Australia: Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington good spot for Arcadia Queen
Arcadia Queen had mixed results in two of Australia’s leading races in October, winning the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes in a minor upset on Oct. 10 and finishing fifth against a superstar field in the Group 1 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley two weeks later.
Sir Dragonet and Russian Camelot, who were first and third in the Cox Plate, finished sixth and eighth in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup at Flemington.
Arcadia Queen was not nominated to the Melbourne Cup, and will start as the favorite in Saturday’s Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Flemington where she will face a familiar rival in Mugatoo, who was fourth in the Cox Plate.
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The two are oddly acquainted. Arcadia Queen clipped heels with Mugatoo about five furlongs from the finish of the Cox Plate, and was reported to have lost a shoe in the incident.
A winner of 7 of 14 starts, Arcadia Queen is well suited to the Mackinnon distance, having won the Caulfield Stakes at 1 1/4 miles. Luke Currie has gained the mount on Arcadia Queen, replacing Damian Lane, who lost an appeal of a recent suspension.
Mugatoo, beaten 3 1/2 lengths by Sir Dragonet as a 25-1 outsider in the Cox Plate, was second by a head in the Group 1 Metropolitan Stakes at 1 1/2 miles at Royal Randwick Racecourse on Oct. 3. Mugatoo won consecutive Group 3 races in late August and September at distances of 1 3/16 miles and 1 7/16 miles.
Aside from Mugatoo, Arcadia Queen’s main rival in the $1.43 million Mackinnon is the 6-year-old New Zealand-bred Melody Belle, a winner of 17 of 34 starts. Melody Belle will be ridden by Jye McNeil, who won the Melbourne Cup for the first time earlier this week.
Melody Belle, a 12-time Group 1 winner in Australia and New Zealand, was second in the 2019 Mackinnon Stakes.
The nine-race Flemington program is the last card of the four-day Melbourne Cup Carnival, which began last Saturday. First post time is 8:25 p.m., Eastern, or 5:25 p.m., Pacific, on Friday. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.
The program includes five group races, including the Group 1 Darley Sprint Classic at six furlongs and the Group 2 Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles.
Bivouac, second in the $10.7 million Everest Stakes at Randwick on Oct. 17, was a slight favorite on Wednesday to end a five-race losing streak in the $1,075,500 Sprint Classic against a field that includes Nature Spirit, who was seventh in the Everest and a Group 1 winner at six furlongs in April.
Chaillot, a winner of 3 of 5 starts, heads a field of 15 in the $215,100 Matriarch Stakes, seeking her first group-level stakes win in her third start in such a race. Chaillot was fourth in the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes at a mile at Flemington last Saturday.
The Matriarch Stakes will be Chaillot’s first start at 1 1/4 miles.
Matriarch entrant Toffee Tongue won the Group 1 Schweppes Oaks at 1 1/4 miles in May, but was 14th in the Caulfield Cup at 1 1/2 miles on Oct. 17. She was second at 70-1 in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Flemington on Oct. 3, missing by a head to Verry Elleegant, who won the Caulfield Cup and was seventh in the Melbourne Cup.