A look back on the Oaks Day card from Flemington.
Smith finds a Way
Top jockey Nash Rawiller heaped praise on Matthew Smith's placement with Way To The Stars after the six-year-old scored a maiden Stakes win in the $175,000 Listed Century Stakes (1000m).
Way To The Stars ($16) made the running down the outside of the famous Flemington straight and looked set to be reeled in by his rivals before finding again late to score a three-quarters-of-a-length win over Spacewalk ($8.50).
The son of Reward For Effort raced in restricted grade until this preparation and Rawiller said, although six, the gelding still has scope for improvement given he has only had 22 starts.
"It was a masterstroke bringing him down here for this race," Rawiller said of the sprinter who has now won seven races and a tick over $500,000 in stakes.
"He has always promised a lot, not that he's delivered, but today he was right back to his old self.
"He's a horse I've got a lot of time for and I'm sure I'll win a good race on him one day."
Progressive Mistress finds Keys to success
The first race on the Oaks Day card was nowhere near the most prestigious race on the program but Kasey Keys is confident Bon Mistress will one day progress to much better grade than the BM70 event for the three and four-year-old girls.
The daughter of Bon Hoffa, who started $4.40 favourite, clung on for a narrow but impressive short-half-head win over $61 outsider Lord Vostok in the $150,000 event over 1700m.
It was the third win from 12 starts for Bon Mistress, but second in a row this campaign after a first-up win in BM64 grade at Ballarat and Keys said the four-year-old was a different horse this time in.
"She was lacking in maturity in the autumn but she showed enough in the autumn to suggest that she might make it," Keys, who trains in partnership with her dad Ken, said.
Bon Mistress was ridden to victory by Zac Spain who celebrated his first win of the 2024 Melbourne Cup Carnival.
Moody, Coleman mare continues her Rise
Alma Rise confirmed Katherine Coleman's opinion that she could be back chasing some high-level staying riches in 2025 with victory in the $150,000 Good Friday Appeal Trophy (2000m) for BM80 gallopers.
The four-year-old daughter of Almanzor demonstrated the class edge she enjoyed over her rivals with a dominant 1-3/4 lengths win under Luke Nolen.
It was the third career win for Alma Rise, who has not finished outside the quinella in six starts, and Coleman said she and co-trainer Peter Moody would look to raise the bar with the mare whose only prior Flemington start produced a second placing in the Listed VRC St Leger (2800m).
"She's a really classy mare, she's shown us a lot of ability at home and she's probably just been a little bit immature physically and mentally," Coleman said.
"We've identified her as a staying prospect and taken our time with her. I think next preparation over the autumn, we're going to see a really classy staying horse."
Bracelet fits Running By
The bulk of Running By's racing this campaign has been done in Group company but Ciaron Maher shrewdly took the opportunity to race for more money in lesser grade at Flemington on Saturday.
The $350,000 Inglis Bracelet (1600m), which is restricted to Inglis graduates, was only the second non-Group race the five-year-old daughter of Impending has contested in six starts this time but carried the greatest overall purse.
The multiple Group 3 placegetter landed easily the biggest payday of her 14-start career when she claimed the $192,500 winner's cheque with a 1-3/4-length win over the Grahame Begg-trained So Glamorous as $4 favourite.
Maher assistant trainer Jack Turnbull said many at Ciaron Maher Racing deserved credit for the win and the job would now be to get back into Stakes grade and land a Black Type win.
"She' s been drawing some horrid barriers and we've scratched her and scratched her again and finally we found the right race," he said.
"The team have done a good job because it's been sort of six weeks between runs and it's hard to keep those mares on the edge.
"We're stakes placed, so we're knocking on the door. I' m not sure where we' re going to get it, but she will."
Kettle provides Oaks Day boilover
Ciaron Maher was back in the winer's stall 40 minutes after Running By's success when enigmatic import Kettle Hill scored an upset win in the $150,000 Off The Track Plate (1800m) for BM90 horses.
It snapped a seven-race run of outs for the son of Gleneagles, who started $21, and Maher said the lack of expectation agreed with the gelding.
"He's got plenty of ability but he's a tricky horse to get the best out of," Maher said.
"When no punter on the racecourse has had a dollar on him, that is when he shows his best."
Kettle Hill, who has now won six of 29 starts, was ridden to victory by Declan Bates, who was controversially replaced as the rider of Kettle Hill's stablemate Pride Of Jenni in this Saturday's $3m Group 1 Champions Mile and Maher was thrilled to see him bounce back with a win.
"He's an excellent, professional guy and he's riding with a lot of confidence. He's a great asset as well," Maher said of Bates.
Treble for Maher, another for McDonald
Ciaron Maher rounded out the day with a third win, in the process handing James McDonald a victory that gave him a sniff of matching his own record of 10 winers for the week when the Carnival concludes on Saturday.
The pair combined to get French six-year-old Light Infantry Man to his first win in Australia when he walloped his rivals in the first running of the $175,000 Listed Chester Manifold Stakes (1600m) on Oaks Day.
It was McDonald's seventh win for the 2024 Melbourne Cup Carnival and needs three winners on Champions Day to match his feat of 10 winners from 2021, the year he won the Melbourne Cup on Verry Elleegant.
McDonald has eight rides on Saturday, including $1.70 favourite Via Sistina in the Group 1 Champions Stakes, favourites Hinged (Race 5) and Pisanello (Race 9), plus Fangirl (Champions Mile) and Sunshine In Paris (Champions Sprint).
