But today, as Melbourne\u2019s iconic week of racing comes to an end and New Zealand Cup week starts in Christchurch, might be the real Ladies Day.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because some of world racing\u2019s true glamour girls are set to light up Flemington, while the first day at Riccarton also has a girl power feel.<\/p>\n
Riccarton is hosting the $600,000 Barneswood Farm NZ 1000 Guineas for the fillies and favourite Asturia has something about her to suggest she could win today and launch a successful summer.<\/p>\n
An offer north of $2 million was turned down for her after her last-start Soliloquy Stakes win at Ellerslie, which valued her higher than last year\u2019s 1000 Guineas winner Well Written at the same stage of her career.<\/p>\n
Well Written bolted away with the 1000 Guineas and went on to win the Karaka Millions 3-Year-Old and the NZB Kiwi, the same treble Asturia will be set for.<\/p>\n
Asturia has a long way to go and a lot of bad luck to dodge to match Well Written\u2019s stunning summer but it is hard to tip against her today, with her elite form, barrier three and Michael McNab riding in career-best form.<\/p>\n
There is depth and evenness to her opponents, but by race start Asturia\u2019s $2 fixed odds might be gone and, unless she meets bad luck, it is probably fair value.<\/p>\n
After a hot week in Christchurch and with the rail going back to the true position, inside draws could be an advantage in many of the races. However, aside from the Guineas, perhaps the most intriguing of the 11 races is the Pegasus Sprint.<\/p>\n
Platinum Attack, prepared by one of New Zealand\u2019s most successful female trainers, Lisa Latta, has to give the entire field 7kg as he lumps 60kg in the 1000m race he jogged home to win last year.<\/p>\n
He is one of the few horses all day you need not be put off backing from a wide draw (12) as he tends to get back and then storm home, but if the inside is the place to be then his task might become a little harder as the lightweights could roar over their last 600m in 32s.<\/p>\n
Either way, the need-for-speed race is going to make for a fun, albeit quick, watch.<\/p>\n
The Windsor Park Breeders Stakes, moved from its usual date next Wednesday, adds to the Ladies Day vibe at Riccarton but the girls might struggle to make an impact in the Metropolitan later in the day.<\/p>\n
It is the logical lead-up to next Saturday\u2019s New Zealand Cup but only one of the 11 starters is a mare, so the boys should claim at least one feature for themselves, with The Precursor clear top pick.<\/p>\n
The mares are set to dominate at Flemington as Champion Stakes day promises a dream sprint clash and wonderful mare Autumn Glow makes her Victorian debut in the A$3 million ($3.7m) Champions Mile.<\/p>\n
She is rated a $1.22 chance for trainer Chris Waller and jockey James McDonald, who, a race earlier, will have the Kiwi-owned Joliestar trying to turn the tables on her Everest conqueror Tempted.<\/p>\n
Sydney\u2019s two wonderful sprinting mares are drawn next to each other for the straight 1200m of the Champions Sprint and while Tempted has been sensational this spring, she is away from her beloved Randwick, whereas Joliestar is a Group 1 winner of the Newmarket at Flemington.<\/p>\n
The Champions Stakes over 2000m is effectively a Cox Plate rematch with Cosmic Crusader up against the Waller pair of Birdman and Aeliana, the latter the $2.70 favourite to give the mares a clean sweep of the Flemington Group 1s.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, at Rosehill the Cambridge gelding Tuxedo has Opie Bosson aboard for trainers Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray in the A$2m Five Diamonds.<\/p>\n
While having an 1800m race worth A$2m exclusively for 5-year-olds is like an Olympic event where you have to be over 30 to compete, it will matter little to Bosson, Ritchie and Murray if they can pull off one of the richest New Zealand-trained wins across the Tasman in recent years.<\/p>\n
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald\u2019s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world\u2019s biggest horse racing carnivals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But today, as Melbourne\u2019s iconic week of racing comes to an end and New Zealand Cup week starts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[20299,806,315278,1975,28647,10542,22397,2082,31177,111,43,139,69,3512,40438,30943,4518],"class_list":["post-653120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-20299","tag-as","tag-asturia","tag-at","tag-collide","tag-cup","tag-favourite","tag-for","tag-guineas","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-racing","tag-riccarton","tag-todays","tag-weeks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}