Flemington’s hat-trick heroes

The three-peat is one of the great pinnacles in sport. To achieve success three years in a row is a legacy, but ultimately the result of good management and the longevity of the athletes.

In horse racing, winning the same race three times is far rarer- on average, horses race for a far shorter period of time than human athletes play football or basketball. There’s also far less margin for error in a race that might take 55 seconds to complete compared to a six-month long season.

For those reasons, there are very few horses in history to win the same race three times, and of course that number only diminishes further when looking at the pinnacle of our sport – Group 1 racing.

When Mr Brightside lines up in the Group 1 Crown Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) on Saturday, he could join an illustrious group of horses to win three editions of the same Group 1 run at Flemington.

The most famous is of course the mare in which Saturday’s race is named after. Makybe Diva won the Melbourne Cup in 2003, 2004 and 2005 and is arguably the most famous horse in Australian racing history for it. To achieve such a feat in a handicap is even more mind-boggling.

Perhaps second on that list, certainly in modern times, is Black Caviar, who won the (now eponymous) Group 1 Lightning Stakes (1000m) in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

It’s said we’ve been blessed in recent times with such great mares like Makybe Diva, Black Caviar and Winx (who certainly could’ve made the list if she’d run in a third Turnbull Stakes), and given that we have to go back 80 years to find the next horse on the list, that blessing rings true.

Tranquil Star won the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) in 1942, 1944 and 1945, the only horse on the list not to win their three Group 1s in successive years. She was aged five, seven and eight, and her third win was arguably her best, turning the tables on another star mare Flight who had beaten her in Sydney earlier in the year.

The only other horse to win three of the same Group 1 at Flemington was Wakeful over 100 years ago, successful in the 1901, 1902 and 1903 Mackinnon Stakes (formerly the VRC Melbourne Stakes).

Four outstanding mares have managed the feat in which Mr Brightside attempts on Saturday, and perhaps even more damning is that there have been plenty to win two of the same race.

44 other horses have won two of the same Group 1 at Flemington including the likes of Winx, Nature Strip, Peter Pan (2 x Melbourne Cup and 2 x Mackinnon Stakes), Phar Lap, Mahogany, Vo Rogue and Schillaci, just to name a few.

So how are Mr Brightside’s chances of joining Makybe Diva, Black Caviar, Tranquil Star and Wakeful?

Racing And Sports make his second placing to Treasurethe Moment in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) his lowest first-up rating in five preparations, coming in at 116, which just edges his 114 rating he ran when a narrow fifth to Jacquinot in the Group 1 C F Orr Stakes (1400m) in February 2023.

That won’t be good enough to win on Saturday, but what is in his favour is his second-up pattern and ratings over the Flemington mile.

Since 2023, Mr Brightside has improved his rating by an average of three pounds, while he’s achieved his peak rating of 125 twice, once in last year’s Makybe Diva and the other in last year’s Group 1 VRC Champions Mile (1600m), while his 2023 Makybe Diva Stakes win rated just one pound below at 124.

A similar sort of performance is likely to be required on Saturday and while the jump from his first up effort is higher this time around, what he does have in his favour is a strong grounding from that race having chased a fast tempo and stuck on in his usual dogged fashion.

It’s the same scenario that best equipped him to chase down Pride Of Jenni in last year’s Crown Makybe Diva Stakes, while Via Sistina, through a much more slowly run Group 1 Winx Stakes (1400m) in Sydney, was left wanting on the heavy track.

Perhaps that is again the edge for Mr Brightside on Saturday. It won’t be easy to beat the likes of Via Sistina and Aeliana, but I doubt anyone would begrudge the cult hero of becoming the fifth horse in history to win three of the same Group 1 at Flemington.