Mr B SHOOTING FOR A FOURTH MAKYBE
By Craig Brennan - Racing And Sports
L indsay Park legend Mr Brightside will look to maintain a perfect record in an early season Group 1 race at Flemington. Mr Brightside has run in the Crown Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m), run at Flemington on Saturday, for the past three years, posting wins on each occasion. In his first victory he defeated Alligator Blood before running down Pride Of Jenni in 2024 and last year defeating Aeliana. Behind Mr Brightside in his last two victories has been Via Sistina who would go on to capture the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley the following month both times. In Mr Brightside’s favour in his three victories has been small fields where the now nine-year-old has been able to ride the speed. And last year he crawled up front, running 1:38.75, sprinting home the last 600m in 32.66 seconds. This year’s field is double digits with 13 acceptors, but Mr Brightside has drawn ideally in gate two and with regular rider Craig Williams switching to Sir Delius, Blake Shinn takes the ride. Mr Brightside’s strength has been his longevity with 20 wins from 49 starts and a shade over $19 million in prizemoney. And he has largely been injury free, although a small bone chip in a fetlock kept the gelding from the track earlier in the year. It allowed Mr Brightside a longer than normal spell and a solid build up for his return run. JD Hayes, who trains the gelding in partnership with his brothers Ben and Will, described Mr Brightside as a ‘freak’ after his first-up second to Beiwacht in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on August 29. “He’s never let us down,” Hayes said.
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