Racing fans have given Ballarat galloper Heart Of Puissance a flying start in his bid to secure a start in the $5m All-Star Mile at Caulfield on Saturday, March 14.
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His supporters have quickly rallied behind the three-year-old to have him among the leading votegetters in the race to make the field.
Ten of the 15 runners will be decided by public vote.
Managing owner Justin Shannon said having in the vicinity of 120 owners had undoubtedly given Heart Of Puissance early impetus in the chase for votes.
With voting to close at 11.59pm on Sunday, February 16, as of Tuesday, Heart Of Puissance had topped 1900 to be sitting fifth behind Star Missile, Alligator Blood, Melody Belle and Kolding among 95 nominations.
Shannon, who is in the SJC Old Boys syndicate with former St Joseph's College (Geelong) schoolmates, said he was asking every contact he had to vote and for them in turn to get their contacts to vote.
Bungaree Football and Netball Club is playing a big part in building the tally.
The Demons have three syndicates - each with 20 members - in the ownership of colt.
Bungaree's Darren Rix said there had been a lot of interest when the opportunity to be in the ownership had come up. He said the racing syndicates added to the social life of the club and helping raise funds. "It's a lot of fun and very exciting. Everyone's up and about."
Rix said there were also many who were not part of the syndicates, but still felt part of it. "It's good for the club and good for the community."
Trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, and based at their Miners Rest stable, Heart Of Puissance has stamped himself as a potential track star in just three starts.
He won on debut at Warrnambool in mid-October and repeated the dose at Moonee Valley at the start of November.
It was a third in the group 2 Sandown Guineas though at Sandown near the end of the spring carnival that signalled a big future.
Shannon said Heart Of Puissance was originally purchased by Darren Weir and bloodstock agent John Foote.
He said Weir had been keen to acquire a foal by Irish import Puissance de Lune - a galloper which won the heart of the then Ballarat trainer.
Shannon said Maher and Eustace were planning to have Heart Of Puissance resume in the group 3 $160,000 CS Hayes Stakes, 1400m, at Flemington on February 15 and then lead into the All-Star Mile via the group 1 $1m Australian Guineas, 1600m, at Flemington on February 29.
Those wishing to vote: https://allstarmile.com.au
