Captains Mistress "rockets" to another Group 1 at Menangle

By Adam Hamilton 

Former star Kiwi filly Captains Mistress continued her Aussie romp with another effortless Group 1 win on Saturday night. 

It was her seventh win from just eight starts since moving to Jason Grimson’s Menangle stable and three of them have been at Group 1 level.

The only defeat was that desperately unlucky fifth to the great Leap To Fame in the Miracle Mile on March 14. With any luck, she at least runs second that night.

Captains Mistress turned Australia’s premier mares’ feature, the $200,000 Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Mile, into little more than track work.

"The sectionals (times) she puts up at the back end of these strong miles is just incredible," driver Cameron Hart said. 

"It's like strapping yourself onto a rocket and just holding on."

Captains Mistress paced a 1min49.7sec mile to win by almost 13 metres.

But it was the closing splits of 53.3 and 26.4sec, seemingly in second gear, which turned heads.

The four-year-old has also won the Queen of the Pacific at Melton and Chariots Of Fire at Menangle at Group 1 level in just over four months with Grimson.

“She’s one out of the box and hopefully we can get up to Brisbane and have more success,” Hart said.

Captains Mistress’ next major target is the $350,000 Group 1 Rising Sun, a race restricted to three and four-year-olds, at Albion Park on July 4.

That will be a cracking race with top young Kiwi pacer Marketplace, and possibly even Jumal, set to join other Aussie stars like Hollywood Strip and Fate Awaits in the 2138m feature.

But fans are thinking beyond that.

Victory in the Rising Sun would get Captains Mistress a golden ticket into the $1 million Brisbane Inter Dominion final two weeks later.

That could mean another clash with Leap To Fame.

Grimson at least left the door open for that.

“We drove her with a soft run in the Miracle Mile because we weren’t quite sure how she’d measure up against those old Grand Circuit horses, but now we know it’ll be different next time,” he said.

Overlaying all of this is what her leviathan owner Mick Boots is thinking.

He’s made no secret of the fact he loves the mare and is as focused as much on her role in the breeding barn as racing.

Boots said a few months back he intended to retire her this season.

But will her brilliance and the ease of how she’s winning twist his arm to go another season?

Captains Mistress gave the 27-year-old Hart the second leg of a Group double.

Earlier, he led throughout on the Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin-trained Arrhythmia for a dominant win in the Group 1 NSW Oaks. It was her 10th win from just 12 starts.

There was a minor upset in the other two Menangle Group 1 races. 

Rockinwithattitude led throughout to beat some star mares, including Jilliby Ballerini, in the $100,000 Macarthur Mile.

“She’s won Group 1 races at two, three, four and now six. And she didn’t race at five (because of a knee injury). She’s just a ripper,” trainer-driver David Miles said.

Gladiatrix gave young NSW driver Lleyton Green his first Group 1 when she arrived in time to win the $75,000 NSW Trotters’ Oaks.