Captains Mistress looks to make history in Victoria Cup

The 4-year-old could be the first mare to beat the boys and win the Group 1 event.

by Adam Hamilton

History awaits wonder mare Captains Mistress.

Victory at Melton on Saturday night (Oct. 17) will make her the first mare to beat the boys and win the Group 1 Victoria Cup.

That would be quite something in one of Australia’s most treasured races, which was first run back in 1974.

For context, Kiwi queen Blossom Lady and former Aussie starlet Tailamade Lombo are regarded as the best Down Under pacing mares of the modern era. They had a combined seven cracks at the Victoria Cup without winning.

Blossom Lady came closest when second to Chokin in 1994. She also ran third to Master Musician a year earlier. Her other run was a brave fourth in 1995.

Tailamade Lombo’s best effort was at her first attempt as a 4-year-old (the same age as Captains Mistress now) when she finished fourth in 1999. She then ran 12th (2000), eighth (2001), and fifth (2002).

In more recent times, Ameretto was second to Lennytheshark in 2017, Carlas Pixel ran third to Tiger Tara in 2018, and former Kiwi star Amazing Dream was a close-up fourth to Max Delight in 2021.

Mares try, damn good mares, but they don’t win Victoria Cups.

Despite all that, Captains Mistress is the $1.20 favorite (for a $1 bet) on Saturday night after drawing perfectly in barrier 3.

That’s how stunning her splash into the big league has been.

She should be in front soon after the start and looks close to unbeatable.

The daughter of Captaintreacherous only joined Jason Grimson’s Menangle stable late last year.

Captains Mistress has raced 14 times for Grimson for 13 wins, five of them at Group 1 level.

There’s plenty who think she should be unbeaten. The one defeat came in the Miracle Mile on March 14 when Grimson instructed stand-in driver Jye Coney to give the mare an easy run and drive for luck at her first run against the best pacers in this part of the world.

Luck didn’t come. Captains Mistress hit the line full of running and nowhere to go, just 6.7 meters from the winner, Leap To Fame.

But it was that epic Brisbane Inter Dominion final on July 18, when Captains Mistress got revenge on Leap To Fame
and squared the ledger 1-1, that underlined how special she was.

She won’t have Leap To Fame to deal with this time.

He’s still around, but trainer/driver Grant Dixon borrowed a line from Kenny Rogers’ song The Gambler and decided to “fold ’em” after three previous unsuccessful attempts to win the Victoria Cup.

He ran third in 2023, missed the 2024 race with a throat infection, and then had to be content with third again.

“We’ve given it a fair crack,” Dixon said. “Maybe it’s just not meant to be.”

Leap To Fame will instead stay at home in Queensland and do all his lead-up racing there before the New Zealand Cup in Christchurch on Nov. 10.

Other than her own stablemates like Dangerous, Captains Knock, Minos, and even the old boy, Swayzee, the biggest danger to Captains Mistress in the Victoria Cup will be the defending champion, Kingman.

That’s despite Kingman winning just one of his 10 starts this year and even that was nine starts back in the Shepparton Cup on Jan. 17.

Trainer/driver Luke McCarthy insists Kingman is finally where he needs to be.

He’s ready for the challenge, but will need plenty to go right from an awkward inside back row barrier [gate 8],” McCarthy said.

“He was just exhausted by the end of his last campaign; he’d had enough and wasn’t himself.

“He got a good break, has a couple of trials, and now a couple of races, too.

“I got it wrong first-up with my drive, easing back and then he put in a couple of rough strides.

“Everything at home told me he was on target and he showed it last time. I know he had an easy run, but he felt great and hit the line really well.

“He’ll be right at his top when it matters, but it’s going to be very hard now the way the barriers have landed.”

Captains Mistress’ driver Cam Hart insists the history of mares in the Victoria Cup doesn’t faze him.

“It sounds strange, but I don’t think I’m driving a mare against the males when I go out on her,” he said.

“I do remember thinking there was a Group 1 mares’ race on the same night as the Inter Dominion final, but it never crossed our minds to go that way instead with her.”

Captains Mistress has raced the boys in 11 of her 14 starts for Grimson, including three Group 1 wins in the Inter Dominion, Chariots Of Fire, and Rising Sun.

But of those, only the Inter Dominion has been a true open-class race with the latter two being for no older than 4-year-olds.

Captains Mistress grabbed a slice of history in that Inter Dominion final.

She became just the second 4-year-old mare to win the great race and the first since Jodie’s Babe did so at Perth’s Gloucester Park way back in 1989.

“There’s lots of talk about the records she is breaking, but this could just be the start of it,” Hart said.

“Hopefully she races for another 12 to 18 months and she’ll do so many things no other mare has done.

“Leap To Fame is an all-time great, one of the greatest we’ve ever seen. I think she could be remembered the same sort of way if we get to see a lot more of her.

“You forget how quickly she’s got to where she has and there’s no reason she shouldn’t keep getting better.”