By Michael Manley
When it was first mooted that Greysful Glamour be set for the All-Star Mile after her win in the Villiers Stakes last December, her trainer Mark Newnham thought it was a great idea.
Newham was confident the five-year-old grey mares' popularity would land her a spot in the race.
He reasoned her combination of being grey, her bold front running style and having the Sydney vote behind her would gain her a Top Ten spot in the voting.
And the Randwick trainer's prediction was proven correct as Greysful Glamour polled the fifth most votes in the All-Star Mile voting with 9821 votes to gain herself a run in the $5 million event at The Valley on Saturday March 13.
And in doing so she polled the most votes of any Sydney horse.
From his own experience, Newnham knows how popular Greysful Glamour is with racegoers in Sydney and Melbourne.
“At any meeting she is in, the crowd comes and visits her all the time in the horse stalls. She’s always got a crowd around her stall,” Newnham said.
“Then throw in her colour and also her front running racing style, she’s a horse the fans just love. She’s really got the full package.”
“Sydney people also got behind her in the voting, which was a big help to get in. I always thought she would get in as she’s so popular.”
Also, Newnham said her owners and her syndicators Darby Racing got behind her to push for a start.
Newnham loves Greysful Glamour, who has been with him from the moment he began his training career, five years ago.
“She’s been tremendous for me and she’s an all-time favourite. I’ve been training for five years and she was in the first group of yearlings I trained,” Newnham said.
“She had her first start in the Group 3 Widden Stakes as a two-year-old and then later that year as a three-year-old she finished second in the VRC Oaks,” he said.
“When she won the Villiers Stakes at Randwick last December we thought we’d try and get her into the All-Star Mile, as how many $5 million races will she get the chance to run in?” Newnham said.
Newnham wasn’t too concerned by Greysful Glamour’s 11th in the Frances Tressady Stakes at Flemington on February 27.
“She arrived back in Sydney in great condition. I don’t think it was much of a leader’s track at Flemington that day,” he said.
“She was at her top the whole race which doesn’t suit her. Her best form is over 1600 metres to 2000 metres where she can get the lead, control the speed and have a breather at some stage.”
Greysful Glamour has been successful at The Valley having won a 2040 metres race by six lengths, defeating the smart Oceanex in October 2019.
“In the All-Star Mile she’ll be disadvantaged at weight-for-age, but she will have an advantage at the track as she’s got good Moonee Valley form,” Newnham said.
“She goes out quickly and The Valley suits her style of racing.
“She’ll be in it for a long way. I think she can get her own way in front and when that happens, she can be hard to run down.”
Newnham is hoping champion Sydney jockey Rachel King will come down and ride her, but that is yet to be confirmed.
Newnham said Greysful Glamour had done an outstanding job for her owners having been bought for $90,000 as a yearling and winning over $800,000 in prizemoney. Greysful Glamour was purchased by leading Sydney syndicators Darby Racing. Darby Racing Manager Scott Darby said the owners pushed hard via social media for her to get into the race.
“You can’t win every start when you’re a front runner, but when she does it’s exciting. After the Villiers win, we decided to try and get her into the All-Star Mile,” Darby said.
“The fact she’s won a couple of races in Melbourne, also would have helped her.
“The All-Star Mile is a great concept. She has 30 to 40 owners and we are really excited to be involved in the race.”
Darby said quite a few of the owners live in Melbourne and also Tasmania so they planned to be on track at The Valley for the All-Star Mile.
“The key to her is having a dry track which if we get a nice firm track, she’s going to be in it for a long way. I think she can lead them into the straight and hopefully she can keep going.”
Win, lose or draw, the popular grey will still have a large crowd admiring her beauty, in a race that seeks to showcase the stars of the sport – the horses.
Michael Manley has covered racing as a journalist for over 30 years at the Herald Sun, The Age and Geelong Advertiser.