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A Cox Plate field. The best of the best coming together. Race of the millennium. Tomorrow’s Underwood Stakes has been called all of these things and more, for good reason.
The field is a who’s who of middle distance and staying feature race winners.
Melbourne Cup. Australian Cup. BMW. Railway Stakes. Ranvet Stakes. Makybe Diva Stakes. Emirates Stakes. AJC Derby. Randwick Guineas. Rosehill Guineas. VRC Oaks. New Zealand Derby. International Group races.
The real kicker though?
None of these races belong to the two favourites in the Underwood, the biggest boom horses of the spring – Atlantic Jewel and Puissance de Lune, who head the betting in the Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup respectively.
All but one horse, Dear Demi, has run in either the Memsie or Makybe Diva Stakes, so the two key weight for age (WFA) formlines are coming together to create this magnificent spectacle.
As a horse racing fan, it’s great to see Atlantic Jewel taking on a field of deep quality at weight-for-age over further than seven furlongs for the first time.
As a punter, she’s stifled the market in what would have otherwise been such a competitive betting race, and it would have been great to see it unfold without her.
The greatest sport relies on uncertainty and, like Black Caviar before her, we may not get any when Atlantic Jewel is in the field.
But for the moment, she’s still being tested in situations we haven’t seen her in before, and we wait in eager expectation to find out how she handles it.
Mark Kavanagh cunningly announced his star mare would be running in the Stocks Stakes last week, knowing he’d scare away most competition, enabling the softest possible run and thus an easy back-up into this Underwood Stakes.
It was the right move for her Cox Plate preparation.
The race itself doesn’t look to be a high pressure affair, which will play into her hooves, and jockey Michael Rodd will once again have her sitting one out, one back from a nice barrier.
I don’t back horses at $1.50, but she’ll be winning.
If looking around the favourite, or looking for something at odds to run a place, there are worse 60-1 shots than Waldpark.
He was pretty solid in the Makybe Diva, often the key form race for this event and, like many internationals, will be better for his first run in the country.
Foreteller is over the odds once more, the only horse in the race outside Atlantic Jewel to have won a Group 1 this preparation, and the only dual 2013 Group 1 WFA winner in the field. Won the St George over this track and distance in the autumn as well.
Puissance de Lune will continue to get better as he steps up in distance, and I’d like to see him go forward and try to put a space on them around the turn.
Sea Moon was heavily backed first up but was never a factor after bungling the start. Many will be watching him with a view to backing him next start.
It’s a Dundeel has been something of the forgotten horse, and seldom do we see him in double figure odds. His return in the Memsie Stakes was sound, and he’ll be one that benefits from being ridden a bit colder.
He may have too much to do to threaten if settling near last from a wide gate, but will be worth watching.
Green Moon will run on well as usual, and it will pay to keep an eye on Ethiopia ridden more quietly, although barrier one won’t help in that regard.
All others can run well and have some hope of finishing in the placings if things go their way.
What a cracker it’s going to be, well worth the wait of it being the last race at Caulfield.
Selections: 1. Atlantic Jewel 2. Foreteller 3. Sea Moon 4. Waldpark
The George Main is the other Group 1 feature on the day, taking place at Randwick, bringing together a nice mix of quality sprinter/milers and progressive stayers.
Hawkspur will jump as favourite, with Jim Cassidy riding to bring up his 100th Group 1 winner in a career spanning over 30 years.
He bolted in the Chelmsford last start, and it was hard not to be taken with his dazzling finish. Even trainer Chris Waller was somewhat lost for words, such was the awesome nature of the win.
Royal Descent hasn’t won in her two runs this prep, coming after her 10 length ATC Oaks win, but she hasn’t lost any admirers either, carrying big weights from back in the field to just miss getting the chocolates, or the bag of oats, as the case may be.
She should make the transition to WFA racing easily, and is a very real winning threat.
Dissident backs up from the Golden Rose, attempting to do what All Too Hard couldn’t as a spring three year old and take out this WFA feature. His run was simply stunning behind Zoustar last week, and he just wasn’t entitled to finish anywhere near as close as he did.
He obviously hasn’t shown any signs of fatigue after such a torrid run, or Peter Moody wouldn’t be sending him around a week later.
He’s as fit as any horse in the race, and will probably be asked to lead this field. As we saw with Kuroshio in the McEwen Stakes last week, three year olds can be awfully tough to run down with a feather on their back.
Streama was enormous behind Veyron first-up in the Warwick Stakes, but has only been seen at the trials since that gut-buster.
Rain Affair, who with Streama was part of the hot speed in the Warwick, raced very flat last week, so we don’t know how much it took out of them.
From that perspective she’s a risk, but she’s something of a second-up flyer, and is a mare that keeps every horse she runs against honest.
Sincero disappointed with excuses first-up and will have an impact. It’s hard to believe that a Memsie Stakes winner could be the outsider in this field.
Fawkner was good in the Tramway but isn’t suited at WFA. Sacred Falls comes out of the same race and will also make his presence felt.
Shoot Out and Veyron are the veterans, with the former the pick of the two.
Seldom runs a poor race, and the inside barrier hindered more than helped him in the Tramway. As ever, he’ll be there in the shadows of the post.
This is a level below the Underwood, but is a select field and fantastic race in its own right. It won’t surprise me if only a couple of lengths covers these when they pass the post.
Selections: 1. Dissident 2. Sincero 3. Royal Descent 4. Streama
Looking ‘around the grounds’ on a ripping dual state day, Rose Pattern will give early punters a massive sight at around $7 in the first at Caulfield, and in race six there, British General is $13 after I was expecting $5-$7 on him. His Bobbie Lewis run was enormous.
Our own Justin Cinque has been eagerly waiting for Politeness to tackle the A-grade fillies after a couple of dominant wins in the bush, and she’ll do so as favourite in the Thousand Guineas Prelude, while I’m looking forward to seeing The Huntress at a bit of odds.
Guelph and Bound for Earth will resume hostilities in the Tea Rose at Randwick, and we look forward to when the NSW and Victorian fillies finally meet.
The Hill Stakes gets a bit lost on the same day as the Underwood and George Main, and with the withdrawal of Beaten Up and Kelinni, it’s quite a terrible affair.
Each horse in it is a ‘maybe’ for mine, and I’ll find it too hard to get excited.
The Naturalism will be run 20 minutes earlier at Caulfield, and what a field has been assembled. It will take the best part of 24 hours to fully do the form for that race!
Quintessential is a super mare, and Durnford might be the forgotten stayer in the race.
Good luck tomorrow, it’s going to be a ripper day of high quality racing.