3 minute read

Mr Brightside is attempting to be the first horse to win back-to-back All-Star Miles.

An even better horse than when he won the race last year, Mr Brightside's consistency is quite remarkable.

He hasn't run below 110 in over two years and 21 runs, hasn't run below 115 in 18 months and 17 runs, and has only dropped below 120 twice in the past year and 11 runs- once when second to Fangirl and once when winning the C F Orr first-up.

In his first attempt at the race when he was still in the occasional habit of getting too far back he ran to 114 and then last year, his first real signal of being a genuine weight-for-age superstar, he settled closer and ran to 121.

This year, he's right on track to run somewhere near his peak of 125, going 116-122 in a pair of Group One wins over 1400m and looking like he wants every bit of a fast-run, high-pressure mile.

Sure, there is more depth in this race compared to his first up wins, but almost none that can challenge him. That said, he will still need to run his race, so to speak, to be winning.

Pride Of Jenni knocked him off at Flemington in the Spring when ridden very well, while Mr Brightside wasn't so, but he was also at the end of six run campaign coming back from a Cox Plate head-bobbing defeat.

The issue for Pride Of Jenni here is simple- she is not nearly as bombproof as Mr Brightside. Not that she necessarily needs everything to go her way, but she is perhaps a bit of a one-trick pony. A very good trick, mind you, and a trick that I wish more racehorses had, but it can come undone.

When it works, it works very well, but that day at Flemington seemed a perfect storm for Jenni that she will be hard pressed to recreate. We saw that, albeit only just, in the Orr first-up, run down by Mr Brightside after facing off with another one-tricker, Buffalo River.

More pressure seems even more likely here with plenty others to have a crack and plenty of money on the line. That will only suit Mr Brightside more than Jenni, but it will also suit Cascadian, who charged home into second behind Mr Brightside in this race last year second-up.

He's got ratings that can push the favourite here and the pieces have been there in two runs this time off less than ideal scenarios in Sydney. At the prices, he appeals as the biggest danger to Mr Brightside and perhaps a bit of value is there in a quinella.