Front Page will be looking to be the headline act in the Listed Starlight Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday.
The Matthew Dale trained chestnut will be second-up after finishing sixth behind Clear Thinking when resuming in the 2025 edition of the $2 million Kosciuszko … a race with which Front Page’s name is synonymous.
Front Page won the rich Kosciuszko in both 2022 and 2023 before finishing second behind Far Too Easy in 2024. Even in that defeat at the hands of Clear Thinking, Front Page still turned in a stout effort coming home only 2.25 lengths behind Clear Thinking while carrying 6.5kg more than the winner.
In his previous four start preparation Front Page won the Group 2 Moreton Cup at Eagle Farm beating Hidden Wealth, a very useful performer … and he finished in second place behind Private Harry in the Group 1 Galaxy.
Form around those results were not as flash, but they did come at Ascot in the $5 million Quokka and the $3 million Group 1 Stradbroke. Neither of those are ever an easy assignment.
Neither is his task on Saturday … where the nine-year-old is being asked to give away a weight advantage to all of his twelve younger rivals, namely from 2kg to 7kg, second-up over the 1100m trip.
All of Front Page’s opposition are younger than him … the differences being between one and five years, so, again, that will serve up a challenge to the top weight.
Nick Heyward takes the ride on the $6 chance, who is the current second favourite for the Starlight Stakes.
The $4.40 main fancy is Zealously who has had two runs in this time, winning first-up after a four month layoff, before following up with an outstanding third place in the Group 2 Caulfield Sprint.
