NEW STABLEMATES
O ne Group 1 race is steeped in history and tradition. Another is new and its story is unfolding. Together, they put the ‘Super’ into Super Saturday. In the dying days of Adelaide’s Cheltenham Racecourse, in the drought- stricken summer of early 2009, I heard a trainer tell his son that his life’s ambition was to win the VRC Newmarket Handicap at Flemington. Not the Cox Plate, nor the Golden Slipper, nor even the Melbourne Cup: it was to win the Newmarket. The reason was simple – the tradition of this rich race, and the chance to upset the favourites with an unheralded sprinter. That has always been the lure of the handicap as against set weight and weight-for-age races. The underdog gets a chance. A known champion must always carry extra, and if they win they prove true superiority. Black Caviar won the Newmarket in 2011 carrying more than weight-for-age and she set a new race record in the bargain. The gelding Shaftesbury Avenue, trained by Bart Cummings, similarly carried 58 kilograms to win in 1991, with five Group 1 victories behind him. The only horse in the past 70 years to win with a heavier weight was Gold Stakes, a son of Star Kingdom, in 1959, with 59 kg on his back. Mind you, no horse has ever won the Newmarket without being exceptional, combining speed with stamina to triumph down the famous Straight Six track. When the New Zealand mare Roch ‘N’ Horse won the 2022 Newmarket, her odds were 100–1, even though she had been runner-up in the previous year’s Black Caviar Lightning Stakes. If there was any doubt about her class, she proved herself during the 2022 Melbourne Cup Carnival, prevailing at weight-for-age against the best company to win the VRC Champions Sprint.
ABOVE: The finish of the 1903 Newmarket Handicap won on the outside rail by three-year-old filly, Chantress. (VRC Collection) OPPOSITE: The mighty Black Caviar steps out for her tenth career start carrying 58kg in the 2011 Newmarket Handicap. (Mark Dadswell/Getty Images)
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