Leading Perth owner-breeder Bob Peters believes Regal Power will be a worthy addition to the 2020 All-Star Mile at Caulfield and has backed WA racing fans to rally behind his gun four-year-old.
Voting for the March 14 All-Star Mile closes on February 15 with the top 10 vote getters earning a guaranteed spot in the world’s richest mile race. The remaining five spots will be determined by wildcard entries.
Regal Power leads a strong Western Australian flavour in the All-Star Mile nominations with the Lindsey Smith-trained Scales Of Justice and Black Heart Bart and Neville Parnham’s Platoon also looking to fly the local flag.
“He is a Group 1 winner over the distance,” Peters said on Tabradio.
“He is a winner at weight for age and it will be an interesting race for him.
“The problem for us is that we (WA) have got four entries this year and last year there was only Material Man.
“We all voted for him and that got the result.
“I can’t see we will be getting too many votes from the eastern states.
“They will mainly be coming from Western Australia.”
Regal Power booked a Melbourne trip after underling his class at Ascot last year when he claimed brilliant wins in the Group 1 Railway Stakes (1600m) and Group 2 Ted Van Heemst Stakes (2100m).
Peters said the All-Star Mile will be the pinnacle of Regal Power’s Melbourne assault.
“He will trial at Lark Hill on January 27 and February 10,” Peters said.
“He then will go to Caulfield on the 22nd of February in the Peter Young Stakes at 1800m.
“The Australian Cup is on March 7 at Flemington (2000m) and then into the All-Star Mile.”
Regal Power has won six races from his 17 starts and banked 1.2 million dollars in stake earnings.
Peters said the son of Pierro will go to Melbourne in peak condition.
“He is great,” Peters said.
“He is tough.
“He came home to the farm and was only going to be here for a couple of weeks, but after 10 days he was looking too good and went back in.
“He is one of those horses that you have to keep working or he gets above himself.”
Star Missile has shot to an early lead after the first day of All-Star voting. Black Heart Bart holds 15th place, Regal Power is 22nd, Scales Of Justice 33rd and Platoon currently lies in 45th position.
Julio Santarelli
www.rwwa.com.au