The big guns step out and spring is on in earnest when the Memsie (1400m WFA) rolls around and what a cracking field we have in 2025 for the first G1 of the Southern spring with 11 runners and 10 are G1 winners!
Nevertheless a late winter front has arrived in Melbourne - so wet ground, a cold day and the wind blasting over Caulfield are the conditions in store - the season hasn't turned just yet!
Inaugurated in 1899, the first Memsie was a mile race won by Veneda.
From 1900 to 1980 the distance was 1800m, except for the years 1971-79 when it reverted to a mile.
Always a high profile race, since 1980 it has been a 1400m sprint, and from 2013 a G1 feature.
Kiwi gelding Lord, the “King of Caulfield” made the race his own with a historic four-peat in the years 1958 -61.
21 of Lord's 28 wins were at Caulfield and they also included two Orr Stakes, three Caulfield Stakes, two St Georges and an Underwood!
Champions Eurythmic and Ajax won three Memsies while Heroic, Waltzing Lily, Comic Court, Coppice, Yangtze, Sunline and Behemoth won two.
Phar Lap saluted in 1931, and Artilleryman, Tranquil Star, Gothic, Hall Mark, Rising Fast, Galilee, Manikato, Dane Ripper, Naturalism and Rubiton all got the chockies.
In recent years stars like El Segundo, Miss Finland, Weekend Hussler, So You Think, Makybe Diva, Atlantic Jewel, Black Heart Bart and Humidor have triumphed.
This year Lindsay Park warhorse Mr Brightside (Bullbars) attempts to become the only horse in history to claim non-consecutive wins, after his victory in 2023 - while Pinstriped (Street Boss) attempts to join the list of dual winners after beating Mr Brightside in 2024.
A tough task because this is a great field!
It’s risky to be leaving out the favourite at time of writing Another Wil ( Street Boss) given his first up / course record.
I do wonder if he’s a better horse on dry ground and thinking the same about Tom Kitten (Harry Angel), though both have won on soft.
Antino is on a Cox Plate mission after making a mess of them in Brisbane and loves wet, but is 1400m a touch short for the imposing son of Redwood?
Treasurethe Moment (Alabama Express) resumes and takes the big step up. Given she has barely put a hoof wrong in 11 starts and looked like a superstar in her last 8, it would be no shock if she came out on top.
I can give Zardozi (Kingman) a sneaky chance on her beloved soft ground, resuming for her new stable.
Last year's winner Pinstriped (Street Boss) is unfancied, probably prefers dry, but has to be respected.
Is It Me (Iffraaj) is the “bolter” of the field. He does look outclassed, but the genuine speedster carries weight well and likes wet tracks.
I've come up with
Top Tip: MR BRIGHTSIDE
It is a massive ask for any horse to go against the grain of history, but Mr Brightside is a unicorn. He reminds me of a modern-day Lord! Except the big striding Lord hated The Valley and never ran in a Cox Plate, while Brightside is aiming at his fourth.
I think Willo and the old boy can bag G1 number 10. Alarmingly for rivals, the Hayes stable recently suggested that the failed HK trip may have rejuvenated the horse, as travelling can do. At age eight, could Brightside bloom again?
Rain will work in his favour I believe, surely he will appreciate a bit of give in the ground these days, and his record on soft tracks is super.
So is his record at Caulfield, where he is only once unplaced from 11 starts, and he's never been unplaced at the 1400 with 6 wins and 2 seconds from 8 starts.
With $17 million plus in the bank, Mr Brightside’s career is truly one of the great rags-to-riches tales.
There are horses which spring from unfashionable matings which give no obvious clue to the greatness embedded within the foal-to-be.
But Mr Brightside isn't really one of them - he just slipped through the cracks. His fourth dam is Cambridge Stud's original Blue Hen Taiona by Sovereign Edition, and his dam Lilahjay was foaled there.
Thanks to the deeds of her great son Lilahjay was awarded NZTBA Broodmare Of The Year, following in the hoofsteps of Taiona who won that great honour twice.
Lilahjay by Tavistock is out of the unplaced Keeper mare Keepable, a half sister to 3 x G1 winning mare Foxwood. Their dam Delia's Choice by Sir Tristram was a winning full sister out of Taiona, to G1 winners and champions Gurner's Lane and Sovereign Red and top mare Trichelle, from a family littered with black type performers.
Lilahjay sold for $3,000 online with this pedigree and with her only foal to race at that time already a 2 x sprint winner in HK. Hindsight is a gift!
Mr Brightside was bred by Ray Johnson in partnership with his late wife Martha, and sold as a yearling for $22,000 at the 2019 NZB May Sale. He failed to meet his $50,000 reserve when offered at the NZB Ready to Run Sale and karma was looking after Ray when he bought his horse back on gavelhouse.com for just $7,750!
Mr Brightside became the first G1 winner for ill-fated Tavistock as a broodmare sire,
His own sire Bullbars is out of Blue Hen Accessories by Singspiel ( so a half brother to Helmet, Epaulette, Pearls, Pericles and Lavalier)
He is one of three stakeswinners by his sire and the best by panels.
Mr Brightside gets much of his brilliant turn of foot from his grandsire, the American sprint bullet Elusive Quality.
Mr Brightside is bred
Northern Dancer 5m x 5m
Sir Ivor 5f x 5m sex balanced
Sadler's Wells 5m x 4m
He is linebred to Nasrullah through Secretariat, Blushing Groom, Nashua and Grey Sovereign (and his three quarter brother Nimbus).
Keeper is important here, as he traces to the same taproot as Grey Sovereign and Nimbus, and is bred x 2 to His Majesty over Secretariat - while Elusive Quality carries His Majesty's full brother Graustark, and is bred x 2 to Secretariat.
Craig Williams just has to get his old mate in a good rhythm from barrier 9. Stablemate Here To Shock will go forward, possibly with Treasurethe Moment? - with Mr Brightside in striking distance!
Next Best: FANGIRL
Where Mr Brightside was the ultimate bargain, Fangirl is a homebred for the Ingham family and is bred in the purple by champion Sebring out of the stakes winning Encosta de Lago daughter Little Surfer Girl. This is the family of 3 x G1 winning mare Special Harmony (Spinning World) in turn a daughter of the great WA broodmare Marooned Lady.
Fangirl is thus closely related to WA turf stars Redwoldt (Karrakatta Plate), King Canute (Perth Cup) and She's Fit (WA Oaks). Her younger half sister by Wootton Bassett, Belle Wahine is in the Waller stable and placed at her first race start last month.
This family traces to Zanzara (dam of the mighty NZ sire Showdown) and that mare's second dam Democratie is ancestress of Red Ransom, Dubai Destination, Librettist and Agnes World.
Fangirl is bred
Northern Dancer
5f x 4m,5m sex balanced
Mr Prospector 5m,5f x 5f sex balanced
Blue Hen Rolls 4m x 4f sex balanced
Blue Hen Special x5f,5m sex balanced
What a beautifully calibrated pedigree, and boy didn’t it pay off.
Fangirl is shooting here for G1 number 5. This is her first start at Caulfield but she has raced so well in Melbourne before.
A great first up performer, she could easily have a couple more G1s on her CV over shorter trips if she hadn't met the monster that was Anamoe at the height of his powers!
The main concern here is rain. She goes well on soft tracks but Fangirl is no fan of heavy. It doesn't seem likely to get that bad underfoot though. Mark Zahra hops aboard the Waller supermare for the first time, and has options from barrier 5.
Roughie: HERE TO SHOCK
Gee the Melbourne Cup winner of 2009 can get a good horse - and while he has thrown the quality stayers you'd expect, some have a lethal turn of foot at short trips. Shocking's brilliant and ill fated son I’m Thunderstruck was a narrow second to Snapdancer in the Memsie of 2022.
Here To Shock is already a runaway G1 1400m winner in NZ and was second to Royal Patronage in the G1 Canterbury Stakes. He's beaten G1 winner Gringotts over 1400m at Rosehill, and won the G3 BRC Sprint at Doomben.
He is tough as, carries big weights and has a little fitness edge here, being second up at which his stats are excellent. Here To Shock likes soft tracks and he was great first up behind the old champ Private Eye at this course, signalling that he's back in fine fettle.
Here To Shock's dam is the Lonhro mare Frescoes, a three quarter sister to G1 winning sprinter Mental.
His third dam is Biscay’s G1 winner Shaybisc who became a brilliant producer for the old Ingham owned Woodlands Stud.
Her descendants included the triple G1 winner Freemason - who famously fought off Northerly in the 2003 BMW, in a memorably brutal race.
This immediate family also boasts the durable sprinters Debrief, Bradshaw, Tarzi and Undue.
Here To Shock is bred
Mr Prospector 4m x 5m
Danzig 4m x 5m
Notably Shocking is a (very) distant relative to Biscay, and Street Cry a slightly less distant relative to Sir Dane carried by Shaybisc!
Here To Shock was a $70,000 Slade Bloodstock buy from Karaka Book 1 in 2019, one of the Cambridge Stud draft. He has now earned just under $3 million in his 38 starts, and true to his bloodlines he isn't showing any sign of slowing down yet!
Here To Shock and Dan Stackhouse know each other well and have tasted success at G3 level over this course. He'll be up there and hard to get past without a fight.
Blowout: BUCKAROO
The burning question is, did Buckaroo's Melbourne Cup run blow a gasket? The son of Fastnet Rock didn't stay the trip. He could have put up the white flag, but gave all to the line in a display of great heart.
A query not often directed at Waller runners - slightly sacreligious even- so well are his horses managed at all ages and stages of their careers. I'm putting my faith in the genius trainer to have Buckaroo back on track this spring.
His Autumn was blah and his first up record doesn't look flash, but actually it's better than it appears.
Buckaroo loves Caulfield and both runs here have been exceptional - the G1 Underwood win at WFA, and a gutsy second in the Caulfield Cup on soft 6.
Buckaroo is bred
Northern Dancer 4m, 5m x 4m
Blue Hen Natalma 5m,5f x 5m sex balanced
Of course it's the Fastnet Rock / Galileo combination that gives us the likes of Via Sistina!
Buckaroo's dam brings an important nick to Natalma x 2 in Danehill, through half sister Cosmah.
Linebreeding to the great Buckpasser, to Mr Prospector and to Mr Prospector's sire Raise A Native are a feature.
Buckaroo's dam Roheryn was a classy performer and her family goes back to the highly inbred mare Shady by Broomstick - from Sylvan, who was a half sister to the Ascot Gold Cup winner Elf, the dam of Broomstick!
Broomstick mares abound in Fastnet Rock's pedigree - Natalma, Nijinsky's damsire Bull Page and Royal Academy descend from his daughters These lines occur in combination with Sir Gallahad and Bull Dog who hail from another branch of the family (16)
From yet another branch we find Buckaroo's linebreeding to Blue Hen Lea Lark by Bull Lea through three quarter sisters Lea Lane (ancestress of Miswaki) and Shama (ancestress of Southern Halo).
This horse always trials quietly and isn't the swiftest out of the gates. But Caulfield is a great swoopers track and if he can get revved up early enough the turn of foot is there!
He does have residual fitness and that first up Autumn run was pretty unlucky, he never got clear running - but I think Bucky might be a Spring horse.
Buckaroo jumps from barrier 7 for Jye McNeill, who rides him for the first time.
