McEwen Stakes at Moonee Valley – 23 August 2008

A field of eleven will line up for the $180,000 Group 3 weight-for-age Mitty’s McEwen Stakes over 1000 metres at Moonee Valley on Saturday.

Early favourite for the sprint is Lee Freedman trained Miss Andretti who won this race in 2006. Miss Andretti is the only mare in the race, and resuming as a seven-year-old for her last campaign she may be past her best, but put together an impressive string of wins during 2007. She has five Group 1 wins to her credit and was the 2006-07 Horse Of The Year. She is unbeaten in her five starts at Moonee Valley and is unbeaten in five starts over 1000 metres. Freedman will not run her if the track is worse than dead, and with showers predicted in Melbourne for the next two days she may well be scratched.

Second favourite in the early market is Kaphero, trained by Leon Corstens. Kaphero has won his last four starts, and the last three have all been over 1000 metres at Moonee Valley. On the third line of betting is Here De Angels who is Freedman’s other starter resuming from a spell. Here De Angels is unbeaten in 4 first-up starts and unbeaten in three starts over 1000 metres. He can also handle the slower going.

Brian Mayfield Smith also has 2 starters with Maybe Better and Orange County. Maybe Better is resuming as he starts his Melbourne Cup campaign and will probably stick to handicaps after the McEwan and have a race like the 2500 metre Moonee Valley Cup as his final lead-up to the Melbourne Cup. The distance should be to short for him to bother this field, although he did win his only start over 1000 metres.

The other horse in the market is South Australian speedster Morgan Dollar who won the Dermody Stakes by over 4 lengths at his last start on 26 July. This field is tougher than the Dermody, but his win was so impressive he has a chance here.

by Jo Jackson

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