Kiwis miss out in Miracle Mile
Lennytheshark has chomped his way through the All Stars trio to win the Miracle Mile at Menangle on Saturday night.
The All Stars stable of Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen won the first three Group I races on the programme, but when it came to the big one, they were circled by a tough and courageous Lennytheshark.
The David Aiken-trained Lennytheshark, who went down in a photo finish to Have Faith In Me in the 2016 version of the Miracle Mile, was not to be denied in 2017 and won the A$750,000 race by half a head.
The 50th running of the iconic race, provided Aiken and leading Australian reinsman Chris Alford with their first victory in the Group I race.
Without winning the Miracle Mile, the training effort of Purdon and Rasmussen was quite exceptional.
Not only was it a record to have three runners in the race from one stable - Smolda, Lazarus and Our Waikiki Beach filled places two, three and four.
Lennytheshark, the 2015 Perth Inter Dominion champion, sat parked outside stablemate Hectorjayjay for most of the 1609m trip, but his toughness saw him home despite a blistering finish from Smolda up the markers as Lazarus and Our Waikiki Beach charged home out wide.
Lennytheshark’s time of 1:49:2 was well outside Have Faith In Me’s record of 1:47.5 set in the same race last year.
Earlier in the night, the All Stars stable took out the trifecta in the Group I New South Wales Derby with Vincent beating home Ultimate Machete and Motu Meteor.
Vincent, in the hands of Purdon, handed up to Rasmussen and Ultimate Machete, but came off his back to race away and win by a length.
Motu Meteor was a further five and a half lengths back in third.
Unbeaten filly Partyon gave the All Stars team the perfect start to the night when she won the A$200,000 Group I New South Wales Oaks for the Breckon Farms-The Top Ten Syndicate.
Bred by Woodlands Stud, the Bettor’s Delight filly was a one length winner over second favourite Petacular.
Victorious in all of her nine starts, Partyon is likely to back up in the Group I Northern Oaks at Alexandra Park on Friday night.
She will arrive back in New Zealand on Tuesday.
Partyon’s win was the third in a row for the All Stars stable in the New South Wales Oaks, following on from Our Dream About Me (2016) and Fight For Glory (2015).
A Piccadilly Princes showed her toughness to win the A$200,000 Group I Ladyship Mile.
In a brutal run, A Piccadilly Princes was three wide for the first half of the race, after drawing wide, and spent the second half of the 1609m trip sitting parked.
But the Bettor’s Delight filly never gave up and eventually took the lead off most of the way leader Frith to win by half a head in 1:50:4.
The Barry Purdon-trained Rocker Band finished back in sixth.
Auckland Cup winning mare Our Dream About Me was scratched from the Ladyship on Saturday morning when Purdon was not 100 per cent happy with the multiple Group I winner.
Tact Tate and Amanda Turnbull put an end to the All Stars Group I winning run when they came up the markers to win the Group I Bohemia Crystal.
Have Faith In Me, who was far from disgraced after doing a mountain of work, was just behind in second.
His stablemate, Let’s Chase The Dream, finished back in ninth.
In the final Group I of the night, Purdon drove Prince Fearless, a horse he and Rasmussen trained until a few weeks ago, to ninth in the Group I Australian Pacing Gold Trotters Cup.
The race was won by former Kiwi Dead Cat Bounce to give Alford back-to-back Group I wins.
The Tim Butt-trained Daryl Boko finished fourth.