By Trevor Marshallsea

Listen

Trainer Matt Smith is confident bargain buy Millie De Lune (Puissance De Lune) can add black type to her CV in the eastern states’ last three-year-old stakes race of the season at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday.

And though it’s unlikely to launch quite as grand a career as it did for the famous female after whom the race is named, Smith believes the Winx Guineas (Gr 3, 1600m) can be a springboard for bigger things to come for his emerging bay.

A quirky statistic surrounds Smith’s filly and her sire regarding Saturday’s race. There are two offspring of Swettenham Stud’s Puissance De Lune (Shamardal) in the 18-horse Guineas, and of the 12 sold at auction, they’re the cheapest two.

Millie De Lune cost $30,000 when bought by John Foote and Smith and Melbourne Premier, while the Matthew Dunn-trained Moon Sweeper cost just $27,500 when bought by Neil Jenkinson as a two-year-old in Inglis’s late June online sale last year.

Still, while Moon Sweeper was at $41 on Thursday, Millie De Lune was a firming second favourite at around $4.80, behind the $3.20 shot who’ll bear Winx’s colours, Magic Bloodstock’s Mister Bianco (Zousain).

It comes after an eye-catching second campaign so far for Millie De Lune in which she broke her maiden at start six on a heavy 10 at Nowra over 1600 metres, and powered home to become a Saturday city winner two runs back when scoring by 1.24 lengths under Ash Morgan in a 2000m Randwick benchmark 72.

Morgan was aboard again at Millie De Lune’s last start when, with one eye on the mile of the Winx Guineas, Smith dropped her back to 1800 metres for a Randwick BM78, seeing her surge from the rear after drawing wide to finish fourth.

With Smith feeling Millie De Lune will be suited by the Sunshine Coast – both its roomy expanses and a rating which on Thursday stood at a heavy 8 – and with Morgan having chased the ride again, the Warwick Farm trainer is warm on his chances.

“I reckon she’ll give it a great shake, actually. I’d be disappointed if she didn’t run top three,” Smith said of Millie De Lune, who’s drawn gate one of 18.

“From the barrier she should be up in the first half dozen, although if the tempo is stronger than she’s used to over the mile, Ash can come back on her a little to get her to travel.

“The wet track is absolutely perfect for her. She loves the wet. And Ash has given me some confidence as well. He had a few rides booked at Rosehill, but he got off all of them to go to the Sunshine Coast for this ride. He picked up a few other rides too, but he was very keen to ride her.”

Smith said Millie De Lune had had a light run into the race, given she’s dropping from 2000 metres on June 7 and 1800 metres on June 21.

“We could be going the wrong way. She won over 2000, and we might have been better off going to 2400, but instead we’ve brought her back to the mile and we’ll see what happens,” he told ANZ News.

“I’ll either be proven right or wrong on Saturday. But I was always thinking that if she could get a metro Saturday win, the Winx Guineas would be the race I’d run her in. That’s why I came back to 1800 last start to keep that door open.

“As it’s panned out, looking at the field, I think it’s a nice race for her. It’s the last opportunity to get black type as a three-year-old, so let’s give it a crack.

“She’s a rangy type of filly, a big strider, and she’ll have a long straight to wind up in, plus she likes wet tracks. She’s been working well, so all in all I think it’s ideal.

“Her win two starts back was terrific, and last start, even though she ran fourth, she got too far back and she ran some good sectionals. If she can run up to those two runs, she’s a great chance.”

Only two fillies have won the race in its past 12 editions and the first one was Winx (Street Cry). Her 2015 triumph began that picket fence that stretched for miles – 33 on the bounce.

Of course for Smith to make predictions of anything remotely similar for his filly would be lunacy indeed, but Mille De Lune, he believes, at least has the potential to shine as a mare in distance races from this spring and beyond.

“I think she could be a stakes horse over 2400 metres,” he said. “She’s really come to hand this preparation. I imagine next time in I’ll be stretching her out over those sorts of trips for sure.”

Another stat regarding Puissance De Lune is that he’s had five stakes winners and Smith has trained one of them. Floating – a more conventional Puissance De Lune than Millie De Lune in that he’s a grey – took Rosehill’s ATC Cup (Listed, 2000m) last November.

“I haven’t had that many by the stallion, but it looks like I’ve got a couple of good ones. It’s amazing how they turn up like that,” said Smith, pleased to have acted on Foote’s advice in buying Millie De Lune, who didn’t race until two weeks before turning three.

“John found her at the Melbourne sale. She wasn’t expensive, but she was a nice filly, we just had to be patient.

“She had plenty of leg under her and was a good walking filly, but just a bit immature. We’re prepared to take a punt on those. We buy a lot of yearlings like that.

“A lot of the forward two-year-old types make a bit more money, but when a yearling needs time, they’re often not too expensive, and if you’re prepared to be patient you can get some rewards.”

While Puissance De Lune’s offspring may be inexpensive, with his yearlings averaging $25,000 over the past two years, Millie De Lune is a potentially strong advertisement for the stallion.

Bred by Victoria’s Dalry Stud, she’s from a relatively plain page. Dam Millsee (Street Sense) was placed once in six starts – a third of five on the old Geelong synthetic. Second dam Revamp started twice, for an 11th and a ninth.

Revamp at least was a half-sister to stakes winners Mighty Supremo (Mark Anthony) and Avatar (Showdown) – who were both Group 1-placed – and threw a Listed winner herself.

Rising 18-year-old Puissance De Lune, whose best performer is the Group 2-winning and dual Group 1-placed Moonlight Maid, will stand his 11th season at Swettenham this spring under fee-on-arrangement, having served for $8,800 (inc GST) last year.