At the time it was frustrating and disappointing, but it could work out to be a million dollar bonus for trainer Jack Smith and owner Lyndall McIntrye after talented bitch Miss Ezmae walked her way into the semi-finals of the TAB Million Dollar Chase.
Miss Ezmae was touted one of the country’s most promising stayers late last year winning the Group 2 Sydney Cup, but following a subsequent Victorian campaign in November, she was sidelined for five months.
The absence meant she would miss a number of feature race opportunities, but one race in particular, the $125,000 Country Classic would have been at her mercy - on her home track at Dubbo, over her favourite distance of 605m, the trip in which she holds the track record.
“She came on season, then came back and had a couple of little minor injuries and that put us back,” Smith explained. “Then she started trialing and she is absolutely flying at the moment, so we thought while she’s wanting to sprint, we’ll keep her nice and fresh and have a crack at these races.”
‘These races’ were the heat and the final of the Dubbo series of the Million Dollar Chase, and after waltzing through her heat by a margin of 12¼ lengths last week, she was dazzling again on Thursday night winning in 29.22s, again with 12 ¼ lengths back to the runner-up, Midnight Return, with Midnight Jill half a length away in third. Both that pair also advance to the April 29 Chase semis.
The 29.22s is the second fastest time ever run at Dubbo over the 516m trip, only kennelmate Jungle Deuce (28.93s) has gone faster over the trip.
“She is just being doing this since she came back,” Smith said of the speed his bitch is showing.
“This is a little bonus and we’ll take it as far as we can go. The Country Classic definitely would have been great for her, on her favourite track and her favourite distance,” Smith said.
“But these things happen for a reason and we might make a million dollar race because we missed out on that one.”
While she is now one win away from a one in eight shot at $1 million on May 7, the aim remains true for Smith and Miss Ezmae – the new event on the calendar for stayers, $500,000 to the winner, The 715 to be run at LADBROKES GARDENS on June 11.
“That’s what we are aiming for. There’s just the one target The 715 at The Gardens. If we can pick something up along the way, it would be great but the one race we want is the 715m.”
Had the 2021 Million Dollar Chase gone ahead in September last year Smith would have had one of the leading contenders in Jungle Deuce. Unfortunately the star sprinter suffered a hairline fracture to a hock in the Australian Cup heats in Melbourne in February and while it’s hoped he will get back to the track, it wasn’t going to be in time for this Million Dollar Chase.
Smith has had four previous semi-finalists in the Million Dollar Chase – Little Digger, Solar Sky, Irinka Tess, and most notably his best chance came back in 2019 when cult hero Feral Franky was given a great chance to win the $1 million but fell on the first turn in the semi-final. That dog, was part-owned by Lyndall McIntyre.
