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Australasia

THE SPRING IS UNDER WAY  Autumn Glow took the Winx Stakes in a race record, a tenth win in the race for Chris Waller. The Everest and the King Charles III Stakes are both under consideration for her.

Australian and New Zealand racing, written plainly and explained. What happened, what is coming, and why it matters. The brief lands by email at 6am; the archive lives here, newest first.

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    Turfling
    Australasia
    Sunday 4 October 2026

    The lead

    Siena Grima wins the Epsom at her first Group 1 ride

    Siena Grima rode God’s Window to win Saturday’s $1.5 million Group 1 Epsom Handicap over 1600 metres at Royal Randwick, at the first Group 1 ride of her career. The 23-year-old, Sydney’s reigning premier apprentice, won by just over a length and a half from Ceolwulf, with Tom Kitten third on a soft track. She is the second female rider to take the Epsom and the first apprentice to win it since 1981.
    Chris Waller now has seven Epsom wins, level with Tommy Smith and Gai Waterhouse. “I had a lovely cart out wide and he just filled me with confidence the entire way,” Grima said. Waller described her as a professional athlete who is there every morning and the same person every day. Ceolwulf’s rider Chad Schofield said the topweight burst through the pack and was very good (The Straight, Just Horse Racing) Full fields and barrier positions are Racing Australia content and are not reproduced here.

    Things to know today

    1 Cosmic Crusader won the $750,000 Group 1 TAB Turnbull Stakes over 2000 metres at Flemington on Saturday by a length and three quarters from Light Infantry Man, with Aeliana third on heavy ground. It was the first Group 1 of Andrea Leek’s training career, and the Bob Peters owned gelding had not raced beyond 1800 metres before. “What might have brought us unstuck last start was the firmer deck. To get good cut out of it today, he loved it,” said William Pike, who rode him. Leek said she thought he had come on from his last run and would run out the 2000 metres. The Cox Plate is now the aim (Victoria Racing Club, Betsy)
    2 Global Goal gave Pinatubo his first Australian Group 1 winner, taking the $750,000 Group 1 Flight Stakes over 1600 metres at Royal Randwick on Saturday at only her fourth start, in a three way finish with De Armas and Bangkok Hottie. John Sargent trains her and Dylan Gibbons rode. “She’s just a little ripper. All she’s done is please us this whole prep and I’m just thrilled for John and the owners,” Gibbons said. Sargent is weighing the Thousand Guineas or the Spring Champion Stakes and has ruled out the VRC Oaks on her build (Breednet, Just Horse Racing)
    3 Inglis has given its Everest slot to Spicy Martini, the Toby Edmonds trained mare who won the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap in June and has six wins from 13 starts with $2.73 million earned. She was bought as a yearling on Inglis Digital for $8,000. “The Everest has become a worldwide phenomenon so it is great to be involved again,” Edmonds said. Owner Holly Penfold said she never dreamed they would be running in a $20 million race, and that the mare is always underestimated and always overperforms (Betsy)
    4 Guest House will miss the rest of the spring after a soft tissue injury to his near hind hamstring in trackwork on Saturday morning. The Golden Slipper winner, a three-year-old colt trained by Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr, has been sent for a spell and is expected back in the autumn (RSN)
    5 Qali Al Farrasha won the Group 3 Grangewilliam Stud Taranaki Breeders’ Stakes over 1400 metres at Hawera on Saturday by two lengths from Royal Flower on a Heavy 8. The Almanzor mare is trained at Matamata by Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson for Te Akau Stud and Westonlea Bloodstock, and it was her second stakes win, from four wins in 24 starts and $718,175 earned. “The track was a little bit worrying, but she is a pretty good horse, is Group One placed and I thought this was an easy kill for her,” said Wiremu Pinn, who rode her (Racing News NZ)
    6 Astoria Brooke took her first black type win in the Listed Fairview Matamata Kaimai Stakes over 1600 metres at Matamata on Saturday, the American Pharoah mare threading a tight gap inside the last 100 metres to beat What You Wish For by a head for Tony Pike and Michael McNab. She races for Trelawney Thoroughbreds and is now eight wins from 21 starts. “The way she took the tight gap in the home straight was good to see and I think it was her best win to date,” Pike said. Her next target waits on a veterinary check at home (LOVERACING.NZ)
    7 Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman have been fined $7,500 after Pounding returned a pre-race blood sample containing the prohibited substance flunixin ahead of July’s Grafton Cup. The partnership pleaded guilty to that charge and to failing to record treatments given between 2 and 9 July, and the stewards cut the starting penalty on the first charge from $10,000 to $7,000 for the plea, the cooperation and the disciplinary history. Pounding was disqualified from eighth and the finishing order amended. The partnership has been advised of its right to appeal (ANZ Bloodstock News, Just Horse Racing)

    International

    France

    Caballo De Mar repeats in the Cadran, Fairy Glen takes the Royallieu

    Caballo De Mar won the Group 1 Qatar Prix du Cadran at ParisLongchamp on Saturday by a short neck from Scandinavia, with Queenstown three and a half lengths away third, the clock stopping at 4:18.94 after an inquiry. The five-year-old gelding, trained by George Scott for Victorious Forever and ridden by Oisin Murphy, has now won the race two years running. “What an amazing performance by the horse. These moments are what we do it for,” Scott said, raising Ascot’s Champions Day card as a possibility (TDN)
    Fairy Glen won the Group 1 Qatar Prix de Royallieu on the same card, the Simon and Ed Crisford trained filly coming from last under Mickael Barzalona and going past Sunly inside the final 300 metres, with Amelia Earhart third after a late rally (Equidia)
    America

    Emphatic stays unbeaten in the Alcibiades

    Emphatic won the $650,000 Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades Stakes over a mile and a sixteenth at Keeneland on Friday by a length and a quarter, the unbeaten Nyquist filly leading throughout in 1:43.40 for Brendan Walsh, Tyler Gaffalione and the owners Gainesway Stable and Andrew Rosen. Summer Starlet chased her home and Oh She Said Yes was third. The win carries a fees paid place in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (Horse Racing Nation)

    The week ahead

    4 October Group 1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp
    10 October Group 1 Caulfield Guineas over 1600 metres at Caulfield
    17 October The Everest over 1200 metres at Royal Randwick
    31 October Group 1 Victoria Derby over 2500 metres at Flemington
    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

    This week

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    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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