With apologies to Jane Austen, it is a truth now seemingly acknowledged everywhere in the Australian racing industry that if you want a good chance of owning a group 1 winner then buy a filly at the yearling sales.
Pride of Jenni’s extraordinary display at Randwick last weekend when she turned one of the most hotly contested group one events of the season into a demonstration event was certainly not an outlier.
Granted, the plethora of leading riders aboard her rivals collectively made an egregious error of judgement by letting her streak clear of the field when she was running steady fractions over the 2000 metre trip of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. They have had to wear the embarrassment and criticism that followed.
But Jenni was simply rubber stamping a trend that has become increasingly evident over the past few decades, that fillies and mares seem to be winning a far greater share of elite races than in the past.
Imperatriz, despite her defeats in the Newmarket Handicap and the TJ Smith Stakes, was the dominant sprinter of the season, while Pride of Jenni has established herself as not just the best miler but probably the best 2000 metre horse in the country too. Even the runner up in the Queen Elizabeth franked the female record at the highest level as the expensively purchased import Via Sistina is another top race mare.
Amongst the two year olds the fillies trend has persisted this year too , with Lady of Camelot winning the Golden Slipper having previously run a close second in Victoria’s top two year old race, the Blue Diamond, to outsider Hayasugi. Of course the winner was another filly.
Winx, Black Caviar, Makybe Diva – all the most recent champions of the Australian turf – not to mention previous horse of the year winners like Verry Elleegant and Typhoon Tracy were all mares. Perhaps only So You Think and Nature Strip amongst the males can claim to have achieved anything close to the level of the first three mentioned.
The trend is perfectly illustrated in Saturday’s Randwick feature, the Group 1 All Aged Stakes over 1400 metres.
In most markets four of the top six in the betting – headed by favourites Espiona and Sunshine in Paris – are mares.
While Private Eye and the untapped three year old colt Southport Typhoon are also being kept safe by punters the other two of the top six, Magic Time and Chain of Lightning, are also mares.
The latter is much improved in recent months with victories in the TJ Smith and Birthday Card Stakes in her last two starts, in the TJ Smith beating another mare, Bella Nipotina, into second place.
Southport Tycoon is perhaps the most interesting runner in this contest.
He is dropping back in distance having been freshened up since his last start seven weeks ago, when he won the group 1 Australian Guineas at Flemington. The runner up that day, Veight, enhanced that form when beating 17 others home in the group 1 George Ryder Stakes at the beginning of the autumn carnival at Rosehill.
If there is a male to break the female dominance then Ciaron Maher’s chestnut son of Written Tycoon might be the one with an upwardly mobile profile to make his mark. At the very least he will give us more evidence about how this year’s three year old crop match up against their elders – male and female.
*Michael Lynch is a former senior racing writer with the Melbourne Age and Sydney Morning Herald..
