Let the “Million Dollar Chase” begin.
Last year, NSW trainer Jason Grimson thwarted the great Leap To Fame’s agonisingly close quest to land Victoria’s $1 million Summer of Glory bonus.
This year, Grimson is eyeing it off himself with wonder mare Captains Mistress.
And it all starts with Saturday night’s Group 1 SEN Victoria Cup at Melton.
The pathway to the $1 million bonus has changed to include the Victoria Cup, and Grimson admits victory on Saturday night would make it “awfully tempting” to return and chase the required five feature-race wins, including the Group 1 Hunter Cup, to pocket the cash.
Last year, Leap To Fame won three qualifying races but couldn’t run down Grimson’s mighty stayer Swayzee in the Hunter Cup and had to be content with second.
Close, but no cigar.
If Captains Mistress wins the Victoria Cup, which looks close to certain from a perfect barrier three, she will need to return to Victoria in January and win three of the other five qualifying races to remain in contention for the bonus ahead of the Hunter Cup on February 6.
The other five qualifying races are the Bendigo Cup (January 9), Shepparton Gold Cup (January 16), Ballarat Cup (January 23), Cranbourne Gold Cup (January 30) and Kilmore Cup (February 6).
Given Leap To Fame isn’t in the Victoria Cup and his Victorian raid will be limited early next year, it’s a seriously good option for Captains Mistress.
The Victoria Cup is hers to lose.
And that’s despite having to rewrite the history books.
No mare has won the Victoria Cup, dubbed the Cox Plate of harness racing, since its inception in 1974.
The two modern-day great Australasian mares, Blossom Lady and Tailamade Lombo, tried seven times between them, with Blossom Lady’s second in 1994 and third in 1993 her best results.
In more recent times, Ameretto ran second to Lennytheshark in 2017.
Captains Mistress has won 13 of her 14 starts since crossing the ditch late last year to join Grimson’s stable, and she’s already beaten the boys nine times, most notably in that epic Brisbane Inter Dominion final on July 18.
Her driver, Cam Hart, said she’s so good that he doesn’t think about her being a girl competing against the boys.
“No, she’s raced against the boys most times I’ve driven her and she’s so good, it doesn’t really cross my mind,” he said.
Captains Mistress has already grabbed a slice of history. She became just the second four-year-old mare, and the first since Jodie’s Babe way back in 1989, to win the Inter Dominion pacing final.
“If she keeps racing for another 12 or 18 months, I think she’ll do things we’ve never seen before. I think she’ll be remembered as an all-time great like Leap To Fame rightly is,” Hart said.
And maybe she’ll have a $1 million bonus on her CV, too.
The odds say she’ll be one big step closer to it after this Victoria Cup.
