Marketplace NZ
THE Group 1 Rising Sun has quickly become one of Queensland’s most important races in any code.
In just five years it has proven a launching pad for greatness and been won by some superstars, headed by the incomparable Leap To Fame in 2023. Champion mares Amazing Dream (2021) and Ladies In Red (2022) won the first two years.
Helped by the presence of young Kiwi star Marketplace, this year’s $350,000 Group 1 Rising Sun is shaping as the best field the race has seen yet at Albion Park on July 4.
Beyond the prize money is a golden ticket into the $1 million Ladbrokes Inter Dominion final on July 18 should connections wish.
Marketplace, champion mare Captains Mistress, NSW Derby winner Fate Awaits already have confirmed spots in the Rising Sun.
“He won really well first-up last week and we’ve just got to tick his next race on May 8 (in Christchurch) to lock in our trip,” Marketplace’s trainer Regan Todd said.
“We’ve got a brilliant set of owners who have allowed us to give him extra time out after a busy three-year-old season and it’s been a blessing.
“He looks like a different horse now, which is great.”
Captains Mistress also brings a Kiwi flavour, having done all her early racing in NZ before joining Jason Grimson’s Menangle stable earlier this year.
She won her first six starts for Grimson, including two at Group 1 level, before a luckless fifth in the Miracle Mile on March 14.
Despite being first-up since then, Captains Mistress dominates betting for Australia’s premier mares’ race, the $200,000 Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Mile at Menangle on Saturday night.
The best measure of Captains Mistress comes from her superstar driver Cam Hart, also the regular driver of dual NZ and Hunter Cup winner Swayzee.
"They (Swayzee) and Captains Mistress are so different, but amazing in their own ways.
"Swayzee is the greatest horse I've driven and he's done things for me, Jase (Grimson, trainer) and Mick (Boots, owner) we'll never forget and may never do again.
"And now we're together again with Captains Mistress, who is just a freak, a superstar and for sheer excitement, the best I've driven. She's just got so much speed."
Boots is bursting to prove a point in the Rising Sun after Captains Mistress was controversially overlooked for a start in the race last year.
Racing Queensland has also released the first two invitations for the trotting equivalent of the Rising Sun, the $150,000 Group 1 Great Square, which has returned to July 4 from a December timeslot last year.
Exciting four-year-old mare Jilliby Dreamlover, a stablemate to last year’s winner Keayang Zahara, and last season’s Australian 3YO Trotter of the Year, Mecarno, have landed the first two invitations.
Like the Rising Sun, the Great Square winner gets a golden ticket into the $500,000 Inter Dominion trotting final on July 18.
