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

This will be the third running of this G1 1200m down the straight track at Flemington since it was moved to the fourth and last day of Melbourne Cup week and was changed from a handicap to a WFA race.

Good sprinters target this race and it is proving to be a race that provides future runners at Royal Ascot amongst other big carnivals in England plus it is now part of the internationally recognised Global Sprint series.

The likes of Takeover Target and Miss Andretti have won this race and both thrilled the throngs at Royal Ascot afterwards, while Scenic Blast placed in it before going to England to do the G1 business.

This feature G1 sprint was only moved to the last day of the Melbourne Cup week carnival, Emirates Day, and to a WFA status just two years ago.

It was prior a handicap G1 1200m on the first day of the Melbourne Cup carnival, Derby Day, but the move seems to have fitted in perfectly for numerous reasons.

This $500,000 sprint is now part of the rich Global Sprint Challenge and that allows room to attract not only the top local sprinters but also some overseas power in the event sooner rather than later.

The focus is mostly stamina over the four days of the Melbourne Cup carnival, what with the Derby then the Cup then the Oaks, but we now find a nice balance whereby sprinters both young and old get a chance to show that need for speed.

The first time this race was held under WFA conditions on Emirates Day turned out to be an ideal match race and outcome, with a pair of super mares trying to stare each other down in a deadset clash of girl power.

Miss Andretti beat her younger foe Gold Edition in 2007 and so this feature sprint on the last day was now set in stone for the spring carnival.

Swick buried his rivals last year to show he loves racing on the straight track of Flemington but also of significance was that it saw a Cummings quinella.

Bart prepared Swick and his son Anthony the runner up Turffontein to show that father still knows best in this modern age.

Some great sprinting names have come through the now known as Patinack Farm Classic and they have gone on to show 'old blighty' just what downunder power is all about, with the indomitable Takeover Target winning it in 2004 under 53kg (yes that is true) to go with Miss Andretti (won it in 2007 and placed third the year before).

Takeover Target won the G2 Kings Stand (1000m) in 2006 and placed in the G1 Golden Jubilee (1200m) four days later, with the marvel going back to England the next two seasons and finishing second and fourth and then fourth and second in those same two races.

Miss Andretti won the 2007 Kings Stand to maintain a super recent record in that race and carnival for Australian sprinters.

Throw in names such as Magnus, which finished tenth in the 2006 Patinack Farm Classic equivalent, but would place in the Kings Stand at Royal Ascot behind the winner Miss Andretti the following year.

Scandinavia, the dam of Magnus, placed second in the 1998 equivalent of what is now the Patinack Farm Classic, to the evergreen Flavour and the now sire Towkay was third.

The mighty colt Choisir cut his teeth on Flemington sprints over Melbourne Cup week in the spring of 2002 and he would go to England the following winter and win the Kings Stand and the Golden Jubilee, with displays of ferocious front running.

Choisir has turned out to be a decent sire too and is currently in the headlines for being the dad of the all the way 2009 G1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) winner Starspangledbanner.

Also with the G1 Coolmore Stud (1200m) now on Derby Day for three-year-olds, which is also rapidly becoming a stud-maker (for both stallion or broodmare) and a big race window to the future, it does allow some youngsters to back up at WFA a week later and have a crack against the older sprinters for another shot at G1 glory.

Northern Meteor won the Coolmore last year, while the once highly Timeform rated Weekend Hussler scored the previous year and the durable filly Gold Edition won it the first time it was held at G1 in its new place.

Scenic Blast finished third in 2007 to Weekend Hussler and he won the now G1 Kings Stand at Royal Ascot this winter to give further credence to the depth in Australian sprinting ranks.

The only trainer to have prepared two winners this century so far, of what is now known as the Patinack Farm Classic, is Brian Mayfield-Smith with back-to-back success through Sudurka (2001) and Rubitano (2002).

Mayfield-Smith is of course most famous as being the man that broke the unbreakable run of Sydney training premierships by the legendary Tommy Smith, when he halted the thirty-two straight titles in the 1985-86 season.

The last 12 runnings of the Patinack Farm Classic has seen as many different riders salute the judge, which is unusual over this big carnival where often the big names continue to shine.

The most recent rider to win two of them was Steven King, who scored on the mare Glamour Puss in 2005, after having won aboard Gold Ace in 1996.

David Hayes has won this race twice, with Planet Ruler (1990) and Alishan (1993), and despite some headlines this spring regarding a change in his first choice stable rider he does hold an ace or two up his sleeve for 2009.

Nicconi will be his top gun sprinter for the Patinack Farm Classic (with a new rider obviously) but keep an eye out of if he throws in another rising force in Eagle Falls into the deep end, although he is more likely to put him in the Emirates Mile to go for two G1 bites on the last day of the carnival.

Age or sex is not a key-determining factor in the Patinack Farm Classic, with all manner of young and old scoring, and now it is at WFA some older marvels will just keep coming back for more each spring.

Also out of state trained sprinters have a good record, with Sydneysiders then South Australian the next most successful outside the local Victorians but a Canberran and a Queenslander have popped up too in the last twenty years.

The straight track sprint racing of Flemington does not suit every horse but it quickly tells trainers and owners if a visit to Royal Ascot could be on the cards with their charge should they perform well at G1 over the spring carnival.