WEEKEND RACING RECAP – SATURDAY 21ST MARCH
The Golden Slipper Stakes celebrated its 70th renewal with one of the most even Slippers in history with Chayan being sent out favourite at $5.50. In what was a typical Slipper the pace was on from the start with many horses vying for an awkward position with the Blue Diamond Stakes winner Streisand being prominent and when she took over straightening she looked the winner but young Zac Llloyd was starting to weave a passage on the smart colt Guest House ($11.00) and when he saw some daylight back inside runners last 200m he burst through and put the race beyond doubt in a couple of strides dashing away for a dominant 1 1/4 length win from Streisand ($7.50) with the Canberra Black Opal winner Music Time another 1/2 length away in third position.
The win gave “evergreen” Victorian Mick Price his first of the “Big 4” Major races on the Australian turf after coming close in recent years. In partnership with Micheal Kent (Junior), they have done a wonderful job with this colt who now becomes a valuable stallion proposition in the future.
James McDonald wrote his name into Australian Turf history when he overtook Damien Oliver to become the all-time Group 1 winning rider (130 wins) when Autumn Boy burst away to win the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas. At only 34 years of age he has the chance to create a number that will take a very long time for any other rider to surpass. McDonald had earlier joined Oliver with a grinding win on the Chris Waller trained Aeliana in the Ranvet and it was fitting that the Waller/McDonald combination broke the record.
The combination did not stop there as they produced the unbeaten mare Autumn Glow in the George Ryder Stakes over the 1500m. She was the mare that many of the public had come out to see, and despite her meeting a class field, she treated them all with contempt demolishing her rivals to win by 2 3/4 lengths under a stranglehold bringing up her 11th straight victory.
The sprinters took centre-stage in the Group 1 Galaxy. After some action in the barriers that resulted in the scratching of one of the main chances in Grafterburners ($4) and Reserve Bank ($16), the race was run at a furious pace and at the 200m it was hard to pick a winner but the 2025 Golden Slipper winner Marhoona ($12.00) drove through last couple of strides and emulated her feat from last year and won a Group 1 on this day.
Although the spotlight was on Sydney for their five Group 1 races, there was also Group 1 racing at Caulfield with the running of the time-honoured William Reid Stakes. Colin Alderson was an icon of Victorian horse racing training from his Cranbourne stable for decades after taking out a training licence in 1966. Some of his 11 Group 1 wins included the 1999 Caulfield Cup and Australian Derby with Sky Heights. His daughter Cindy was destined to follow in his footsteps and after winning a Group 1 New Zealand Railway Stakes with her sprinter Jigsaw, she was determined to break her Group 1 maiden in Australia and set Jigsaw for the William Reid Stakes. When most trainers and owners look for the experience of senior riders in the bigger races, it has been refreshing to see the stable stick with apprentice rider Logan Bates who has rewarded them with a win in New Zealand then he repeated the dose with a gutsy on pace win in the William Reid aboard Jigsaw ($5.50), who held off the finish of the Yu Long owned duo Angel Capital ($8.50) and Devil Night ($81.00).
This will be a weekend that will be talked about for years when New Zealand born James McDonald became the greatest Australian Group 1 winning rider in history.