2025 G1 Champion's Mile Preview

It’s been a Flemington Carnival to remember — from the emergence of new talent in the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes and Victoria Derby, to the only Australian-bred runner Half Yours winning the Melbourne Cup, and Strictly Business delivering a stunning Oaks triumph for Thomas Carberry — one of the most remarkable training efforts in recent memory.

There’s one more chapter to come on Champions Day, and fittingly, it promises to live up to its name. In our Champions Mile preview, we made the case for a host of genuine chances before settling on our ranked order and assessed prices. Can Pride Of Jenni add to her growing legacy, or will the race reveal a new Treasure?

—Daniel O’Sullivan & The Inside Running Team

🪙 TREASURETHE MOMENT

We can make a case for quite a few here, but we’re giving Treasurethe Moment a great hope as the one a little underestimated in the market. She bounced back to form in the Cox Plate, travelling like the winner on the turn before just peaking late over 2040m (101.5). We suspect she didn’t run the trip there, so back to 1600m is a key positive, especially when her two career peaks of 105.4 and 102.7 came in the 1400m to 1600m range. She draws to settle close enough behind Pride Of Jenni, getting every chance to strike.

🐺 CEOLWULF

He will appreciate the expected tempo, as his two big career peaks (104/103.3) came in races contested by Pride Of Jenni, including last start (103.3) in his G1 King Charles Stakes win. His ability to sustain a strong chase is an asset.

💎 PRIDE OF JENNI

Pride Of Jenni comes off a dominant 105.5 rating win in the G1 Empire Rose, where she established control early and ran her rivals ragged, which is the performance to beat here. The other mares in that race didn’t have the capacity to keep her in their sights early, and once she broke clear, then put more pressure on them with a hot 800m to 600m split, they were unable to sustain their chase. The key question here is whether she can repeat that pattern against a higher calibre of opposition, who will now be even more mindful about not allowing her to break clear early. Expect Mr Brightside and Pericles to roll forward and keep her in sight, while Treasurethe Moment shouldn’t be far away. Her chances rest largely on whether she can dictate without burning too much early.

🎯 MR BRIGHTSIDE

He’s ultra-reliable and always hard to beat, but his last three runs at the mile — 100.2, 102 and 100.8 — sit just below the top end of the range that a few others here have recently reached.

📈 LEICA LUCY

She’s short on ratings for now, coming off a 97.8 behind Pride Of Jenni last start when in an impossible spot, 13.8 lengths off the lead at the 600m mark. However, her closing splits over the final 800m hint at higher ratings in the locker. The forecast wet track is a positive, she shouldn’t be as far back this time, and if there’s to be a surprise in the race, she looks the one most capable of providing it.

💫 STEFI MAGNETICA

She comes off a 99.7 rating win in the G2 Invitation against the mares last start. Earlier in the year, she produced a 101.5 to win the G1 Doncaster and reached a career peak of 102.8 in this race last year behind Mr Brightside, Antino and Fangirl.

This was a training performance to remember by Thomas Carberry.

Strictly Business went from a 1400m maiden win (first-up), to running second in the G2 Wakeful Stakes over 2000m, and then a 2500m Group 1 VRC Oaks win — all in just 13 days.

Only 4 of 274 fillies in the past 21 years have contested the Oaks third-up or earlier in their preparation, and she’s the first to win.

And she didn’t just scrape in — she dominated, winning by 3.5 lengths, the equal third-biggest margin in the race over the past two decades.

We’ll have a full ratings review of the VRC Oaks in next week’s edition.

Catch a replay of her powerful finish over the final 450m HERE.