Sportsbet Future Stars converge on Pakenham for an exciting finale under lights
The third edition of Sportsbet Future Stars will reach a thrilling finish this Thursday night (27 February) at Sportsbet-Pakenham, when a full field of 12 runners contest the $300,000 final to conclude Australia’s richest maiden series.
The $1.2 million series has been a weekly feature under lights at Sportsbet-Pakenham throughout January and February, with 12 $75,000 maiden heats showcased on Thursday and Friday nights.
A high-quality field of emerging talent will contest Thursday night’s 1400m final, headlined by nine of the 12 heat winners. A cheque of $165,000 awaits the winning connections.
Among the leading contenders is Nostringsattached, trained by Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young, who was a $675,000 yearling by Extreme Choice – the sire of last weekend’s Sportsbet Blue Diamond Stakes winner Devil Night.
The three-year-old colt, who took out Heat 6, has already gone on to win his first metropolitan race at Sandown last week and is the early favourite.
If Nostringsattached returns to Pakenham on Thursday night he will be among the hardest to beat, however the colt is also second emergency for Saturday’s Group 1 Howden Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington which means the stable has plenty to consider before Thursday’s scratching deadline.
One horse certain to figure prominently is Heat 4 winner Yachiyo (Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr) who is one of only a small pool of horses in Australia that were purchased from a Japanese yearling sale.
The Japanese-bred four-year-old mare, who is unlucky not to be undefeated, has breeding on her side being sired by 2014 Japan Cup winner Epiphaneia from a daughter of 2011 VRC Oaks and 2012 Australian Guineas winner Mosheen.
Progressive three-year-old Untapped will be another to keep an eye on with Zac Spain aboard. The Greg Eurell-trained gelding impressively won Heat 1 of the series on 10 January and then backed that up with another win at the same track later that month.
Meanwhile, Cranbourne trainer Julius Sandhu, who has made this series a target for his stable claiming two heat wins, will saddle up two runners— Heat 8 winner Illuminance and Chest of Gold.
Beau Mertens takes the ride on three-year-old gelding Chest of Gold, who finished runner-up to Astral Flame in Heat 10. The Enver Jusufovic-trained filly will also take her place in Thursday’s final with Carleen Hefel aboard.
Throughout the series, Victoria’s best jockeys have also been battling it out for a share of the riches with jockeys awarded points on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis to the first five placegetters in each of the heats.
Mertens currently leads the $50,000 Jockey Contest by 10 points thanks to wins in two heats and placings in five others. He could finish the Jockey Contest with the highest score in the series’ three years if he manages to steer Chest of Gold to a victory.
Double points will be up for grabs in Thursday night’s final; however, Mertens cannot be caught, as Daniel Stackhouse (18 points) and Damian Lane (16 points), who currently sit second and third on the leaderboard, do not have a ride in the final.
However, apprentice Tianni Chapman (currently fourth on 14 points) could climb the leaderboard if she guides the Ken Fythe-trained Preservator into the placings. The four-year-old gelding ran in three heats throughout the series before claiming the win in Heat 11.
The Jockey Contest prize pool will be split $30,000 to the winner, $15,000 to second and $5,000 to third.
The Sportsbet Future Stars Final is Race 8 at 8.45pm (AEDT) this Thursday at Sportsbet-Pakenham and will be broadcast live on Racing.com and RSN. The first of nine races will be run at 5.15pm.