Australia: In Secret tops field in Short Stakes; Fangirl favored in 7 Stakes

Sprinters in Sydney and milers in Melbourne highlight racing at Royal Randwick and Flemington racecourses on Friday night in Australia.

Both tracks have major stakes with former American runners.

The 4-year-old Australian-bred filly In Secret will be favored to win the Group 2 Shorts Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs at Randwick. Trained by James Cummings for Godolphin Racing, In Secret won the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap at six furlongs at Flemington in March and was later seventh in the Group 1 T.J. Smith Stakes at Randwick in April.

In her comeback after a mid-year break at Randwick on Sept. 2, In Secret closed strongly to finish second by a little more than a neck in the Group 3 Concorde Stakes at five furlongs. She was beaten by Remarque, who is considered an outside contender in the $643,000 Shorts Stakes.

Cummings has told the Australian press that In Secret is a candidate for the $12.8 million Everest Stakes at six furlongs at Randwick on Oct. 14.

The Shorts Stakes drew a field of 12, including Overpass, winner of the $2.68 million Quokka Stakes at six furlongs at Ascot Racecourse in Perth in April. The Quokka, run for the first time this year, has a format in which owners purchase berths and then finalize a runner.

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The Randwick program includes the inaugural 7 Stakes, a one-mile race worth $643,000.

Fangirl, winner of the Group 1 Winx Stakes at a mile at Randwick on Aug. 23, will be favored to win for the seventh time in her 20th start. She closed from 11th of 16 to win the Winx Stakes by a neck.

In the 7 Stakes, Fangirl will be ridden by Kerrin McEvoy, a replacement for top Australian rider James McDonald, who is recovering from an ankle injury sustained earlier this month in a fall. McDonald is expected to return to riding in early October.

Going Global, a former multiple stakes winner for trainer Phil D’Amato in California, is an outsider in the 7 Stakes, which drew a field of 12. Going Global has been well-beaten in two starts in Australia.

Randwick has a 10-race program that begins at 9:50 p.m. Eastern, or 6:50 p.m. Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

Mr Brightside, a winner of four consecutive starts since March, will be an odds-on favorite to win the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes at a mile at Flemington on Friday evening.

Mr Brightside’s winning streak includes the $3.32 million All-Star Mile in March and the Group1 Memsie Stakes at seven furlongs at Caulfield Racecourse on Sept. 2.

In the Memsie, Mr Brightside held off a late run from Princess Grace, a five-time graded stakes winner in the United States from 2020 to 2022.

Princess Grace, third in the Grade 1 First Lady Stakes at a mile on turf at Keeneland last October in her final start in the United States, is part of a field of seven in the $482,800 Makybe Diva Stakes along with Alligator Blood, a multiple Group 1 winner who was fourth by three-quarters of a length in the Memsie in his first start since April.

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