Spring racing / Steve Mcghee / 12 October 2009 / Leave a comment Bet Now

G1 WFA over 2000m that once was the most important guide to the Melbourne Cup, which is held three days later, but now is an on pacer dominated event that is now just part of a great Group racing day for the purist that is Derby Day.

It is a quality race but more a consolation this century for durable milers and/or middle distance types under the WFA scale and the odd Melbourne Cup runner that does line up is only using it too tick over before the first Tuesday in November.

It was a 'must see' event for bettors because the key to financial success on the first Tuesday in November almost always lay in this one pivotal race plus of course it had already been accepted as part of a required journey toward thoroughbred greatness.

Oh how the times have greatly changed much like the training habits and race targets now for a thoroughbred aimed at the Melbourne spring carnival.

This century the majority of the winners of the G1 $750,000 Mackinnon Stakes have been New South Wales trained runners or more specifically Gai Waterhouse (she has trained three winners this century already to go with All Our Mob in 1996) and in the main it has been leaders or on pace dominated.

The last two years has seen the runners up in the Mackinnon both being the third placegetters from the Caulfield Cup held a fortnight prior, namely Barbaricus (2008) and Princess Coup (2007), so keep a sly look out for anything that does come back 400m and goes from that handicap to the WFA here.

It would be safe to say that the winners of the Mackinnon this century are not what you would deem stayers in the true sense, with a mixture of WFA milers and middle distance types plus even a rare three-year-old.

Casual Pass was the first three-year-old to win the Mackinnon in fifty-five years, when well rated in front to win the 2003 running for trainer Matthew Ellerton and rider Glen Boss.

The three-year-old recorded the second slowest time in over three decades, which confirmed the rider somehow mesmerized the opposition into believing the tempo was not the crawl it really was in the middle stages.

The last of his age to take out the Mackinnon was called Snowstream in 1948, which was ridden by Noel 'Digger' McGrowdie, a natural lightweight.

McGrowdie is famous for many riding achievements but a particular late closing fourth stands out, as it was to be his one and only ride on a turf colossus called Bernborough that would win his next fifteen races in a row afterwards but obviously for another rider.

Bernborough was a very big bay horse that could carry the kitchen sink and then some plus his whirlwind late runs ensured he was an excitement machine of his era, even though his real fame began as a six-year-old.

He had just been purchased to race in New South Wales, after having won eleven of his twenty starts over four seasons of being only allowed to race at the Clifford Park racecourse in Toowoomba, so he was anything but a household name at this stage.

The fact he won so many races in a row and carried enormous imposts to win only endeared the 'Toowoomba Tornado' to the racing public.

Keep an eye out if any natural on pace three-year-olds contest the Mackinnon this year, as they may well be able to steal the event at WFA plus some of the older types may be over the top by then in peak fitness terms.

Also logic tells you the staying three-year-olds are running in the Victoria Derby held on the same day as the Mackinnon over 2500m, so any runner of that age tackling this race is most likely a miler and/or non-stayer looking to stretch his or her range and being helped by the weight relief under the WFA scale.

Only one mare has won the Mackinnon this century (La Bella Dama in 2001 at big odds), and while handy she was dwarfed in accomplishment by the four mares to have won the race in the previous baker's dozen (thirteen years).

Empire Rose (1988), Horlicks (1989), Let's Elope (1991) and Champagne (1998) were the four fantastic females.

To show you just how much the Mackinnon has morphed from a once great racehorse arrival point and reliable future big race guide, to just a winnable WFA feature on the opening day of the Melbourne Cup carnival for the freshest set of legs available is the following.

In the 1990's the Mackinnon winners that won the Melbourne Cup three days later numbered two, namely Let's Elope (1991) and Rogan Josh (1999), which it should be also noted that both were trained by the incomparable Bart Cummings.

Jeune finished second to Paris Lane in the 1994 Mackinnon but the forecast was reversed in the Melbourne Cup.

Veandercross (1992) and Champagne (1998) won the Mackinnon in a decade when New Zealand trained gallopers shone in this race and each would go on to finish second in the Melbourne Cup.

Better Loosen Up would win the Japan Cup, after the Mackinnon Stakes in 1990, to confirm it was an important stepping-stone to an even bigger Cup stage, whether that is in Melbourne or Tokyo.

Even if you go back to just 1985 you find that five-year period alone of Mackinnon winners produced two Melbourne Cup winners and a Japan Cup winner, just as the entire 90's decade did.

At Talaq (1986) and Empire Rose (1988) won the Melbourne Cup that year after the Mackinnon and Horlicks (1989) won the Japan Cup in then record time after her Mackinnon success.

There is not even a scintilla of success to be found this century from Mackinnon winners and placegetters in regards to paying a dividend in the Melbourne Cup and not that many even try the quick turnaround anymore sadly.

Bart Cummings has trained the same number of Mackinnon winners, as he has fingers, and a terrific ten judge-saluters they have been plus all had a different rider on except Harry White, who won aboard both Belmura Lad (1980) and Bounty Hawk 1984).

Belmura Lad won as a six-year-old for White and Cummings but the durable galloper would win it back-to-back in 1981, with Midge Didham doing the riding this time and it just so happened he beat that day the highest Timeform rated Australian trained galloper of all time in Kingston Town.

Bettors need to look for runners that still have some ping in their legs or the ability to quicken in a stride, when determining their Mackinnon wager, as many runners are too dour to prevail since they may have a Melbourne Cup mission in a few days or are simply tired and on a form decline.

A good front running rider or on pace tactician is vital too for the Mackinnon because the closing sectionals are usually a slick sprint home and you need to be poised to strike the last 400m rather than be pressured hard to just get within striking distance from this point onwards.

Greg Childs is the only rider to have won the Mackinnon twice this century but he is now retired, so Damien Oliver with three wins in the race over the last fifteen years is clearly the best recent statistical jockey.

The attrition rate over spring does determine how many and of what depth lines up in this race nowadays, so respect any newcomer to the carnival or anything that has had this as a target and not an afterthought.