The triple G1 winner Alizee has finished third in Saturday’s Memsie Stakes at Caulfield in her latest attempt to add a fourth top-level success to her record.
And her stablemate Hartnell, the winner of four G1s, finished just behind her in fourth place in the same race.
For Alizee, the placing did nothing to damage her reputation as one of Australia’s best race mares with both trainer James Cummings and jockey Damien Oliver praising the performance.
“She didn’t get any help drawing wide and having to go right to the back,” Cummings said.
“It as a very good effort to finish as close as she did, less than a length behind a very good horse.”
Oliver said he had been forced to wait too long to make his run.
“I wanted to go a bit earlier but the horses in front of me weren’t taking me anywhere. It was very good run to get as close as she did.”
The Memsie went to Scales Of Justice, already a G1 winner in Western Australia, who had the run of the race before being produced at the 200m to make his winning bid.
Scales Of Justice held on to win by three-quarters of a length to So Si Bon who was a nose in front of Alizee.
Hartnell made ground near the inside rail to grab fourth place a long neck further back.
Alizee remains a possible starter in the A$14 million Everest on 19 October.