Doncaster Mile on the horizon for Sunline Stakes winner I Am A Star

Mornington trainer Shane Nichols is keen to tackle the Doncaster Mile with I Am A Star after the filly again beat the older mares in the Group 2 $200,000 Sunline Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley on Friday night.

I Am A Star scores a decisive win in the Sunline Stakes at Moonee Valley. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

I Am A Star scores a decisive win in the Sunline Stakes at Moonee Valley. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

Nichols was looking to the heavens after I Am A Star led for most of the way to recorded her sixth win and as well as thanking the Gods for the win he was also praying that the wet weather in Sydney would disappear.

The Group 1 $3m The Star Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Randwick on April 1, day one of ‘The Championships’, is high on the agenda for I Am A Star, but Nichols will only go there if the wet tracks in Sydney start to dry out.

“All I want it to do is stop raining in Sydney,” Nichols said.

“We’ll go if it’s slow, maybe to the Doncaster after that win, and we’ll give good consideration to the Coolmore Legacy but we just want it to be no worse than soft. We don’t want it heavy.”

I Am A Star is already a Group 1 winner over the 1600m distance when she beat the mares in the $500,000 Myer Classic at Flemington during the 2016 Melbourne Spring Carnival and if she could beat all comers in the Doncaster Mile as a three year old filly, she will be the first filly to do so since the great Sunline took out the famous Randwick Mile in 1999.

I Am A Star put the writing on the wall that she was getting back to her best with a courageous win at her previous start in the Group 2 $200,000 Kewney Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on March 11 and she didn’t disappoint her followers who had sent her out as the $2.25 favourite for the Sunline Stakes.

Dean Yendall shot the favourite away on the home turn and the filly was able to maintain a three and a quarter lengths margin in the run to the line over French Emotion ($8.50) with First Seal ($4.60) running on for third.

“Once she was left alone, I thought it was going to take a fair horse to run her down,” Nichols said.

“She put a decisive margin on a really good group of mares. It was an outstanding performance by a very, very, very good filly.”

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.