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Turfling
Australasia
Monday 26 October 2026
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The lead
Proxima Dea makes it five from five in the Spring Champion
Proxima Dea won the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes over 2000 metres at Randwick on Saturday by a length and a half from the Flight Stakes winner Global Goal, with Cormier third. She is unbeaten in five starts and the first filly to take the race since Montefilia in 2020, also for David Payne, who has now won eleven Australian Group 1 races (ANZ Bloodstock News)
The Tarzino filly is out of the Redoute’s Choice mare Invisible Coin, a full sister to the Group 1 Queensland Oaks winner Gypsy Goddess, was bred by Transtasman Breeders and was passed in at the Sydney Easter Yearling Sale. She races for Andy Giles, Hugh Docherty and Caroline Vincent, and Payne has committed her to the Group 1 VRC Oaks over 2500 metres. “We know it’s the further, the better with this filly,” he said (NZ Racing News)
Key runners only. Turfling does not reproduce published field content.
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Things to know today
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True Rebel booked a Victoria Derby place by winning the Group 2 Drummond Golf Vase at Flemington on Saturday by half a length from Skua, with the filly Salann third, for Danny O’Brien and Blake Shinn. It was the Rebel Dane gelding’s second win from four starts and he came from the Silverdale Farm draft at the 2025 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $80,000. On the same card Chris Waller’s Soverato took the Group 3 Tesio Stakes by a long neck under Damian Lane, heading a New Zealand bred trifecta from Shockletz and Ocean Bay. The Vadamos mare cost Kasa Bloodstock $10,000 at the 2024 New Zealand Bloodstock National Online Yearling Sale and now races for OTI Racing, whose director Terry Henderson named the Group 2 Matriarch Stakes as an option (Breednet, NZ Racing News) |
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Puzzle won a 1400 metre maiden at Trentham on Sunday by two lengths for the Otaki trainer Johno Benner and Craig Grylls, at her second start after finishing third on debut at Waverley. The Satono Aladdin filly cost $170,000 from Brighthill Farm’s draft at the 2024 New Zealand Bloodstock National Weanling Sale, races for Gary Harding and is out of the Rip Van Winkle mare Henley Road, a half sister to the four time Group 1 winner Callsign Mav. Benner let her New Zealand 1000 Guineas entry lapse and will look at fillies’ stakes races from Christmas. She is “a good-actioned filly that is going to get 2000m, so it’s all upwards from here,” he said (NZ Racing News) |
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Raging Blizzard gave John Size a fifth Premier Bowl at Sha Tin on Sunday, the seven year old running down Ka Ying Attack by a head in 1:07.71 under Brenton Avdulla, with Crimson Flash half a length further back in third. It was a seventh win from 30 starts for the Per Incanto gelding, who has earned HK$26.24 million and was second to Ka Ying Rising in last year’s Hong Kong Sprint. Size will use the Group 2 Jockey Club Sprint over 1200 metres on 22 November as a stepping stone to the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint on 13 December, and called the win “a bit of justice for him”, adding that “he’s tried so hard in all his races” (ANZ Bloodstock News) |
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Juja Kibo was bought privately after winning a maiden at Ballinrobe in Ireland at his second start and goes to the Melbourne Cup with six wins and nine placings from 20 starts. The Belardo gelding is the best of six winners from eight foals out of Na Zdorovie, a winning half sister to the Group 2 winner Slim Shadey, and his Group 2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup win was a second stakes success after the Group 2 Metropolitan (Breednet) |
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Maurice sits second on Australia’s general sires list by stakes winners this season with five, and shuttles to Arrowfield Stud, where he stands at $44,000 including GST. His Cox Plate winner Cosmic Crusader is the first foal to race out of Cosmic Storm, a mare who has been sent to Maurice seven times (ANZ Bloodstock News) |
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Memory Parade won the Listed Northam Cup over 1600 metres at Northam on Sunday for the S and J Casey stable, with Natasha Faithfull riding, from Aberdeen Flyer and Oly’s Choice. The winner is by War Chant (Breednet) |
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International
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Japan
Going to Sky denies Lovcen the Triple Crown in the Kikuka Sho
Going to Sky won the 87th Kikuka Sho over 3000 metres at Kyoto on Sunday by a nose from Basse Terre, with Danon History a length away third, in 3:04.5 on good to firm ground. The double crown winner Lovcen broke poorly and finished fourteenth, leaving the Triple Crown unclaimed. It was a first Group 1 winner for the sire Contrail and a first Group 1 for the trainer Yuki Uehara, who opened his stable in 2023, while Yutaka Take took his 87th JRA Group 1 and a record sixth Kikuka Sho. “I wanted to focus on riding my own race,” Take said (Japan Racing Association)
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Europe
Queenstown gives Galileo a 105th individual Group 1 winner
Queenstown won the Prix Royal-Oak at Saint-Cloud on Sunday from Consent, eight days after finishing second in the Long Distance Cup at Ascot, to become the 105th individual Group 1 or Grade 1 winner for Galileo, who died in 2021, and the first since Changingoftheguard took the Sydney Cup in April. The Coolmore homebred is out of the Danehill Dancer mare Where and is the tenth top level winner bred on that cross. Aidan O’Brien also took the Critérium de Saint-Cloud with Drumbeat, who beat his stablemate Shakespeare by two lengths on testing ground and will be trained for a Guineas, while Richard Chotard’s Master Man led all the way in the Critérium International from two Ballydoyle colts (Racing Post, TDN)
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The week ahead
| 26 to 29 October |
Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale at Newmarket |
| 30 and 31 October |
Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Keeneland |
| 31 October |
Victoria Derby day at Flemington |
| 3 November |
Lexus Melbourne Cup at Flemington |
| 7 November |
Champions Day at Flemington |
| 14 November |
New Zealand 2000 Guineas at Riccarton |
| 18 and 19 November |
NZB Ready to Run Sale at Karaka |
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Thanks for reading. Hit reply and tell us what we missed.
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. Not affiliated with any track, tote board, regulator or wagering product.
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