Via Sistina can secure horse of year status with victory in 2024 Champions Stakes at Flemington

Super mare Via Sistina can take a significant set towards securing Horse of the Year if she claims her fourth Group 1 win of the spring carnival in the $3 million Champions Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on Saturday.

Super mare Via Sistina can take a significant set towards securing Horse of the Year if she claims her fourth Group 1 win of the spring carnival in the $3 million Champions Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on Saturday.

The 2024-25 racing season is only a little over three months old but Via Sistina can put a virtual lock on the most coveted award in Australian racing if she can end her campaign with another major race win.

Via Sistina is coming off her sensational effort in the Cox Plate two weeks ago when she thrashed a top class field by eight lengths.

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The Chris Waller-trained mare has also won the Winx Stakes and Turnbull Stakes at Group 1 level this spring.

The only other multiple Group 1 winner so far this season is Ceolwulf, winner of the Epsom Handicap and King Charles III Stakes.

Since the Group and Listed race classifications were introduced in 1979, only two horses have won four Group 1 races before the end of the Melbourne spring carnival – and both were later voted Horse of the Year.

Without peer … James McDonald celebrates Via Sistina’s amazing Cox Plate victory. Picture: Kelly Defina / Getty Images

Mighty mare Winx completed a four-race Group 1 clean sweep during the 2018 spring – Winx Stakes, George Main Stakes, Turnbull Stakes and Cox Plate.

This was Winx’s fourth successive Cox Plate win and also led to her fourth Horse of the Year title in a row.

Godolphin champion Anamoe also won four majors in succession in 2022 starting with the Winx Stakes, then George Main Stakes, Caulfield Stakes and Cox Plate.

Anamoe did race once more that spring in the Champions Stakes and could finish only fourth behind Zaaki but bookies won’t hear of Via Sistina being beaten on Saturday with the mare a dominant $1.70 favourite.

• Brad Waters’ race-by-race tips, analysis for Champions Day at Flemington

But the Champions Stakes won’t be a walk in the park for Via Sistina as her opponents include last year’s Caulfield and Melbourne Cup hero Without A Fight, last start Caulfield Cup winner Duke De Sessa and the mares Deny Knowledge (Might And Power Stakes) and Atishu (Empire Rose Stakes), who have both won at the highest level this spring.

The Flemington meeting has a staggering 25 individual Group 1 winners competing during the program including three of the top 10 leading prizemoney earners – Bella Nipotina ($22,537,625), Mr Brightside ($14,588,080) and Giga Kick ($12,589,700).

Bella Nipotina ($4.20 favourite) and Giga Kick ($4.50), who ran a thrilling quinella in The Everest last month, clash again in the $3 million Champions Sprint (1200m).

If the Ciaron Maher-trained Bella Nipotina can win again, she will take her career earnings to $24,337,625 to close in on Winx’s all-time record of $26,451,175.

• Clinton Payne’s Champions Sprint tips, runner-by-runner form analysis

But, remarkably, Bella Nipotina has never won at Flemington in 10 previous starts on the track although she has been Group 1-placed.

Giga Kick can move from ninth to eighth on the all-time prizemoney rankings if he wins on Saturday but this is not a two-horse race with Overpass ($5) and Sunshine In Paris ($7) definite threats.

Mr Brightside can vault into the top five prizemoney rankings if he wins the Champions Mile (1600m) which has attracted nine individual Group 1 winners.

The field includes reigning Horse of the Year Pride Of Jenni, outstanding mares Fangirl, Amelia’s Jewel and Stefi Magnetica and Godolpin’s crack three-year-old colt Broadsiding.

Originally published as Via Sistina can secure horse of year status with victory in 2024 Champions Stakes at Flemington