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Turfling
Australasia
Friday 2 October 2026
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The lead
Vin Cox will chair the VRC from December as Neil Wilson leaves after 14 years
Vin Cox has been appointed the 23rd chairman of the Victoria Racing Club, taking over from Neil Wilson at the club’s annual general meeting on 15 December. Cox has been a VRC director since June 2020, sits on the racing sub-committee and chairs the masterplan committee that oversees long term development at Flemington. He ran Godolphin Australia and Magic Millions before that, and has been a club member for more than 30 years (VRC, The Straight).
Wilson joined the board in 2012 and was honorary treasurer and chief executive before becoming chairman in 2020, the only person in the club’s history to have held both roles. He will not stand for election and leaves the board, staying through the Melbourne Cup Carnival to hand over. Katie Page and Gerry Harvey said Cox “has always understood that the strength of Australian racing relies on collaboration beyond state borders” (VRC, Breednet).
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Things to know today
| 1 |
The Metropolitan has lost its Group 1 status and runs at Group 2 level this season, the Asian Pattern Committee having decided the downgrade and Racing NSW having accepted it rather than fight to keep the grading by altering the race conditions. Prize money has stood at $750,000 since 2015, and this is the first Australian Group 1 demotion since the WATC Derby in 2012 (The Straight) Field and barrier positions for Saturday’s Metropolitan are Racing Australia content and are not reproduced here. |
| 2 |
One Pool has gone live ahead of Saturday’s Group 1 racing at Flemington and Royal Randwick, merging NSW TAB, SuperTAB and UniTAB into a single national pari-mutuel pool across all Australian meetings and codes after a trial that began on 24 September. The win market takeout is 14.5 per cent outside World Pool events, and some exotic rates rise by half a percentage point for former NSW TAB and SuperTAB customers, with international meetings to follow in coming months. Tabcorp chief wagering officer Michael Fitzsimons said the company does not expect huge amounts of growth but has built a platform it can grow on (The Straight) |
| 3 |
Frank Ritchie has retired from training, the New Zealander best known for Bonecrusher, winner of nine Group 1 races and of the 1986 Cox Plate over Our Waverley Star. Ritchie said that after that race “we were both going down and we hugged because we just knew what great horses they were”. He also trained the dual Group 1 winner Showella and the Group 3 winner Centainette, and now watches his sons train, Shaune at Cambridge and Craig lately on his own account in Australia (Breednet) |
| 4 |
Enchilada won by seven lengths in a 1700 metre maiden at Warrnambool on Thursday, the Pierro colt running 1:49.14 on a Soft 7 for Patrick Payne and Will Gordon after beginning slowly and settling about ten lengths off the lead. He is a close relation to the triple Group 1 winner Arcadia Queen, bred and retained by Dave and Jenny Morison of Pinewood Farm after being passed in short of a $200,000 reserve at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, and the third winner from five runners out of Arcadia Delight. The $3 million Group 1 Victoria Derby over 2500 metres on 31 October is the stated target (Breednet) |
| 5 |
Aurora Belle won on Australian debut by two and a half lengths over 1200 metres at Ballarat on Wednesday, the four-year-old Belardo mare ridden by Ethan Brown for Ben, Will and JD Hayes at Lindsay Park. She arrived unbeaten from two starts at Te Rapa for Conor and Sarah Fahy at Pukekohe, bought by a group including Jay Snedden, Punt Road Syndications and Johnny O’Neil’s crew. JD Hayes said she showed plenty of upside, and Fahy said “we were only scratching the surface with her” (Breednet) |
| 6 |
Hoba West carried 59 kilograms to win the Listed Hannans Handicap over 1400 metres at Kalgoorlie in 1:23.39 on a Good 4, the seven-year-old Epaulette gelding holding last year’s winner Multinational by 0.3 lengths under Austin Galati for Summer Dickson. He is only the third horse since 1972 to carry 59 kilograms to victory in the race, a homebred for Cape Falls Thoroughbreds whose dam Hoba traces to the dual Group 1 winner Skating, and is now six wins from 25 starts for $359,707. Dickson said afterwards that “I used to come here with my sister, and she’s not here anymore” (Breednet) |
| 7 |
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing has launched Beyond the Track, a website for horses leaving racing, carrying retirement planning, welfare information and rehoming guidance for owners, trainers, retrainers, rehomers and the equestrian community. Owners can claim an off track thoroughbred so the body can see where it went and what support it needs, and the platform is funded through the industry’s one per cent welfare levy. Head of thoroughbred welfare Catlyn Calder said the responsibility to the horses “doesn’t end when they finish racing” (Breednet) |
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Forty-four stallions had winners across Australasia on Thursday, with Brazen Beau, Headwater, I Am Invincible and Toronado the only four to take two apiece (Breednet) |
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International
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Hong Kong
Australian bred sprinters fill the trifecta in the National Day Cup
Colourful King won the Group 3 National Day Cup over 1000 metres at Sha Tin on Thursday in 55.72 seconds on a firm track, more than a length clear, the five-year-old Blue Point gelding carrying 56 kilograms for Zac Purton and David Eustace. Magic Control was second and Bottomuptogether third, an Australian bred trifecta. The winner raced in Melbourne as Blue Renegade and won twice in 2024 for Matt Ellerton before being sold to Hong Kong, and is now seven wins and nine placings from 22 starts. Purton said he “was in the right spot and travelled well behind the right horse all the way” and that it was “just a matter of him delivering”. Eustace expects a Group 2 over 1200 metres within three weeks and has the Group 3 Bauhinia Sprint Trophy over 1000 metres in January in mind. Bred by Hesket Bloodstock, he is out of the New Zealand bred mare Hard Rider, who has had 14 foals, all of them raced, 12 of them winners and three others stakes winners (Breednet)
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France
Sixteen in the Arc after the Gosdens take up Friendly Soul’s free entry
Sixteen are in the Group 1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp on Sunday, 15 having come through Tuesday’s second forfeit stage before John and Thady Gosden took up the free supplementary entry Friendly Soul earned by winning the Prix Vermeille. Daryz, who won the race last year, is one of two for Francis-Henri Graffard, and France, Britain, Ireland, Japan and Germany are all represented. Pearled Majesty came out and goes instead to the Qatar Racing Champion Stakes at Ascot. Longchamp clerk of the course Charles de Cordon expected 2mm to 4mm of rain on Wednesday and a dry week after it, the ground reading 3.4, bon souple, on Tuesday morning, and France Galop holds the draw back to the Thursday evening launch (Racing Post, TDN)
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The week ahead
| 3 October |
Group 1 Epsom Handicap day at Royal Randwick |
| 3 October |
Group 1 Turnbull Stakes over 2000 metres at Flemington |
| 10 October |
Group 1 Caulfield Guineas over 1600 metres at Caulfield |
| 17 October |
The Everest at Royal Randwick |
| 31 October |
The Golden Eagle at Royal Randwick |
| 18 and 19 November |
New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale at Karaka |
| 15 December |
Victoria Racing Club annual general meeting, where the chairmanship changes hands |
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This week
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Turfling
Reported from official race-day materials, racecourse and regulator publications, and sales results, verified against trade press. Where a fact originates elsewhere, we say so. Drafted with AI assistance. Picks are percentages, never odds. Not affiliated with any track, tote board, regulator or wagering product.
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