In Brief
- Still a Star aimed at All-Star Mile.
- Tasmania a chance to have two All-Star Mile contenders.
- Minnie to be set for Bow Mistress-Vamos double.
Tasmania has two candidates for the third running of the $5 million All-Star Mile to be held at Moonee Valley over 1600 metres in March next year.
Inaugural All-Star Mile winner, Mystic Journey, was an early nomination and on Thursday last season’s Tasmanian three-year-old of the year Still A Star was confirmed as the state’s second nomination.
Sill a Star, affectionately known as “Minnie” hasn’t raced since February when she won the Tasmanian Oaks to give her a clean sweep of the state’s Listed races for three-year-olds during the summer carnival.
Her Oaks victory over 2100m in Launceston confirmed her status as the state’s best in her age group last season.
The Bill Ryan-trained filly won six of her seven starts last preparation to take her career tally to seven wins and five seconds from only 12 starts for $411,000 in stakes with her wins ranging in distance from 1000m to 2100m.
“Minnie was heading to Melbourne for a short campaign when COVID hit and we had to pull up stumps on those plans and then she got a lung infection, so I had to tip her out,” Ryan said.
“At one stage we thought she had developed complications from her lung infection, but thankfully it was a false alarm, and she is coming along nicely in her preparation for what will be a short but intense campaign.”
Still a Star will start off in the $150,000 Group 3 Bow Mistress over 1200m in Hobart in early February and then head to the Group 3 Vamos Sakes over 1400m in Launceston before heading to Melbourne for the All-Star Mile.
“We know the All-Star Mile is a fan-voted race and hopefully we will have enough support from the public to get her into the race.
“Minnie has a strong fan base already and we hope to build on that as we get closer to the All-Star Mile and one of her owners, Ron Riley, has a bit of a plan to help her get there.”
Mystic Journey has a large fan base nationally and the inaugural All-Star Mile winner (2019) was the first nomination received for next year’s renewal, and now that Ryan has thrown Still a Star’s hat in the ring, Tasmania has two live chances of making it into the big race in March.
“We all think that it is worth Still A Star having a shot at the All-Star Mile and trying to follow in the footsteps of Mystic Journey.
“Minnie has her own Twitter account, and we’re hopeful her big fanbase in Tassie will get behind her when the voting opens next year.”
Voting on the All-Star Mile website will begin on January 22, but in the meantime followers of both Tasmanian entries can show their support by becoming followers of both horses through Facebook and Twitter.
Watch the Summer Stars piece on the Bill Ryan-trained filly.