Floozie eyes a famous five in the Tatts Tiara
The recent rollcall of Tattersall’s Tiara (Gr 1, 1400m) winners is littered with elite racemares who have subsequently commanded extravagant fees as broodmares, and given her impeccable pedigree there is little doubt that Floozie’s (Zoustar) potential value would enter the stratospheric range if she could claim her first Group 1 victory in the 1400-metre event at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
Floozie is vying for favouritism with Chris Waller’s mare Firestorm (Satono Aladdin), but it is unquestionably the former who carries the superior form lines into the final Group 1 contest of the 2024-25 season having won all four races since joining trainer Tony Gollan’s stable.
Despite dominating Queensland racing for more than a decade, Gollan is yet to claim the Tatts Tiara crown but Floozie looks particularly well placed to end the drought and etch her name onto the trophy alongside the likes of last year’s winner Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai), 2021 heroine Tofane (Ocean Park) and Invincibella (I Am Invincible), who won the 2019 edition.
That trio commanded a combined $8.6 million when they were purchased at the broodmare sales, and with Floozie’s superstar sire Zoustar (Northern Meteor) destined to top the 2024-25 Australian Sires Premiership for the first time and her Group 1-winning dam Catchy (Fastnet Rock) starting to make her mark, victory would ensure her status among “the top echelons of mares in the country.”
That is the considered opinion of her co-owner James Mitchell who, in partnership with his two uncles Arthur and Harry of Yarraman Park, reached a private agreement with Robert Crabtree to purchase Floozie late last year.
The Dorrington Park supremo had raced the homebred filly with trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr, and although she won two races in Victoria and finished fourth – beaten 1.5-length – in the 2024 Nitschke Stakes (Listed, 1400m), Floozie had occasionally flattered to deceive.
The Mitchells were therefore keen to see if a change of environment would provide the necessary spark for the mare to fulfil her latent potential, and the plan has reaped spectacular rewards as she has since recouped more than $350,000 in prize-money thanks chiefly to her successive stakes wins in the Silk Stocking (Listed, 1400m) and Dane Ripper Stakes (Gr 2, 1300m).
“I went down and looked at her in the paddock at Robert’s farm in November last year, she looked great and she’s obviously got an incredible pedigree page so we came to a private agreement and she’s been an absolutely amazing purchase for us,” said James Mitchell, who operates his Scone-based bloodstock business in partnership with father Bill, a successful former trainer.
“We thought she needed a change of scenery and some Queensland sun on her back. Obviously if you’re going to send a horse up to Queensland you want it to be trained by Tony, because he’s the best in the business. She’s just thrived since she got there, we couldn’t have imagined it would’ve worked out as well as it has because she’s gone through her grades in amazing fashion since joining his stable.
“We’re obviously daring to dream and given her pedigree and her recent performances, if she could win again on Saturday I think she would deserve to be rated in the top echelons of mares in the country. We haven’t made any plans for her future post-Saturday, but she’s already worth a fair bit and clearly a first Group 1 win would add enormously to her value.”
Victory would also provide a timely tonic for Arthur and Harry Mitchell, who flew over to the UK last week with the intention of witnessing another precocious daughter of Zoustar perform at Royal Ascot.
Sadly for the Mitchell brothers and their fellow owner, Watership Down’s Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber, Mgheera was denied her opportunity to claim a third straight stakes triumph when she was scratched at the gates ahead of the King Charles III Stakes (Gr 1, 5f)
Gollan could perhaps empathise with the character-building experience having joined the Mitchells at the royal meeting to run the rule over Hey Tru Blue, the Blue Point (Shamardal) colt who will soon join his yard after he was acquired by First Light Racing.
Hey Tru Blue dawdled out of the gates and never really figured in the Norfolk Stakes (Gr 2, 5f), but Gollan and the Mitchells will now be hoping Floozie can banish any lingering sense of disappointment – and the accompanying jetlag – with victory on Saturday.
“She’s already won the Silk Stocking on a Heavy 8 track at the Gold Coast and the Dane Ripper on a Good 3 track at Eagle Farm last time, so she’s proved her versatility,” James Mitchell told ANZ News.
“She tends to make her own luck by sitting up on the speed, so we’re as confident as you can be heading into a Group 1.”
An intriguing subplot to the story is Floozie’s association with her regular rider Ange Jones, who came agonisingly close to breaking through at racing’s elite level when she and Zarastro (I Am Invincible) were denied by James McDonald and Joliestar (Zoustar) in a heart-stopping finish to the Kingsford-Smith Cup (Gr 1, 1300m).
Jones, who trails apprentice Emily Lang by two in the Brisbane metropolitan jockeys’ premiership, has forged a particularly potent partnership with Gollan.
The 24-year-old heads into Tattersall’s Tiara Raceday off the back of a notable win last Saturday at Ipswich, where she saluted for the first time in the Godolphin blue aboard Kin (Impending) in the Gai Waterhouse Classic (Listed, 1200m).
Another first at Eagle Farm this Saturday would confirm Jones’ status as one of the rising stars of the jockey ranks, and would also enable her to gain a measure of revenge on McDonald as he bids for a record-equalling 16th Group 1 victory of the season aboard Firestorm.
“It would be nice to get one over him on Saturday,” said Jones, who will be competing in her sixth Group 1 race.
“There were mixed emotions after the Kingsford-Smith, Zarastro showed he belongs at that level and I’m confident he’ll win one at some point, but from a personal point of view it was obviously disappointing to come so close. I was able to move on fairly quickly and I tried to take the positives from it. If anything, it’s probably made me even more motivated to win a Group 1, so it’s great to get another chance on Saturday.
“I love riding Floozie, she’s such an honest and straightforward mare. Winning the Dane Ripper on her was definitely the highlight of my career so far, but winning the Tatts Tiara would be another level up for sure.”