| Autumn Glow rounded out a faultless campaign when she led home a stable trifecta in Saturday’s $3 million Champions Mile (1600m) at Flemington. |
| Sent out a red hot favourite at $1.18, the crowd favourite cruised home under James McDonald to beat Lindermann by a length and a quarter, while Buckaroo was third another length back. The win in her first run in Melbourne made it 15 from 16 runs and her sixth at Group One level. The $400,000 Gold Coast National Weanling Sale buy has now earned her connections over $14.6 million. Winning trainer Chris Waller expressed great pride of Autumn Glow leading home a stable trifecta in the Champions Mile – knowing the expectation from racing fans and punters alike. “Exactly the same (pride post race),” Waller said. “Didn’t let people down. The whole prep, each race was so important to her, and she’s got a bit of a following now too so that’s factored into it.” “The owners are fantastic, Hermitage from Hong Kong, Mr Messara and his team at Arrowfield. They’ve been terrific support and great to train for. They know a lot about racing, but they leave a lot to my team and have trust in what we do. They deserve it, they’re the ones showcasing it, so it’s a good result.” “I was (anxious pre-race) because you don’t want a horse like Autumn Glow to disappoint. There’s a massive crowd here today and it was good to see her go through her paces.” “She had to put up a fight. Lindermann, he dug deep and to come away that last 100 metres, it was special.” “It is (good to see her fight). We rode her a little bit closer, but James didn’t want to get into trouble and let people down. It was a good result.” Waller said Autumn Glow will have a similar preparation into the future. “Just sort of rinse and repeat. Just sort of do similar things. Not go too far out of the out of the ordinary, which is what we do with our horses. We keep it simple and try not to take too many risks.” Where does Waller rank Autumn Glow amongst the champions he has trained? “About fourth. She’s a star. She’s as good as any horse that I’ve trained, it’s just about longevity.” “Winx just kept going, and going and going for four or five years. She could beat Winx on her day but Winx would probably beat her on Winx’s best day pretty easily in fact, especially over 2000 (metres).” “That’s the unique thing about people’s favourites, you can’t really compare them,” Waller summed up. Champion jockey James McDonald said he planned to not let stablemate Lindermann get too far in front in the mile feature. “He’s so dangerous that horse because he’s got a beautiful high cruising speed. He’s a tough campaigner. He’s such a good horse too. So he had her stretched a little bit from from the 800 onwards, but she’s just in cruise control.” “She was a little bit at sea, but now it was her first time left-handed in terms of under-race pressure. It wasn’t until the last 100 metres that she started to work it all out.””She’s just a brilliant specimen, a pleasure to ride, she’s just so, so special.” McDonald said today’s result confirmed Autumn Glow’s position as the country’s leading miler. “I think so. Now that she’s had this run here, it’s very foreign to her, but you look up at the Flemington straight, the roses, the people, she knew she was somewhere different and she was a little slow to balance and quicken up, but she’s a champion.” “Champions make their own luck in this game and she just plants herself on speed and away she goes.” “Obviously there’s great expectation. She’s the people’s horse now. She’s got an incredible resume, incredible record. She’s an absolute pleasure to ride, a jockey’s dream.” A daughter of Arrowfield Stud based sire The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice), Autumn Glow was bred at the Kelly family’s Newhaven Park and sold through their draft at the 2022 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Weanling Sale for $600,000. The sale topper of her year, Autumn Glow was secured at the Gold Coast by Silverdale Farm and Brian McGuire’s Shrone Bloodstock. The champion mare is from the triple Group One winning South African mare Via Africa (Var). She’s has turned out an incredible broodmare – producing two Group One winners from three runners. Her other Group One progeny is the Golden Rose Stakes winner In the Congo, a resident stallion of Newgate Farm.Winner: Autumn Glow Breeding: The Autumn Sun-Via Africa (Var) Race: VRC Champions Mile G1 (1600m) Sold for: $600,000 Sale: 2022 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Weanling Sale Earnings: $14,628,450 Breeder: Newhaven Park Stud Vendor: Newhaven Park Buyer: Silverdale Farm & Shrone Bloodstock Owners: Arrowfield Pastoral Pty Ltd (Mgr: JM Messara) & Hermitage (Mgr: Ms SM Clarke) Trainer: Chris Waller (Rosehill) |
