Late Mile Nominations Attract All-Stars

A flurry of late nominations from key stables yesterday has consolidated the drawing power of Melbourne’s $5 million All-Star Mile, with punters.com.au reporting a large cohort of star runners added to permutations. Two of the biggest names are Cox Plate winner Sir Dragonet (Ciaron Maher and David Eustace) and Verry Elleegant (Chris Waller). Both stables also have weight of numbers among their nominees, with the former putting forward seven and the latter eight, also including Group 1 winners Funstar and Hungry Heart. The hugely powerful Jamie Richards stable, buttressed by Te Akau Racing, has nominated Probabeel. Early race favourite is Russian Camelot who should be well suited to the distance in the early part of his campaign, followed by perennial WA raider Arcadia Queen who was back to her best during the spring. Gun 3YOs Ole Kirk and North Pacific feature prominently in noms, as does The Harrovian is expected to find plenty of support from the racing public after building a winning picket fence that’s 11 races strong. Voting starts on 22 January and the final Top 10 tallies will be revealed on 19 February. That will leave a final five Wild Card entries to be determined.

Funstar (centre) is among Waller Racing's entries (pic: Steve Hart)