Voting for The All-Star Mile will officially open at 9am tomorrow morning (Monday, 21 January), when sports fans across Australia can start selecting 10 of the 14 horses which will compete in the world’s richest mile race at Flemington.
From tomorrow until Monday, 18 February, Australian residents aged 18 or over will be able to place one vote from the 130 nominations listed on the new All-Star Mile website here.
All voters will also go in the running to claim a share of the $500,000 prizemoney on offer in The All-Star Mile competition, with the winning ‘Owner Ambassador’ set to collect $250,000.
Three days after the public voting has closed, the ten horses with the highest number of votes will be revealed, with the four wildcards to complete the field of 14 set to be unveiled by Racing Victoria (RV) on or before Monday, 4 March.
The inaugural edition of the $5 million showpiece, which will be held at Caulfield in 2020 and The Valley the following year, will take place on Saturday, 16 March.
The list of nominations features elite equine athletes from across Australia and New Zealand, including seven gallopers from Chris Waller’s stable headlined by The Autumn Sun, already a winner of two Group 1s and undoubtedly the country’s most exciting young horse.
Waller’s magnificent seven were joined in the entry list by popular warriors Happy Clapper (trained by Pat Webster), Hartnell (James Cummings) and Le Romain (Kris Lees), plus some leading talent from other states including Queensland’s flagbearer Boomsara, winner of the Magic Millions 3YO Guineas (1400m) on the Gold Coast.
Tasmanians will be hoping that Mystic Journey, an exciting three-year-old filly trained in Spreyton by Adam Trinder, can continue her run of recent form and earn a place in the race.
Trinder’s fellow Tasmanian Scott Brunton has nominated eight-year-old Hellova Street, the winner of 16 races – including nine at Group or Listed level – who was also voted the Apple Isle’s Horse of the Year for the past two seasons.
South Australian hopes rest on the shoulders of nine-time winner Steel Frost (trained by Will Clarken) and Balf's Choice, who won both the Listed Balaklava Cup (1600m) and Listed Seymour Cup (1600m) in 2017.
The talented six-year-old was named in honour of his trainer Ryan Balfour's father, former jockey David, who passed away in 2014 after a long battle with emphysema.
Material Man (Justin Warwick), whose last five starts have produced a trio of Group 3 wins and two Group 1 placings, and Gatting (Darren McAuliffe), who claimed the Group 2 Lee Steere Stakes (1400m) first-up, will both fly the flag for Western Australia.
Whilst voting is restricted to Australian residents, ex-pat New Zealanders can increase the chance of seeing some Kiwi representation in the race by voting for Te Akau Shark or his stablemate Melody Belle, two highly progressive four-year-olds trained by Jamie Richards in the North Island’s Waikato region.
“None of us know how the voting will pan out, which is just one of the many reasons why The All-Star Mile is such an exciting concept,” said Greg Carpenter, RV’s Executive General Manager – Racing.
“Whilst I’m sure the horses entered by the powerful stables of Darren Weir, Lindsay Park, Chris Waller and Godolphin will inevitably prove popular, we would encourage all interstate racing fans to vote for their All-Stars.
“The $500,000 prize fund on offer to fans who vote is an added incentive for people to go to the new All-Star Mile website and get behind their favourite horse.”
For a full list of the terms and conditions and for details on how to vote, please visit www.allstarmile.com.au from Monday, 21 January.