Lindsay Park fan favourite out to do what no male horses has achieved
Whether Mr Brightside deserves champion status has been a topic of debate for a little while now, but it will be harder to argue against if he wins this Saturday's Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington.
Not just because a champion mare in Via Sistina, rising star Aeliana and gun milers Antino and Tom Kitten are among the opposition.
The nine-time Group 1 winner and $17.5 million-earner, who also won a $5 million version of the All-Star Mile before it attained Group 1 status, will do what no male horse has achieved if he again wins the $750,000 event.
In the history of racing at Flemington, no entire or gelding has won a Group 1 race three times.
The only four three-peats in more than 160 years of racing at Flemington have been achieved by mares.
Makybe Diva famously won the Melbourne Cup three times, Black Caviar likewise in the race that now carries her name – the Black Caviar Lightning – while the only others are Wakeful and Tranquil Star, who each won three editions of the Mackinnon (now Champions) Stakes.
Some who carry the champion tag are among those who have shot at winning the same feature three times, but failed.
Superstar sprinter Schillaci came closest, edged out by Keltrice in the 1994 Lightning after winning the previous two additions.
Sky High was on a hat-trick in the same race in the early 60s, but that Hall of Famer had to settle for third placing in 1963.
Vo Rogue was synonymous with the Australian Cup and after being run down by Dandy Andy in his first, in 1988, he won the following two before having the misfortune of bumping into Better Loosen Up at the peak of his powers in 1991.
Nature Strip ran in the Champions Sprint four years running, winning in 2019 before finishing second, first and second the next three years.
Planet Ruler (Champions Sprint), Seascay (Champions Mile), Redkirk Warrior (Newmarket Handicap), Harlem (Australian Cup) and Zaaki (Champions Stakes) are the others since 1990 who have attempted the feat but come up short.
Few horses have enjoyed the Flemington 'mile' as much as Mr Brightside.
His past five starts over that course have realised a second to Pride Of Jenni in the 2023 Champions Mile, his Makybe Diva Stakes wins, victory in last year's Champions Mile and a short-half-head second to Tom Kitten in last year's All-Star Mile.
His first Makybe Diva Stakes win came as $1.85 favourite, but he started $3.50 second elect last year.
Favourite for that race was Via Sistina, who could manage only fifth placing, but she is back for another crack this year.
Via Sistina rebounded to win the Turnbull Stakes and Cox Plate last spring, becoming the first horse since Northerly in 2002 to win the Cox Plate out of the Makybe Diva Stakes.
Incentivise, who won the Makybe Diva and Caulfield Cup in 2021, is the most recent winner of the Caulfield feature go via the race originally known as the Craiglee Stakes, but you've got to go back to Jeune in 1994 for the most recent of the 14 Melbourne Cup winners to come through the race.
