Waller fillies set for Flight Stakes rematch

There's still 175 days to the $5 million Golden Slipper and this season's juveniles haven't even started racing yet but already punters can start betting on who will win the world's richest two-year-old race. TAB Fixed Odds has released the first market on next year's Golden Slipper with Scampi at the top of betting at $17. The Ciaron Maher and…

Hall of Fame trainer Chris Waller doesn't have any of the big-race favourites but he is still an opportunity to repeat his famous 2019 Group 1 hat-track at Royal Randwick on Saturday. Waller had a sensational day at the feature Epsom meeting four years ago training six winners including the three Group 1 races with Kolding (Epsom Handicap), Come…

Hope In Your Heart will be ridden by Craig Williams in the Group 1 Epsom Handicap on Saturday. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images Trainer Kerry Parker is banking on the big-race genius of jockey Craig Williams and a significant gear change to provide Hope In Your Heart with an elusive Group 1 win in the $1.5m Epsom Handicap (1600m) at Royal Randwick…

Trainer Chris Waller is set to deviate from his original plan and give Group 1 winner Militarize his highly-anticipated return in Saturday's $300000 Group 2 Run To The Rose (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens. Waller accepted in both the three-year-old feature and the Group 2 Theo Marks Stakes (1300m), which Militarize had gained a start in as the first…

Chris Waller will have up to seventeen runners at Rosehill, five of them Group 1 winners, but it is one horse that has him especially excited. When asked to nominate the galloper he is most looking forward to seeing on Saturday, Waller didn't hesitate to name Kovalica, who has the Epsom Handicap as his early-season target. "He's got X-factor,"…

Shinzo has the speed for The TAB Everest and Militarize the maturity to be competitive in weight-for-age races. Hall of Fame trainer Chris Waller gave this upbeat assessment this week of his crack colts who cleaned up Sydney's coveted juvenile triple crown during the autumn carnival. Waller has had a sensational season with his two-year-old team in…

A quality field has been assembled for the Group l Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m) this Saturday at Rosehill, where Prowess and Pavitra dominate betting. Down below is a speed map, runner preview and $100 betting strategy for the 2023 Vinery Stud Stakes. 2023 Vinery Stud Stakes Speed Map Soul Choice comes back from a fruitful Tassie prep and looks the…

Fireburn will emulate the unique feat of former champion filly Miss Finland if she wins the Group 1 $600000 Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday. Trainer Gary Portelli is optimistic Fireburn can recapture her outstanding two-year-old form of last season which included wins in the Golden Slipper and ATC Sires' Produce Stakes…

High class filly In Secret is favourite with Ladbrokes.com.au for the Group l Surround Stakes (1400m) this Saturday at Randwick. The James Cummings trained three year old resumed with a bang in the Light Fingers and fitter, up to 1400m, it all points to her. Opened $2.25 and sits at $2.20. Flight Stakes winner Zougotcha has had admirers,…

Champion sprinter Nature Strip and Caulfield Cup winner Durston will spearhead trainer Chris Waller's all-star team for the Sydney autumn carnival. Reigning Horse of the Year Nature Strip is a rising nine-year-old but earned the ranking of world's best sprinter in 2022 with his Group 1 wins in the TJ Smith Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick and the…

Sept. 30 (UPI) -- The Qatar Prix de l' Arc de Triomphe is the race of the year in Europe -- a 1 1/2-mile test that normally draws the best of what the locals call middle-distance runners. A couple of good ones are missing from Sunday's running, but there's plenty of intrigue left. And that's just the tip of the iceberg on a busy autumn weekend…

She might be a $61 outsider but Pavitra is going to shape how the winner of the Flight Stakes is decided in a relentless style at Randwick on Saturday. While there are group 1 winners in favourite Fireburn and She's Extreme, as well as Princess Series stars Zougotcha, winner of the Silver Shadow Stakes and Tea Rose Stakes, and North Star Lass,…

While the advent of the A$15 million Everest has changed the focus of the Sydney spring carnival, the biggest day in terms of Group 1 racing remains this weekend's fixture. Usually held on the first Saturday in October depending on how the calendar falls, the card features three Group 1 races. The richest of them is the Epsom H. over about one mile…

Kerrin McEvoy is looking to become the second jockey this century to ride the Epsom-Metropolitan double when he partners Hinged and Durston. Picture: Getty Images Champion jockey Kerrin McEvoy can claim the rare and coveted Epsom-Metropolitan Group 1 double with favoured duo Hinged and Durston at Royal Randwick on Saturday. Hinged heads TAB fixed…

Leading form analysts Dean Watling (The Barrier Attendant) and Mick Gannon (The Great Tip Off) have assessed the fields at Randwick and Flemington this Saturday. They have looked over some of the key races on a big day of Group 1 and Group 2 racing. Read their assessment of the Flight Stakes, Premiere Stakes, Epsom Handicap, Breeders' Plate, The…

The Flight Stakes (1600m) is the first of three Group 1 races to be run and won at Randwick on Saturday afternoon. The $750000 race has drawn a field of 10 three-year-old fillies, headlined by Golden Slipper Stakes winner Fireburn. Fireburn shares the top of the market with last-start Tea Rose Stakes winner Zougotcha, with the pair quoted at $3.20.…

Zougotcha has been the early firmer with Ladbrokes.com.au for the Group l Flight Stakes (1600m) this Saturday at Randwick. The Chris Waller trained filly was a strong winner of the Tea Rose two weeks ago and looks primed for the 1600m assignment. Opened $3.10 and has been crunched, into $2.70. Fireburn opened the $2.70 favourite but with the…

Nuances and nuisances proved costly for She's Extreme in the Golden Rose but trainer Anthony Cummings is predicting a bounce back from the Group 1 winner in the Flight Stakes at Randwick. Cummings felt the filly had genuine excuses when a sound but unspectacular sixth to Jacquinot in last Saturday's feature after settling close to a…

Chris Waller will flex his muscle at Randwick's traditional spring meeting and could have the favourites in each of the three group 1s on Saturday, which may turn into ladies' day for the premier stable. The champion trainer has swept the October long weekend majors before, in 2019, when he also won the Turnbull Stakes in Melbourne to achieve the…

Hall of Fame jockey Hugh Bowman has declined an offer to ride champion mare Verry Elleegant in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in France next weekend. Bowman was tempted by the opportunity to ride in Europe's most prestigious race, run at Longchamp on October 2, but had too many pressing Sydney spring carnival commitments. At Royal Randwick on…

Again, it's the royal blue of Godolphin that opens the Sydney Everest Carnival, and its Anamoe who's the $2.10 Ladbrokes favourite for the Fijutsu General George Main Stakes. Already launching the Sydney Spring with a'workable' 1½ length victory in the Winx Stakes, Anamoe was first up from a 19 week spell in this the first Group 1 of this new…

Entries for the Golden Eagle have increased by more than 60 per cent on last year's numbers The Golden Eagle is quickly cementing its place on Sydney's spring carnival program with the Australian Turf Club receiving a record 199 nominations for the $10 million race. Entries were up a staggering 63 per cent on the 122 taken last year and there was…

The past 12 months have been a period of'firsts' for trainer Chris Waller and he has achieved another one with Zougotcha's stunning win in the Flight Stakes. Having claimed his first Melbourne Cup with Verry Elleegant and first international major with Nature Strip at Royal Ascot, the champion horseman has now prepared his first Group 1 winner to…

The Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) has been won by most of the greats with Chris Waller dominating saluting in 10 of the last 12 years. Australia's current WFA champ Anamoe ($1.65 favourite in early all-in markets) tries to maintain his status with another major to add to his previous seven. He could face some of his vanquished from the Apollo…