Captains Mistress NZ
LEVIATHAN owner Mick Boots has warned fans to enjoy brilliant young mare Captains Mistress while they can.
The four-year-old is $1.35 favourite to score her biggest win yet and make it four wins from as many starts for Jason Grimson in Saturday night’s $150,000 Group 1 Queen of the Pacific (2760m) at Melton.
But Boots warned it was one of few remaining targets on the racetrack for the former superstar Kiwi mare.
“I don’t think she’ll race beyond this season,” he said. “I’ve seen too many good mares race on for years and years and be disappointing as a broodmare.
“This mare is very well bred and I bought her as a yearling as much to breed from as race.
“We’ve got a few more targets this year and, unless anything changes, she’ll be off to the breeding barn.”
Beyond Saturday night, Captains Mistress will try to become just the fourth mare to beat the boys in Australia’s biggest four-year-old race, the $250,000 Group 1 Chariots Of Fire at Menangle on March 7.
She will need to qualify, most likely through the $30,000 Paleface Adios at Menangle a week before on February 28.
“Then I’d love to try and win the Rising Sun with her after what happened last year,” Boots said.
The reference is to the fact Racing Queensland balloted Captains Mistress out of last year’s Rising Sun despite her outstanding feature race record in NZ.
Boots said it was "very unlikely" Captains Mistress would return to NZ to chase the $NZ1 million Race by betcha at Cambridge on April 10.
PHOTO: Stuart McCormick
