Gritty Makeupartist holds the edge in five-straight chute

MAKEUPARTIST’S CLASS and grit were exposed in her last victory, returning off an eight-month lay-up in August against CAPTUREMYSHIP, one of the toughest horses to beat in overnight allowance out of the five-straight chute.

Drawn at post-position one and burdened with 126lb, tackling CAPTUREMYSHIP, breaking widest in the eight-horse field with 117lb, MAKEUPARTIST pressed and outbattled the course-specialist in splits of 22.2, 33.2 and 45.4, winning by a short head.

Since that narrow victory, MAKEUPARTIST’s has kept company with the country’s best horses, disputing torrid splits among the likes of MAHOGANY, RUNAWAY ALGO, and stablemate SHE’S MY DESTINY, leading up to the December 3 Mouttet Mile in which she raced prominently before being eased at the top of the straight.

Returning Saturday in the Security Department Trophy at five furlongs straight, MAKEUPARTIST has a kiss-of-death draw against her, breaking from stall three with the likes of speedster PRNCSSHOOTINGSTAR sitting pretty in stall nine with the track bias in her favour.

PRNCSSHOOTINGSTAR has not lost a straight race in three tries, staying on strongly last Monday to deny a determined KP CHOICE in 59.1 among non-winners-of-four races. However, despite MAKEUPARTIST’s being five stalls deep on the heavier far side of the track, her August run against CAPTUREMYSHIP, coming off a lay-up, suggests she can overhaul up-in-class PRNCSSHOOTINGSTAR.

Dropping in among overnight-allowance runners, after MAHOGANY’s five-furlong split of 59.3 in the Mouttet Mile, MAKEUPARTIST is technically down two classes, the level at which she led her much-improved stablemate, SHE’S MY DESTINY, carrying topweight 126lb going a mile on November 12.

KP CHOICE, a non-winner-of-four races, was able to stage a rally on PRNCSSHOOTINGSTAR, albeit he was never catching her, but still got within a neck.

PRNCSSHOOTINGSTAR doesn’t like to be eyeballed, surrendering to CHAMPION BUBBLER and LUKSOL coming off the turn in her previous race. CHAMPION BUBBLER is a star on the rise, and LUKSOL has come into her own recently, but neither has attained MAKEUPARTIST’s credentials, which should come to the fore, especially with winners jumping off the Mouttet Mile form lines.