WILDCARD HOPE

Mandela Effect still with All-Star chance

MANDELA Effect will need a wildcard for the All-Star Mile if Tasmania is to have an entry in the $5 million race.

When voting closed on Sunday night it is believed Mandela Effect was outside the top-10 vote scorers that are guaranteed a place in the AllStar Mile field of 15. But that doesn’t mean the Scott Brunier ton-trained gelding is out of the race that made fellow Tasmanian Mystic Journey a household name last year.

The winners of the Futurity Stakes and Blamey Stakes in Melbourne are guaranteed ballot-free entry into the AllStar Mile if they are nominated. But if the winner of each of those races is already in the top 10 and guaranteed entry into the big race, it would extend the number of wildcard entries by two. So, with five wildcards up for grabs, Mandela Effect could still snare a berth, especially if he wins the

Mowbray Stakes convincingly on Launceston Cup day.

Before the All-Star Mile voting was sent into lockdown with all votes hidden between last Friday Sunday, Mandela Effect had about 2200 votes and looked likely to need another 2000 votes to be guaranteed a place in the top 10. The top 10 will be announced by Racing Victoria around 2pm on Thursday with the wildcard entries to be announced on March 2.

However, it is not all bad news for Mandela Effect, with his usual rider, reigning prem

jockey Craig Newitt, being given a stay of proceedings pending his appeal against a two-meeting suspension incurred in Launceston last Wednesday night.

The stay will allow Newitt to ride South Australian threeyear-old Free of Debt in the Group 1 Oakleigh Plate (1200m) in which the colt will be handicapped to carry 50kg.

The stay also frees Newitt to ride at Sunday’s Tasmanian Oaks and Magic Millions meeting and on Launceston Cup day tomorrow week, where he will partner Exoteric in the Cup and smart three-year-old filly Deroche in the Group 3 Vamos Stakes for fillies and mares over 1400m.

Newitt was outed for two meetings on a careless riding charge in the ninth race in Launceston last Wednesday night where he partnered the Adam Trinder-trained Border Protection.

Stewards rated the interference in the high range and the carelessness in the mid-to low range.

Tasmanian thoroughbred chief steward Scott Quill said a date had yet to be confirmed for Newitt’s appeal but with Anthony Darmanin’s appeal against a one-meeting ban to be heard in Hobart on March 4, Newitt’s appeal may be heard the same day, which follows a Hobart meeting the previous day.

Newitt has been booked to ride Mandela Effect in the All-Star Mile at Caulfield on March 14 should he gain entry.