The Winx Stakes was an awesome spectacle to get the 2027 racing season rolling, and now we turn to the first Victorian G1 of the year, the MRC Memsie Stakes.
A different cast of characters tackle this 1400m WFA carnival springboard, but an equally exciting race looms in prospect with a mix of established big guns and stars on the rise vying to establish their spring credentials!
Inaugurated all the way back in 1899, the first Memsie was a mile race won by a stallion named Veneda. He was a son of Musket's beautifully bred son Escutcheon who was out of a half sister to the legendary racer and sire Bend Or.
Veneda also won the Oakleigh Plate and All Aged Stakes so he was a pretty handy type and might have been expected to do well in the stud, but that wasn't the case.
From 1900 all the way up to 1980 the Memsie ran at 1800m, except for the years 1971-79 when it reverted to a mile. Many legends of the turf found their way onto the winners list!
The great Eurythmic three- peated in 1920-21-22 and Heroic went back to back in 1925- 26. =
Gothic, Phar Lap and Hall Mark were among the next few standout victors until Heroic's mighty son Ajax went one better than his dad to record three straight Memsies in 1938, ‘39 and ‘40.
Comic Court won two in 1949- 50 but it was the Kiwi gelding Lord, the “King of Caulfield” who 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!
Always a high profile race, in 1980 the Memsie Stakes was reborn as a 1400m sprint, and from 2013 it has been a G1 feature of the early southern spring.
Apart from those mentioned above, Waltzing Lily, Coppice, Yangtze, Sunline and Behemoth hold the distinction of two Memsie wins.
The honour roll for this historic race bears timeless names like Artilleryman, Tranquil Star, Rising Fast, Galilee and - since 1980 - Manikato, Dane Ripper, Naturalism, Rubiton, Makybe Diva. Miss Finland, Weekend Hussler, So You Think and Atlantic Jewel, who comprise a selection of the best of the great gallopers to add a Memsie to their CV.
Horses in form can be hard to get past, but punters watch keenly to assess who has returned best from a spell. The connections of Cox Plate, Caulfield and Melbourne Cup contenders want to see a big Memsie run to fan the flames of their dreams!
As always this is such an intriguing contest. For the fourth straight year, Lindsay Park's redoubtable warhorse Mr Brightside (Bullbars) contests the race. The now nine year old won in 2023 and has been runner up in both editions since. While seven and eight year olds have featured quite prominently in past Memsies, nine year olds haven’t, and rather remarkably despite the list of repeat winners no horse has ever won this race in non-consecutive years.
Brightside hasn't raced since last spring, after an injury prevented him from appearing in the autumn, so fair to say the odds are stacked against the old boy at what will be his 49th race start. But you don't write off a 10 x G1 winner - under any circumstances.
Last year Treasurethe Moment (Alabama Express) unleashed a powerhouse finish to beat Brighty and must rate as a top chance again. News out of her camp is that she isn't quite as forward for this first up assignment, and is a bigger, stronger and more relaxed mare this time in.
The dual Oaks winner and Cox Plate placed galloper looks set for a good campaign, but I’m thinking her first winning Moment might come further into it this spring.
Likewise Waller warhorse Buckaroo (Fastnet Rock), a distant third when second up in the Memsie last year. He went on to run the race of his life when second to Via in the Cox Plate, then flopped badly in a second Melbourne Cup bid. Bucky was back in the autumn to run second in the G1 Futurity so he likes this track and distance - but he's coming off a much longer break this time. You wouldn't be shocked to see this grand racehorse get up though.
Distance specialists Jimmysstar ( Per Incanto), Beiwacht ( Bivouac) and the G3 PB Lawrence hero Cosmic Crusader ( Maurice ) loom large and dangerous.
Will Angel Capital ever win a G1 ?
Yulong's high profile son of Harry Angel gets another prime opportunity here, and does have a fitness edge second up. How many times have punters ( including me) been burned by this guy, who has so much talent and frustratingly, never runs a bad race!
Angel does love Caulfield but I don’t particularly like the wet track for him so this time I’m leaving him out - therefore Sod’s Law dictates that he probably wins.
Chris Waller's other contenders are G1 winners Autumn Boy ( The Autumn Sun) who has the Sheza Alibi form, say no more - and the Doomben Cup hero Birdman ( Free Eagle) - I expect to see both of these motoring late straight into the blackbook if they weren't there already.
Another gifted son of Harry Angel is Tom Kitten. I always saw Tom as a Cox Plate horse in the making, but he seems to achieve his optimum performance at a mile. Nevertheless he is G1 placed at WFA this course and distance when first up, and has the rails draw.
Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr love nothing more than to cause a boilover in a G1 race and the wily trainers will saddle up Memsie outsiders Planet Red ( Admire Mars) and Sabaj (Manhattan Rain). A likely target for both gallopers is the G1 Toorak under handicap conditions, and this might be too rich. But from day one I've been a fan of Planet Red, I see a bit of X factor there and I suspect he might prefer a softer track. He's twice G1 Guineas placed so the big boy's got a touch of class and I can see him ripping off a big fresh run!
With the track rated Slow 7 on Thursday and with Melbourne staying fine but cold until a (possible) shower or two on Saturday afternoon, I have guesstimated a Soft 5 /6 surface with genuine give.
Top Pick: JIMMYSSTAR
It's all systems go for three time G1 winner Jimmy, who returns to Melbourne for the first time since his first up seventh in the G1 William Reid in the autumn.
He was competitive but wasn't seen at his brilliant best all campaign, unplaced in both subsequent 1200m runs but third in the 1400 All Aged behind Beiwacht - his best effort until rounding the prep off nicely with a gutsysecond to the flying Headley Grange in the G1 Kingsford Smith over 1300m.
At this stage of his career 1400m first up looks perfect.
1400m at Caulfield is definitely Jimmy's go, with three wins from four starts over the course including his G1 CF Orr triumph at WFA last spring.
The Brisbane campaign does give him a valuable fitness edge on some of his classiest rivals here, and the son of Per Incanto loves a bit of give underfoot.
Jimmy has trialled beautifully leading in, prompting trainer Ciaron Maher to say
“His two jumpouts have been very sharp this prep, and I’m just rapt with the way he’s come up. He’s full of running and zinging up in pretty slick times, and he hasn’t been asked to do anything, either…..”
Good enough for me and clearly this is majority-think, because Jimmy is installed as $4.40 favourite in the Memsie market!=
Now seven, Jimmysstar's career stats read 28 -11 - 5 - 4 for earnings of $8,821,272.
Jimmysstar was bred by Wairarapa couple Pete and Chrissy Algie in partnership with Little Avondale Stud, who stand his remarkable sire Per Incanto (Street Cry).
Little Avondale Stud proprietors Sam and Catriona Williams, along with the Algies, remain in the ownership of the gifted galloper they bred from Anniesstar - a daughter of the amazing Zabeel son Zed.
Anniestar won five races including the Listed Feilding Gold Cup (2100m), while her full-brother Jacksstar was a G2 winner and also placed in the G1 Auckland Cup (3200m)
Jimmysstar’s second dam is Star Guest by the champion racehorse and sire Pentire, who frequently passed on a brilliant turn of foot to his progeny, who performed over all distances.
Jimmy's classy female line is Argentinian-bred and descends through the G1 winning mare Love's Hope, who goes back to the great Argentine foundation mare Ante Diem (by Carbine's sire Musket) exported from GB in 1884.
She became the ancestress of at least 19 Argentinian Classic winners, including the 1931 Triple Crown legend Mineral. Hers is a branch of family 9-g which is one of several families descending from Maid Of Masham (9-e) the most successful being the prolific 9-f tribe.
Anniesstar produced four foals, three of them winners, including Jimmy's full sister Charms Star (G3 Manawatu Breeders’ Stakes, runner-up G1 New Zealand Oaks and G1 QLD Oaks).
From modest beginnings as an Italian-raced G3 winning sprinter with a service fee set at $4000, Jimmysstar's sire Per Incanto has risen to great heights.
The son of Street Cry from the stakes winning Indian Ridge mare Pappa Reale keeps up a stream of elite performers and is also the damsire of the fastest racehorse on the planet, Ka Ying Rising.
Jimmysstar is bred
Northern Dancer 5m x 5m
Sir Ivor 5f x 5m sex balanced
Notably Street Cry and Pentire share the same ancestress in far removes, the matriarch Illuminata (family 1-l)
An outstanding feature of Jimmy's pedigree is sex balanced linebreeding to Klairon - tail male ancestor of Per Incanto's damsire Indian Ridge, and carried by Anniestar as damsire of both Star Way and Zed's ancestress Klairessa, the dam of the legend Eight Carat.
Jimmy is linebred to Blue Hens and three quarter sisters Natalma and Cosmah, and sex balanced to another in Boudoir, through her son Your Host and daughter Flower Bowl.
This pedigree boasts duplications of the sires Petition, Alibhai, Never Bend, Hail To Reason, Grey Sovereign and of mighty War Relic, who was bred 3m x 3m to Blue Hen Fairy Gold - her fourth dam was Maid Of Masham, Jimmysstar's own ancestress.
Big Jimmy and Ethan Brown should be in clear air at the right time from barrier 8 and they will be looking to power over the top of them late!
Next Best: COSMIC CRUSADER
Like Jimmysstar, Bob Peter's latest elite performer was born in NZ - but West Aussies are happy to claim him for their own!
The Cox Plate is the ultimate spring goal for the exciting 6YO son of Maurice, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Cosmic Crusader could not have been more impressive in winning his first two stakes races in the east on a soft Caulfield track. I'm not concerned about him staying at 1400m third up - he dropped back from his G1 WFA win in the 1800m Northerly to the 1400m Gold Rush at Ascot last December, and it took as good a horse as Rey Magnerio to narrowly deny him that prize as well.
Recent Northerly (the old Kingston Town Stakes) winners include Light Infantry Man, Amelia's Jewel and Arcadia Queen.
Ironically, Northerly never won the race himself! The last Cox Plate winner to salute was Better Loosen Up in 1989, and before him came “The King” and the blaze faced champ Family Of Man (twice)
Cosmic Crusader has been very patiently handled, and commenced his career with Michael Grantham before being transferred to Andrea Leek for his eastern states mission.
His stunning display of elite and sustained speed to win the Northerly left little doubt that he would have proven hard to beat in Ascot’s glamour mile, the G1 Railway Stakes, but he just missed the ballot.
As it stands, the flashy gelding is the veteran of just 19 starts which have yielded 10 wins and 5 placings for earnings of more than $1.8 million.
Cosmic Crusader is the seventh individual G1 winner for Arrowfield's outstanding and versatile stallion Maurice, the 6 x G1 winner ( 3 x HK) being the best performed Japanese racehorse ever to stand outside his home country.
Cosmic Crusader is the best of two winners from the classy Street Sense (USA) mare Cosmic Storm, who was also bred and raced by Bob Peters, winning seven races including the G3 WATC La Trice Classic.
Cosmic Storm is a half sister to dual Melbourne GI winner Superstorm and a full sister to SW Royal Command, being from the multiple WA /SA Group winner Stormy Nova, a daughter of the great broodmare sire Metal Storm.
Stormy Nova was originally owned by Peters Investments, but bred her last three foals for Oakland Park Stud.
Cosmic Crusader is bred
Northern Dancer 5m x 5m
Mr Prospector x5m,5m
His damsire Street Sense was a sensation on the track becoming the first ever colt to take the Breeders Cup Juvenile / Kentucky Derby double, and the son of breedshaper Street Cry from the family of Danehill Dancer has unsurprisingly been a stud success.
Street Sense shuttled to Australia and Japan for Darley, siring G1 winners Hallowed Crown, Sense Of Occasion and the elite mares Politeness and Dixie Blossoms in Oz.
He also became damsire of the ill fated champion Roaring Lion.
Street Sense had a big nick with Zabeel and his family, so easy to see the appeal of Maurice for Cosmic's dam, he being out of a daughter of Zabeel's close relative Carnegie.
One of the most notable aspects of Stormy Nova's pedigree was her 4f x 5f breeding to the excellent son of My Babu, Milesian. His family (22-a) is one to which Maurice's damline is extensively linebred including via a line to Primero, the full brother to Milesian's second dam Athasi.
Another fantastic nick is Cosmic Storm's dual lines to Delta Judge - his daughters produced both Street Sense's damsire Dixieland Band and her own second damsire Protos.
Delta Judge is a close relation of Roberto, the tail male ancestor of Maurice.
Cosmic Storm carries sex balanced lines to Blue Hen Costa Sola by Worden, the ancestress of Street Cry and dam of Sun Prince - her fifth dam was sired by his son Moon Sammy.
Maurice brings multiple lines of Worden's close relative Norseman.
Cosmic Crusader is linebred to Halo,his dam Cosmah and her half sister Natalma as well as to Halo's sire Hail To Reason.
His pedigree also creates duplications of His Majesty and Riverman and (through the latter's sire Never Bend and Sadler's Wells), of Blue Hen Lalun.
Bob Peters has plenty of faith in the mating of Maurice over Cosmic Storm and she has visited him seven times despite missing a couple of seasons and losing a filly shortly after birth in 2024. Cosmic Crusader's little brother named Cosmic Icon is yet to race and Cosmic Storm was served again by Maurice last season.
Newly minted WA Hall Of Fame jockey Willie Pike is riding high and will pilot Cosmic Crusader from barrier 11, which launched last year's winner.
I see this gate as an advantage for the big-striding galloper.
Roughie: MR BRIGHTSIDE
It’s a bit insulting to call our beloved Mr B a roughie, but he’s at double figure odds at time of writing and statistically speaking, he deserves to be.
But there’s statistics - and then there’s great horses, and Mr Brightside is a great horse. Yet another elite performer to come out of the Shaky Isles!
Possibly en route to his fourth Cox Plate, Lindsay Park's ageless warrior will attempt to notch up G1 number eleven.
Soft ground will work in his favour and so will his record at Caulfield, where the son of Bullbars is only once unplaced from 12 starts, and he's never been out of the money in 9 starts at this track and distance.
With almost $19 million 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 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.
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 mare 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.
I'm enthused by the news from Team Hayes that Brighty has done more work than usual and is more tuned up than he has previously been for this first up run, and as his first up record is fantastic anyway I reckon the old marvel will be putting himself in the finish once again, and the crowd will be going nuts.
Willo and Mr B shirk no challenge and they've got one here against a crack Memsie field! They'll go forward from gate 9.
Blowout: PLANET RED
Planet Red, who is a stunner, is built in the image of his sire, the Arrowfield shuttler Admire Mars - an undefeated juvenile in Japan and later a champion miler, with his international success coming in the 2019 G1 Hong Kong Mile.
Admire Mars sired the dual Japanese G1 winning Classic filly Embroidery from his first crop and Planet Red is the best of his Australian runners to date.
Twice a G1 Guineas runner up, Planet Red was certainly bred on both sides to win a 3YO Classic and he went close to following the pedigree script!
From what we've seen he's a good fresh horse and also a horse that needs speed on in his races, which leads me to think the now four year old will be suited by the set up here. What about class factor, we'll soon find out but formlines around Observer and Autumn Boy merit respect.
The lightly raced Planet Red is the veteran of 8 starts which have yielded 2 wins and 4 placings ( twice a G1 runner up) for earnings of $863,375.
The uber- canny Mick Price selected Planet Red out of the 2024 Karaka Ready To Run sale, and paid $260,000 for the big red gelding offered by Ohukia Lodge.
I’m really on the Kiwi theme here but, as with Japan - we are used to seeing a production line of formidable stayers from both nations, but thanks largely to the Classic depth of their broodmare populations, they also breed sprinter-milers that are absolute powerhouses!
Red Planet is the third foal from his winning dam Lucky Helmet, by champion Helmet and a three quarter sister to stakes winner Koala Bear.
Planet Red is bred
Singspiel 4f x 4f
And this linebreeding to the globetrotting superhorse and brilliant broodmare sire is something I'd love to see more of!
Planet Red's damsire Helmet was a genuine freak too. An overall disappointment at stud, he did become a G1 sire, and as a member of the famed “ Accessories” family his genetic potential to pop up in a G1 pedigree always lurks.
Blake Shinn and Planet Red have drawn barrier 2, and though the horse has a big turn of foot, he did win when first up over 1200m last prep sitting on speed, so tactics will be interesting!
That was his only start on soft ground too. I know Singspiel ( who performed admirably on soft himself ) very much got a rep as a sire of fast track performers but I think it's a huge generalisation. A lot of horses, especially the Japanese that are born and bred for firm ground, really like soft 5 - slow 7 tracks. Singspiel has appeared as damsire of superior wet trackers too ( also see Mr Brightside's sire Bullbars!).
