KEY POINTS:
The euphoria of his breakthrough victory in England hadn't even begun to subside before Australian trainer Lee Freedman started contemplating more winners in one of the toughest arenas of world racing.
The victory of Miss Andretti in the group two King's Stand Stakes (about 1000m) at Royal Ascot yesterday also prompted him to reflect on what might have been.
"This is certainly going to encourage me and probably a few others," Freedman said.
"There isn't any doubt that our sprinters are as good as any in the world. But I think we can bring some of our middle-distance horses here as well."
Freedman, who also ran the New Zealand-owned sprinter Falkirk at last year's Royal meeting, said he had been keen to bring at least three others of his best horses to the meeting in the past.
The trainer named his derby-winning star Mahogany as a horse he would have loved to race in England, along with his Caulfield and Melbourne Cup winner Doriemus and triple Melbourne Cup champion Makybe Diva.
"Mahogany would have been an ideal horse for these sprint races," Freedman said. "He was a super horse and he had that incredible mix of stamina and speed."
But Mahogany's owner Lloyd Williams had no desire to race abroad, so ending that dream.
"It was the same with Doriemus," Freedman said. "I wanted to run him in the Ascot Gold Cup, but his owners wouldn't be in it."
Freedman's hopes for an English campaign with Makybe Diva were also vetoed by owner Tony Santic who preferred a Japanese trip for the mare.
Freedman said he understood the sentiments of Australian owners who, in some ways, had little to gain but prestige by coming to England where prizemoney is inferior to Australia and future breeding potential is the greatest gain.
With so many of Australia's better-performed runners being geldings, the latter becomes irrelevant.
For Miss Andretti, though, the trip has been an undoubted success.
While yesterday win may have added a modest A$300,000 ($338,500) to her already swollen bank balance, the mare has now become an immensely valuable broodmare when she retires.
Her King's Stand win has also almost certainly assured her the title of Australia's Horse of the Year for 2006-07.
With many of the contenders such as Desert War, Gold Edition and Haradasun having slipped from calculations or failed at the last hurdle, the crown was there to be won.
With Miss Andretti's series of group one wins at home - the best of them against older horses - and now the record-breaking international success on her curriculum vitae, she is clearly the heiress apparent.
If there is any more evidence required for Miss Andretti to secure the Horse of the Year title, it may well be provided on Saturday (Sunday, NZT) in the group one Golden Jubilee Stakes (1200m).
"She'll tell us if she wants to run," Freedman said.
"If we were at home I'd be confident that she'd back up, but when you're away you take it a bit more cautiously so we'll wait until Friday."
On yesterday's performance, the Australian star may not have too many of the locals keen to take her on.
* Miss Andretti's win in the King's Stand Stakes was the third time in the last five runnings that an Australian-trained horse had captured the prestigious sprint, following Choisir in 2003 and Takeover Target last year.
For good measure, Miss Andretti cut a huge 2.35sec off the course record for 1km.
Two of the other three Australian runners in the race finished third and fourth, in the shape of Magnus and Takeover Target, who set the previous course record in 2006. Bentley Biscuit, the other Aussie runner, came home last of 20 after finding ground conditions too quick.
- REUTERS
