3 minute read

An All-Star performance from Pride Of Jenni on Saturday.

Hasn't this divided opinions? Pride Of Jenni beat Mr Brightside in the All-Star Mile on Saturday, employing her best tactic which is to run really, really fast for as long as possible. Pretty good tactic if you can pull it off, which she absolutely has.

She's obviously run at a very strong tempo throughout and done more than enough to hold off Mr Brightside and Cascadian, posting a new peak rating in the process.

124 is what she now sits at which is up two pounds from her 122 in the Champion's Mile at Flemington. Given her 2kg allowance at weight-for-age, she'd effectively be equal to a 128 rated male, something that Mr Brightside is not.

He is an ultra-consistent, top-level star and deserves all his plaudits, but has been rewarded due to his consistency, not his freakish peaks.

I (and I don't think anyone else) can take a single thing away from Pride Of Jenni. She absolutely deserved to win that race, and I think if you re-run it 100 times with Mr Brightside in varying positions, she still wins it more often than not.

But that is not what the racing pundits like to argue about! They want to know if Mr Brightside could've beaten Pride Of Jenni had he settled closer, and that is an interesting debate.

In terms of the race split and finishing speed, Pride Of Jenni was slowing down late, but not by much. Her closing speed was 98.39% compared to Mr Brightside's at 101.55%.

That means neither have run the most ideal race sectionally, but I'll always favour going too quickly than too slowly, even if it isn't by much.

Buffalo River is a good example of this. He was a $51 chance who sat 2nd in run and still held on for 4th, just three lengths off Mr Brightside. He too ran his race inefficiently (too fast early) but was close enough to stay on, whereas other chances who actually ran their race near-on perfect sectionally, i.e. Munhamek (100.8%), still finished worse off.

Being close to a fast speed can go one of two ways. Some horses can overachieve, like Buffalo River, and some can fold, and fold badly, like Attractable did, but in a race where you know the leader is going to run it hard and is unlikely to stop quickly, you need to be somewhat close enough to win.

Mr Brightside was probably just out of that zone, meaning he had to exert too much energy mid-race to try and catch up between the 800-400m while also covering extra ground out wider.

All said and done, I think Mr Brightside should've been ridden more aggressively and don't agree that it would've hurt his chances of winning because he's a tough horse who would've kept chasing, even if travelling faster earlier. I also disagree with people saying he would've been caught wide because you don't know that. Sure, he could've, but I think he could've slot in third if they really wanted to- there's room.

Once again, I must stress this is not taking away from Pride Of Jenni. You put them in a match race based on what they've done on Saturday, regardless of where they settle, and she has to be given the edge now because this is a seriously good performance.

In terms of other mares to be rated this high, we're looking at elite company.

Obviously, the gold standard are Black Caviar and Winx- untouchable. Black Caviar had a peak of 136 and ran >130 on 11 occasions. Winx had a peak of 134 with 6 runs at 130 or above.

Makybe Diva hit 129 in her third Cup win with a couple of 125's for good measure. The next best mare in (semi) modern times is Sunline who was rated 129 at her best.

Just behind them was world-class mare Atlantic Jewel who ran 128+ on three occasions with a 127 at her final race start in the Caulfield Stakes, along with More Joyous who also had a peak of 128 but did it for longer with numerous ratings over 120.

Verry Elleegant ran to 127 in her Melbourne Cup win but her two next best ratings were 123.

Imperatriz is rated 124 by Timeform and has done it on multiple occasions, but that goes to show you how well Pride Of Jenni has gone here, running up to that level for the first time.

Also rated 124 were superstar mares Miss Finland and Typhoon Tracy, while Japanese superstar Lys Gracieux ran to 125+ in her Cox Plate win before going 129 in the Arima Kinen back in Japan.

124 is also the exact same rating Mystic Journey ran in the inaugral All-Star Mile, a rating she wouldn't get near again.

Other, more recent Group 1 winning females (on peak ratings) include Samantha Miss, Fangirl and Montefilia (122), Arcadia Queen and Probabeel (121), Sacred Choice, Duais and In Secret (120).

Regardless of any opinions on Saturday, Pride Of Jenni is a star who not only makes every race she's in incredibly entertaining but now sits amongst elite company in Australian racing, for which she should be greatly lauded.