The Australian public have made their choice on which horses will compete in the inaugural $5 million The All-Star Mile, with the top 10 vote-getters – plus the first wildcard – officially revealed at Flemington this morning (Thursday, 21 February).
The top 10 are headlined by proven Group 1 performers Grunt (trained by Mick Price), Alizee (James Cummings) and three-year-old filly Amphitrite (Lindsay Park), who made a dramatic late charge up The All-Star Mile leaderboard following her dominant win in the Group 3 TAB Vanity (1400m) at Flemington last weekend.
Between them, the top-class trio have amassed five wins at racing’s highest level and accrued almost $3.4 million in prizemoney. Grunt, unbeaten over 1600m at Flemington, received 7,097 votes and was the third most popular horse with the Australian public.
He was followed closely in the polls by Sydney mare Alizee, who is aiming for her fourth straight win in Saturday’s Group 1 Yulong Futurity Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield. The in-form four-year-old finished in fourth place on 6,744 votes, with Group 1 Thousand Guineas (1600m) winner Amphitrite in fifth on 5,784.
A total of 139,426 validated eligible votes were received for The All-Star Mile which will be run at Flemington on Saturday, 16 March 2019. The top 10 vote-getters to accept their position in the world’s richest mile race are as follows:
1. Balf’s Choice (Ryan Balfour, SA) 9,793
2. Urban Ruler (Chris Munce, QLD) 8,428
3. Grunt (Mick Price, VIC) 7,097
4. Alizee (James Cummings, NSW) 6,744
5. Amphitrite (David & Ben Hayes & Tom Dabernig, VIC) 5,784
6. Foundry (Terry Kelly, VIC) 5,558
7. Material Man (Justin Warwick, WA) 5,358
8. Man of His Word (Dean Krongold, VIC) 5,135
9. Moss ‘n’ Dale (Peter Gelagotis, VIC) 5,072
10. Mr Money Bags (Robbie Griffiths, VIC) 5,013
The first of four All-Star Mile wildcards was also announced today, with the Pat Webster-trained Happy Clapper chosen to fill the 11th place in the starting line-up.
“To receive near on 140,000 validated eligible votes is a resounding endorsement of The All-Star Mile and shows that Australian sports fans have embraced the concept in its first year,” Racing Victoria (RV) Chief Executive, Giles Thompson, said.
“We’re particularly pleased that 45% of our voters were female and that people within the 25 to 34 year-old age group were the most active, accounting for a quarter of all validated eligible votes.
“This is a unique race and from the moment the voting opened we have seen tremendous engagement, with owners and trainers coming up with new and inventive ways to encourage people to vote for their horses.
“The top 10 reflects the views of the Australian public and it’s terrific that a wide cross-section of racing participants now have the opportunity to compete in a $5 million race. The fact that horses from five different states have been voted into The All-Star Mile ensures that it will be a truly national race.
“We are also pleased to announce today that the first wildcard has been allocated to Happy Clapper who is the second highest-rated horse in the southern hemisphere and showed his class with a terrific second to Winx last weekend.
“RV and the VRC look forward to welcoming all racing fans to Flemington on 16 March for what is going to be an intriguing All-Star Mile and an entertaining day trackside.”
Victoria Racing Club (VRC) Chief Executive Officer, Neil Wilson, added: “The enthusiasm both nationally and internationally for The All-Star Mile voting phase has been incredible and has captured the imagination of so many including stars of the screen in John Cleese and sporting heroes in Shane Warne and Dustin Martin.
“In its first year, receiving 130 nominations, over 1.5 million website page views and close to 140,000 validated eligible votes is an exceptional result for The All-Star Mile, and we are honoured to play a role in today’s announcement of the top 10 vote-getters and the first wildcard.
“On behalf of the Victorian racing industry, the VRC is delighted to host the inaugural The All-Star Mile Raceday as part of our incredible month of Group 1 racing in March including the Australian Guineas on Saturday 2nd, the TAB Australian Cup and Seppelt Newmarket Handicap on Saturday 9th and culminating in The All-Star Mile on Saturday 16th.
“Flemington will celebrate these three exciting days of racing by creating a very special Carnival atmosphere including food, wine, family fun and live entertainment.”
In addition to New South Wales-trained Alizee, three other interstate raiders will also take their places in the world’s richest mile race. They include the Ryan Balfour-trained Balf’s Choice, who rode a wave of South Australian support to finish on top of the leaderboard with an impressive 9,793 votes.
Connections of Balf’s Choice, named in memory of Balfour’s late father David, enlisted the help of Andrew “Cosi” Costello, who presents the popular South Aussie With Cosi travel show on Channel 9, to drive their successful campaign to get the six-year-old into the field.
Similarly, Urban Ruler’s army of 800 owners helped the Queensland galloper, who is trained by former Group 1-winning jockey Chris Munce, finish second in the polls with 8,428 votes after shooting to the lead on day one of voting.
The fourth and final interstate contender, West Australian Material Man, boasts impressive credentials with seven of his 14 career victories coming at either Group or Listed level including the 2018 Perth Cup (2400m).
The seven-year-old, who has amassed more than $1.6 million in prizemoney and will be back in action in this weekend’s Futurity Stakes, will be ridden in The All-Star Mile by trainer Justin Warwick’s daughter, 21-year-old Lucy.
Concerted social media campaigns helped boost the profiles of Man of His Word (trained in Mornington by Dean Krongold) and Mr Money Bags (trained at Cranbourne by Robbie Griffiths), who finished in eighth and 10th place respectively.
Sam Lyons, managing owner of Man of His Word, ran an online competition to give two winners a 4.5 per cent share each in the six-year-old, who stands to win $2.25 million if he takes out The All-Star Mile.
Griffiths Racing also offered incentives to vote for Mr Money Bags, with a meet and greet and membership to Cranbourne Turf Club amongst the initiatives which helped attract 5,013 votes for the four-year-old, a feature winner over the Flemington mile.
Regional support ensured that Group 1 winner Foundry, who was formerly owned by six-time Melbourne Cup winner Lloyd Williams but is now trained at Cogshill Creek by Terry Kelly, and Moss ‘n’ Dale, prepared by Moe trainer Peter Gelagotis, remained inside the top 10 when The All-Star Mile polls closed at 12 noon on Monday.
Connections of Foundry, a lightly-raced nine-year-old with career earnings of $690,000, ran a competition at the Ballarat Rodeo shortly after voting opened on 21 January which helped gain some early momentum for their grand warrior, who eventually finished sixth in The All-Star Mile polls with 5,558 votes.
Similarly, the people of Moe and the wider Gippsland community, rallied around Moss ‘n’ Dale, a winner of the Sale Cup over a mile, to elevate him into ninth place and provide apprentice jockey Jack Martin with the possibility of his biggest career ride.
Happy Clapper just missed out on automatic qualification for The All-Star Mile, finishing in 12th place in the public vote with 4,241 votes, but he was the unanimous choice of the selection panel as the race’s first wildcard.
One of the country’s most popular gallopers having won three Group 1s and collected almost $6.5 million in prizemoney for his owner-breeder Michael Thomas, Happy Clapper bounced back to form in last Saturday’s Group 2 Apollo Stakes (1400m) – where he finished runner-up behind the mighty mare Winx for a fourth time.
The remaining three wildcards will be announced by RV on or before Monday, 4 March with the winner of Saturday’s Futurity Stakes at Caulfield, along with the Australian Guineas (1600m) and Blamey Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on 2 March, to come under strong consideration.