaxy Handicap in the autumn as well as the G1 Doomben 10,000 that same winter.
Pierata also began his best season with victory in the G2 Missile Stakes, going on to win the G1 All-Aged Stakes as well as placing in the G1 VRC Sprint Classic and G1 Galaxy Handicap. He’s now standing at Yulong.
Other previous recent winners include Lonhro, dual winner Rain Affair (Commands), G1 Galaxy winner Sweet Idea (Snitzel) who is the dam of the exciting Group-placed Clear Thinking (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), Dance Hero (Danzero) and Commands.
The field for 2025 had 10 runners, with two scratched on the day due to track conditions. Obviously, no one can control the weather and the loss of a major meeting is difficult for all participants. However, with some of the card rescheduled to Wednesday, questions were asked about why the feature race was not included.
Headed to Melbourne instead
Private Eye (Al Maher), trained by Joe Pride, had been scratched from the G2 Missile Stakes when the track conditions became too heavy. He will head to Melbourne for this Saturday.
“We have been forced to run in Melbourne in the (G2 PB) Lawrence Stakes. It’s not the end of the world as we were considering the Lawrence anyway, as we had scratched (due to track),” said Proven Thoroughbreds’ Tom Walter about Private Eye.
Kris Lees-trained Brudenell (Russian Revolution) also heads to Melbourne for this Saturday, in search of another black type option.
“We thought they might put it on for this Saturday, but now we will take Brudenell to Melbourne for the Regal Roller at Caulfield. We’ll have a good look at nominations there and see where that leads us. Otherwise the back-up option is the Show County,” said Kris Lees’ racing manager Danny Greer.
Private Eye | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
“It doesn’t affect him greatly. Being a sprinter, we would’ve kept him fresh, so running this Saturday doesn’t necessarily mess up his program."
On the choice to cancel the Missile, Greer said, "I can understand that programming is difficult but it (being cancelled) did surprise me a touch. Being a race that they’ve been promoting for some time, I thought there be an option to reprogram it. They found other options for the Premier Cup Prelude, but not the Missile.”
The Premier’s Cup Prelude will be run on Wednesday as Racing NSW stated it is a key led up for the G3 Premier’s Cup on August 23. Arguably the G2 Missile Stakes, as a lead up for the Show County and other major sprint races in the Sydney spring carnival, should have been given the same option.
“We are lucky that we have a horse who travels well. This Saturday, there’s no option (in Sydney), but there is the Show County in a fortnight. Hopefully we’ll win in Melbourne instead because sometimes the back up plan works in your favour. That’s what we are hoping for,” said Greer.
Brudenell | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Tom Walter agrees, “The question does need to be asked. Why are we deleting stakes races without any clear explanation or a set of rules that are being followed that everyone can understand? We were a victim of this earlier in the year when the Carrington Stakes was scratched as the race wasn’t commercially viable with only four horses.”
Accredited (All Too Hard) was one of six nominations for the Listed Carrington Stakes, due to run on January 25, but with two of the six horses being dual nominated, Racing NSW decided that a field of four wasn’t enough runners to continue the race. It was not rescheduled with the reasoning being that the upcoming autumn carnival had no room for the race. Like Private Eye, Proven Thoroughbreds’ Accredited is trained by Joe Pride.
“(Accredited) was an odds on favourite and they told us on the morning of acceptances that it wasn’t viable, which was a hard decision for our owners. It’s not so much about him or Private Eye, we have a good alternative with Private Eye, but now we’ve had two stakes races cancelled this year and there need to be more respect for stakes races.
Accredited | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
“If someone has a mare targeting this race, and if they win, that’s a result that’s potentially worth hundred of thousands dollars for them (as a broodmare prospect). We can’t be not running races because they aren’t commercially viable for Racing NSW.
“Owners are operating most of the time without commercial viability and paying bills, and then they are lucky enough to get a stakes horse set for a stakes race, it’s a big thing. It’s not fair to have that so easily cancelled with no recourse."
An option to run this Saturday in Sydney
As Greer said, there is no stakes race for sprinters this Saturday in Sydney, but four of the Missile field will stay in Sydney and run on Saturday. Bjorn Baker had two runners with Robusto (Churchill {Ire}) coming off a last start win in the Listed Winter Challenge and War Eternal (NZ) (Pierro) having run second at his last start at Rosehill.
“They’ll both run on Saturday in the Spring Preview,” said Baker’s racing manager Luke Hilton. The Spring Preview over 1400 metres at Rosehill is not a black type race.
“For Robusto, it’s not ideal as he has to back up in a week into the G1 Winx now. He was going to have a good preparation with the Missile. It’s a race that’s been around for a while and not to see it run is disappointing.”
Robusto | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Richard and Will Freedman will likely keep both Ang Pow (Flying Artie) and Elettrica (NZ) (Vespa {NZ}) in Sydney for the benchmark 94 over 1200 metres on Saturday at Rosehill. Elettrica is a Listed-winning mare, so the chance for a Group race means more to her owners than the here and now.
“We were disappointed they deleted the race. That’s not something I would do with stakes races. We’ll find other places for them to run, and they’ll probably run in the 94 on Saturday,” said Richard Freedman.
“I don’t think you should delete stakes races, no matter how few runners you get. It would’ve been run on the day had the track been better, and of all the races to be rescheduled, the feature race should be one of them.
Elettrica (NZ) | Image courtesy of Race Images
“You’ve got to look after the ownership group of these horses, and of all horses. They are under a fair bit of financial pressure.”
Going to the Show County
Several of the field will take the extra fortnight away from the races on the chin and head to the G3 Show County Handicap over 1200 metres at Randwick on August 23.
“It has me beat why they can run the Prelude on Wednesday and not the Missile Stakes. We will probably have to go to the Show County Quality with General Salute now,” co-trainer Gerald Ryan told racenet.com.au on Saturday of race favourite General Salute (Russian Revolution).
General Salute | Image courtesy of Sportpix
General Salute will be joined by several other Missile Stakes runners in the Show County in a fortnight’s time. Gary Portelli-trained Encap (Capitalist) was set to resume in the G2 Missile Stakes.
“He’ll go to the Show County instead. The program has been successful before (for him). He didn’t win first up last time, so (missing the race) might have happened for a reason. He will trial tomorrow,” said Portelli.
“For me, abandoning the race didn’t matter, I wasn’t going to run first up on a heavy track, and had scratched (Encap). I was resigned to go to plan B. I didn’t want to give him a hard run on the Wednesday (if the race moved), and then have less days into the Show County. You’ll run out of horse before you run out of races.”
Encap | Image courtesy of Sportpix
The John Thompson stable, who had With Your Blessing (NZ) (Vadamos {Fr}) entered, had a different opinion on what they would’ve done if the race was rescheduled to Wednesday. “If they’d put it up for Wednesday, we would have run,” said racing manager Alex Nairn. “He will go to the Show County. It messes up the plan a little bit, he’s ready to run and it would’ve been good to run. It can stop raining now though.”
If the G2 Missile had been rescheduled to Wednesday, it might have looked a little different to Saturday’s field, but the change would also have given an opportunity for black type to connections and maybe had a few different runners decide to throw their hat in the ring. The weather is the weather, and the choice to abandon the meeting was a good one for safety reasons. The question remains - why wasn't the day's feature race rescheduled and run on Wednesday even with a potentially smaller field?
With Your Blessing (NZ) | Image courtesy of Sportpix
“Field size isn’t an owner’s problem. It’s a problem for the regulator to fix. They should reassess for the next year, not scrap it now. This isn’t vested interest. I would feel the same way whether our horse was in it or not. I just want more clarity around it,” said Walter.
“We should have a universal rule about it. We want that transparency. At the moment, it’s entirely discretionary. It’s one thing to postpone a race and another to cancel it. Deleting a stakes races doesn’t sit right with me.”
Perhaps the first task of the Pattern Committee, when they recommence, should be to create some guidelines around how and when a black type race should be rescheduled after a weather event causes an initial abandonment.
