Champion jockey Damien Oliver will have to weave his magic on Alizee after the favourite drew a wide barrier in the 2019 Group 1 $1m New Zealand Bloodstock Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday.

Damien Oliver will ride Alizee, above, in the 2019 Memsie Stakes at Caulfield. Photo by Steve Hart.

Damien Oliver will ride Alizee, above, in the 2019 Memsie Stakes at Caulfield. Photo by Steve Hart.

Oliver will be having his first ride on the James Cummings trained Alizee who has drawn gate eleven in the thirteen horse Memsie Stakes field.

Alizee was a narrow first up winner for Hugh Bowman in the Group 2 $200,000 Missile Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill on August 10 but the Sydney based jock has decided to stay home and ride at Rosehill on Saturday, opening the door for Oliver to pick up the plumb ride.

Oliver is yet to sit on Alizee but is happy to get the call up to partner the exciting Godolphin mare who is a three times Group 1 winner.

“It’s really exciting to get an opportunity on a class horse like her,” Oliver told the Herald Sun.

“I hear she’s a big, strong mare.”

“And she’s got what sets great horses apart from others – she’s got great acceleration. That’s what you want – a horse than can get you in and out of trouble when you need to and quicken up when they need to.”

The Memsie Stakes has pulled together a star studded field of Group 1 winners with Alizee’s stablemate Hartnell to carry the number one saddlecloth from barrier one with Craig Williams aboard.

Last year’s Memsie Stakes winner Humidor is resuming from injury and will be having his first run back since finishing third to Winx in the Group 1 $5m Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) at The Valley during the 2018 Melbourne Spring Carnival.

Regular rider Damian Lane is back in the saddle on the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace trained Humidor who has drawn awkwardly at gate ten while his stablemate Cliff’s Edge will jump from gate two with Mark Zahra in the saddle.

The Lindsay Park Team of David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig will also have two runners in the Memsie Stakes with Luke Nolen to ride So Si Bon from barrier three and Fundamentalist to jump from gate four with Michael Walker in the saddle.

In-form sprinter Begood Toya Mother has drawn the outside gate with regular rider Declan Bates retaining the mount.

Final field for the 2019 Memsie Stakes (1400m)

No Last 10 Horse Trainer Jockey Barrier Weight Hcp Rating
1 20x53233x3 HARTNELL (GB) James Cummings Craig Williams 1 59kg 116
2 29x496870x BLACK HEART BART Lindsey Smith Brad Rawiller 9 59kg 109
3 84x817333x HUMIDOR (NZ) Ciaron Maher & David Eustace Damian Lane 10 59kg 116
4 x32x6900x6 MATERIAL MAN Pat Carey Rhys McLeod 12 59kg 107
5 2730x53x12 SCALES OF JUSTICE Lindsey Smith Dean Yendall 5 59kg 109
6 x071516x32 CLIFF’S EDGE Ciaron Maher & David Eustace Mark Zahra 2 59kg 107
7 50x11110x4 DESPATCH Tony McEvoy Jamie Kah 8 59kg 107
8 41292450×1 SO SI BON David & B Hayes & T Dabernig Luke Nolen 3 59kg 104
9 48x11111x1 BEGOOD TOYA MOTHER Daniel Bowman Declan Bates 13 59kg 94
10 154x17x163 SESAR Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes Dwayne Dunn 7 58.5kg 100
11 1x111306x1 ALIZEE James Cummings Damien Oliver 11 57kg 116
12 44130x08x7 OOHOOD Tony McEvoy Luke Currie 6 56.5kg 103
13 3x432200x3 FUNDAMENTALIST David & B Hayes & T Dabernig Michael Walker 4 56.5kg 102

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.