A TICKET to travel the globe and compete against the world’s best thoroughbreds is up for grabs this Saturday at Caulfield in the opening leg of the lucrative Asian Mile Challenge.
Boasting prize money and bonuses in excess of $US11 million, the Asian Mile Challenge features Group 1 events in Australia, Dubai, Hong Kong and Japan.
It commences with Saturday’s $A500,000 Futurity Stakes (1600m) in which a small, but classy field of six horses will compete under weight-for-age conditions.The Challenge continues with the $US5m Dubai Duty Free on 27 March, then heads to Hong Kong for the $US1.55m Champions Mile (1600m) on 25 April, before culminating with the $US2.3m Yasuda Kinen (1600m) in Japan on 6 June.
Bonuses of $US2m for three race wins and $US1m for two wins make the international legs attractive targets for the Futurity Stakes winner who has a decided advantage with victory after claiming the opening leg.
Australian-trained horses have competed in 12 of the 18 Asian Mile Challenge races contested since its inception in 2005, with Niconero, the winner of the past two Futurity Stakes, competing in seven Challenge races across three countries.
Last year’s Futurity Stakes victory provided the springboard for Niconero’s second tilt at the Dubai Duty Free with his fourth placing – four years after Aussie star Elvstroem won the international epic – a typically brave performance.
The first three runners in TAB’s Fixed Odds market for the Futurity Stakes – Typhoon Tracy ($1.60), Dao Dao ($5), Sniper’s Bullet ($5.50) – are all nominated for next month’s Dubai Duty Free which features alongside the famous Dubai World Cup at Meydan.
The Team Hawkes-trained Dao Dao is a ‘veteran’ of the Asian Mile Challenge having contested the past two Champions Miles in Hong Kong, finishing seventh in 2008 and a fast finishing third, beaten just a quarter-of-a-length, in 2009.
The Sydney-based, Hong Kong-owned galloper, who is being set for a third tilt at the Champions Mile, has been sent to Melbourne in the hope of moving one step closer to landing the lucrative bonuses on offer across the Challenge.
Dao Dao comes off an impressive first-up second to Rangirangdoo in the Expressway Stakes (1200m, Group 2) at Rosehill, but will need to produce a world class performance to defeat Australia’s premier mare, Typhoon Tracy.
A winner at eight of her 11 starts, Typhoon Tracy is striving to become the 13th horse to complete the Orr Stakes – Futurity Stakes double after claiming the former when resuming from a spell at Caulfield on 6 February.
Third elect Sniper’s Bullet, a dual Group 1 winner, enters the battle off a slashing first-up third in the William Reid Stakes (1600m, Group 1) at Moonee Valley a fortnight ago.
Premier trainer Gai Waterhouse is represented by last start Kilmore Cup (1600m, Listed) winner Joku who is yet to finish further back than second in eight starts over a mile.
Rounding out the field for the Futurity, which was first run way back in 1898, are talented New Zealand visitor Lord Tavistock and 2008 Caulfield Cup (2400m, Group 1) placegetter Barbaricus.
The Futurity Stakes headlines an eight race meeting at Caulfield which commences at 12.20pm (AEST) and also features the Group 2 $180,000 The Yalumba 161 (1800m) for three-year-olds and the $250,000 The Inglis Premier (1200m) for graduates of the 2009 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.
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