Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Club Menangle officials most certainly would have been impressed with the blistering speed shown by brilliant five-year-old Steno when she outclassed her rivals in scoring an effortless victory in the Group 3 $50,000 Laurie Kennedy Free-For-All at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
It was a superb exhibition of dazzling speed which could well tempt those officials to invite trainer-driver Jocelyn Young to bring Steno to Sydney to contest the $200,000 Queen Elizabeth II Mile (formerly the Ladyship Mile) at Menangle on Saturday, May 4.
The Menangle Club will issue invitations to the connections of two mares about three weeks before the rich event. All other mares in contention will need to compete in two lead-up events, the Sibelia Stakes on April 20 and the Robin Dundee Stakes on April 27, with the first four placegetters in each race qualifying for the final.
An invitation would certainly interest breeder-owner Dianne Kelly and Young to consider a trip east for Steno to line up against Australia’s best pacing mares.
On Friday night Steno, the $1.40 favourite, dashed straight to the front from the No. 3 barrier and was not extended in setting the pace with final 400m sections of 29.8sec., 28.7sec., 27.3sec. and 27.1sec. to win, unextended, by 5m from $6 chance Cyclone Charlotte, who trailed the pacemaker all the way.
Steno rated 1.51.9 over the 1730m trip which is the fastest time recorded by a mare over 1730m in Western Australia. It was not far short of the track record of 1.51.2 set by Pinny Tiger when he led and won the Nights Of Thunder on January 20, 2023. Former champion Chicago Bull’s best rate over 1730m was 1.51.6.
Some idea of the magnitude of Steno’s performance on Friday night can be gauged by perusing current superstar pacer Magnificent Storm’s efforts in winning five times over 1730m at Gloucester Park, rating 1.52.5, 1.52.9, 1.53.2 and 1.53.9 twice.
West Australian mares have an excellent record in the Ladyship Mile, with Norms Daughter winning in 1996, Tailamade Lombo scoring in 1998 and 1999, and Sand Pebbles winning in 2004 before finishing second to Sokyola in the Miracle Mile the following week.
Leda McNally is the most recent WA runner in the Ladyship Mile when she was driven by Chris Voak and finished seventh behind Vansumic in 2014. Former WA pacers who have contested and been unplaced in the Ladyship Mile in recent years include Our Alfie Romeo (2020), Dracarys (2021) and Wainui Creek (2022).
Young said it was quite a coincidence that Steno’s previous best mile rate was an identical 1.51.9 when she won by five lengths over 1609m in a Group 3 feature event for two-year-old fillies at Newcastle on December 5, 2021.
“Once we got to the front I could relax, to a degree,” said Young. “There is a feature event for mares in Perth about every month, so we will be looking at those races.” She added, that at this stage, she had not given a great deal of thought about taking Steno to Sydney for feature events at Menangle.
The New South Wales-bred Steno, who has had 37 starts for 17 wins, ten placings and $328,301 in stakes, showed early promise with her track record of 1.51.9 as a two-year-old, followed by her victory in the Group 1 Gold Bullion at Menangle in April 2022 when she rated 1.53.4 over 1609m. Three months after that she finished third in the Queensland Oaks at Albion Park.
She is now at the top of her game, and she has led and won convincingly at each of her four appearances this year, scoring over 1730m, 2130m (twice) and 2536m.