Champion jockey Blake Shinn knows the responsibility that comes with getting on Mr Brightside as he looks for a fourth consecutive Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington.
The champion miler will be the sentimental favourite for Saturday’s Group 1, which features Sheza Alibi and Sir Delius, who Mr B’s regular jockey Craig Williams will ride as he starts his spring campaign.
“Craig is in an enviable position of having the ride on two exceptional horses and having to make a choice,” Shinn said. “I’m the fortunate one who has got to ride Mr Brightside when he chose Sir Delius.
“That would have been a tough call for him.
“Mr Brightside has been such a good horse for so long, and is a real people’s horse, which brings a different sort of pressure.
“Everyone knows what to expect from him, and I have to give him the opportunity to show that.
“I have watched his career for the Hayes boys and to be a part of it now is pretty special.”
Mr Brightside is a 10-time Group 1 winner, including two Doncasters, and has also won an All Star Mile. He remarkably has 11 Group 1 seconds after his return from injury on the Memsie Stakes a fortnight ago.
It showed he had returned the same horse when he was the best of the rest behind Beiwacht in the Memsie, and he has won seven times from nine second-up runs.
“He’s been able to have a nice reset,” co-trainer Ben Hayes said before the Memsie.
“The joint looks fantastic now and he’s happy, back in work and has his ears pricked.
“It’s probably the best he’s moved for a couple of seasons – they’re all positive signs.
“All his work, at home, suggests it’s normal Mr Brightside.”
But it is the new star Sheza Alibi that holds top billing as the $1.66 favourite for the Makybe Diva, in front of Sir Delius at $4.50 with Aeliana and Mr Brightside at $9.
