Captaintreacherous filly sublime in G1 Caduceus Classic

If you had to surmise the performance of Millwood Nike (Captaintreacherous) in Friday night’s (Sep. 23) Group One $113,335 Caduceus Club Classic for harness racing two-year-old fillies at Alexandra Park, freakish would be an apt description.

The Mark Purdon and Hayden Cullen trained juvenile kept her unbeaten streak intact at four wins on end and showcased every bit of her brilliance once again, delivering one of the most punishing closing splits ever seen at Alexandra Park.

The sheer speed and determination required to savage the line and pick up the highly talented Kahlua Flybye (Bettor’s Delight) in the shadows of the posts was quite simply breathtaking and had all the hallmarks of a champion juvenile in the making.

“She is up there with the best I think, she is just so strong and so talented,” said Mark Purdon, co-trainer and driver of Millwood Nike to Track Chat’s Jo Stevens post-race.

“She just didn’t get around that last corner great but once she straightened, she just sprinted hard and just caught the other filly on the line,” he said.

The Steve & Amanda Telfer trained Kahlua Flybye certainly did her best to deny the All Star’s their ninth successive victory in the Group One feature, going down a half head at the finish with a further four lengths back to the Purdon/Phelan trained Advance Party who was brave in third.

The Stonewall Stud pair of Kahlua Flybye and Forever Me (Sweet Lou) were first to the pegs in the 2200m feature, with the latter being allowed to dictate on a slow tempo for the first lap and a quarter before getting any company on her outside.

First it was Millwood Nike who left the single file running line to work forward and into the race before getting cover from the 2200m New Zealand record holder, Advance Party (Bettor’s Delight) with just over a lap to run. The speed well and truly went on down the back and entering the straight, Tim WIlliams and Kahlua Flybye took the passing lane like they were fired out of a cannon, only to be outgunned by a better filly on the day.

The closing sectionals were 55.7, 27.0 and 1:59.3 for the last mile with the winner closing as a $1.30 favourite having opened at around $2.30 on Tuesday morning.

MILLWOOD NIKE REPLAY

Kahlua Flybye will have to wait until Cup Day for a likely opportunity to turn the tables on Millwood Nike with the Woodlands Stud bred and owned filly not eligible to contest the rich Harness Millions final on October 14th having never gone through the sales ring.

Advance Party finds herself in a similar position leaving only Luvstruck (Art Major) as a serious threat to her stablemate who has since firmed to $1.30 to win the $150,000 Listed feature.

Milwood Nike was a $75,000 yearling sale purchase from the Milwood Farm draft of Katie Carville in 2021.

She is the second foal from the Bettor’s Delight mare, Alburquerque, the winner of eight races and $68,000 for her former trainer, Graham Pearson of Waipara. She herself is a full sister to the twice Group One placed Alberto Contador who paced 1:49 in North America and added 33 race wins to his tally of 15 in Australasia.

Millwood Nike’s connections include New Zealand rugby league legend Frank Endacott (ONZM) and his son and former NZ Warriors player, Shane.

For complete race results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink