STATUE'S STAR : MIC MAC IS BACK !

The highly anticipated arrival of Statue of Liberty at Eliza Park for the 2009 breeding season was heightened further with the brilliant victory of Mic Mac in Saturday’s (8 August) Aurie’s Star Handicap-LR at Flemington.

We could wax lyrical about the win – his sixth from seven and second stakes victory after his AJC Hobartvile Stakes-G2 performance in the autumn – but others have beaten us to the punch:

MIC MAC BEGINS COX PLATE QUEST
Exciting four-year-old Mic Mac will begin his path towards the Tatts Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley in October in Saturday’s Aurie’s Star Handicap (1200m) at Flemington.
Greg Eurell’s latest stable star has tasted defeat just once in his six start career, a last start fifth in the Group One Randwick Guineas (1600m), and will re-unite with Damien Oliver on Saturday.
Mic Mac made a huge impression during the Melbourne Festival of Racing and Sydney Autumn Carnival.
He thrashed his opposition with an arrogant win over 1200 metres at Moonee Valley on Pulse Pharmacy Australia Stakes Day and then took that form to Sydney where he overcame a range of race day setbacks to win the Group Two Hobartville Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill.
Mic Mac tuned up for his return to racing with an easy trial win at Cranbourne last Monday and will face top class opposition in the Aurie’s Star including 2007 Cox Plate hero El Segundo and Victoria’s in-form sprinter and Flemington straight track specialist Gran Sasso.
- Racing Victoria website : 9 August

MIC MAC SIZZLES ON SEASONAL DEBUT
There was more than just a whiff of Spring in the air on Saturday. While there were Group races in Sydney and Adelaide, the most valuable race was the $150,000 Aurie’s Star Handicap (Listed) down Flemington’s famous straight six and the race was won in fine style by Mic Mac, with plenty of pointers for spring feature races to come.
Trainer Greg Eurell has made no secret he considers Maurice Messara’s homebred could be the best horse he has trained, Apache Cat (8 Group Ones) included, and Mic Mac certainly went some way towards justifying his trainers lofty opinion with victory over a small but select field.
Waited with off the early speed by Damien Oliver, Mic Mac was some five lengths off the lead with 300m to go but let down powerfully when asked to go by Oliver, and he quickened up to run down Gran Sasso with 75m to go and score a strong win.
Mic Mac stopped the clock at 1.09.66 for the 1200m, rushing home the last 600m in 33.48 on a track upgraded to good from dead, so no surprise that Eurell wore a broad smile when besieged by the hack pack while waiting for his charge to return to scale. “Terrific effort, I was very very pleased with what I saw. He settled very well early and when Damien asked for the big ones he put them in and he got to the line terrific.
“It is always a little bit of a nervous moment just to see whether they can do it again but I was very very happy with what I saw and I think the three weeks leading into the Memsie will be spot on for him. He is nominated for the Cox Plate, everybody hopes they can get to those heights but I am very confident he will run a mile and based what he does in the Dato Tan Chin Nam after the Memsie it will give us a good indication of where we are going.
“He had had a big campaign before his Sydney failure, it is always hard when you go away and he had never travelled, so from starting off at Sale to ending in a Group One at Randwick, it was a big jump.”
Jockey Damien Oliver knows what a good horse feels like and he echoed Eurell’s thought. “He is a most promising horse,” Oliver said. “I thought we went pretty easy early, so to break 1.10 is a pretty good effort, my concern was that he might be a little bit fresh but once I got in behind horses he settled nice and coming onto the course proper he is the one you wanted to be on.
“There is no doubt that he is up to the best horses.”
 but just in the back of my mind I think he may be a little too brilliant for a Cox Plate at this stage, up to a mile no problem but he has to stay at that class of that little bit further which will be the test.”
- Daryl Sherer, ANZ Bloodstock News : 9 August

EARLY SPRING BIG MAC ATTACK
In a race from which many fruitful spring campaigns have grown, exciting young galloper Mic Mac showed why he is considered one of the hottest talents in Australian racing with an explosive victory in yesterday’s Aurie’s Star Handicap.
But as impressive as the win was, a Herculean effort from ageing star El Segundo will ensure that Mic Mac will need to be every bit as good as thought if he is to furnish into a legitimate Cox Plate contender later this spring.
And based on yesterday’s victory he could be … Mic Mac’s connections shouldn’t have to wait too long for their hero to take his first Group One prize.
- Michael Sharkie, The Age : 9 August

In light of Hay List’s outstanding win at Belmont on 1 August – his fourth from four – Statue of Liberty is heading into spring at full blossom.

To view Mic Mac's Aurie's Star victory, click here.