Kennedy Oaks heroine Aristia has added her name to the list of nominees for the $5 million All-Star Mile, which will be run on Saturday, 16 March 2019 at the scene of her two greatest triumphs, Flemington Racecourse.
The three-year-old filly joins fellow Flemington Group 1 winner Grunt, Sydney star Happy Clapper, Perth Cup winner Material Man and last weekend’s Villiers Stakes winner Sky Boy among the early entries for the world’s richest mile race.
Aristia announced herself as a potential star of the future last month, following up her win in the Group 2 Mumm Wakeful Stakes (2000m) with another victory five days later in the Group 1 Oaks over 2500m.
The daughter of Lonhro, who would be well served under the weight-for-age conditions of The All-Star Mile, was given a break after her Oaks Day heroics, but is now back in pre-training at the Flemington stables of cousins Simon Zahra and Mathew Ellerton.
The training duo have yet to decide when she will make her racetrack reappearance in the new year, but are confident the rising starlet will continue the rapid progress she showed during the 2018 Spring Racing Carnival.
“Aristia had a busy 12 months so needed a spell, but she’s come back from her break looking fresh and well and we’re excited to see what she can do next year,” Zahra said.
“We’ll have to wait until she’s back in full training to decide where we start her out, but hopefully she can recapture and even improve on the form she showed in the spring.
“She’s a very versatile horse, her first two starts were both in 1000m races and she obviously won the Oaks over 2500m, but I’d say between a mile and 2000m would be her optimum distances.
“I’m sure the ($5 million) prizemoney will help draw a pretty strong field for The All-Star Mile, but it only cost $500 to nominate her and she has a big group of owners in her syndicate, so hopefully she’ll get a few votes and can get a start in the race.
“It’s a great idea to try to get different people involved in racing and attract a new audience, so hopefully the race has got a nice future – as does Aristia.”
Nominations for The All-Star Mile close on 15 January with public voting to commence on 21 January. The top 10 horses in the public vote will secure a start in The All-Star Mile with the remaining four places in the 14-horse field to be made up of wildcards issued by Racing Victoria.