![Trainer Dom Sutton is targeting the Australian Oaks with After Summer after her narrow Group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes defeat. [Bradley Photos]](https://betsy.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2275688.jpg)
A narrow defeat in the G1 Vinery Stud Stakes has only fuelled Dom Sutton’s hunger for another top flight victory this autumn and the young trainer is optimistic it can happen in the coming weeks.
Sutton’s filly After Summer was edged out by Belle Cheval in a photo finish that decided the three-year-old classic at Rosehill on Saturday.
Any hope that the result could be overturned in the stewards’ room were dashed after an unsuccessful protest but Sutton hopes the daughter of The Autumn Sun can avenge the defeat in Saturday week’s G1 Australian Oaks at Randwick.
“It was definitely bittersweet but the way I’m looking at it is that if someone had told me that morning that I could run second in a Group 1, I probably would’ve taken it,” Sutton
“She ran super but it is frustrating given it was such a small margin.
“Under different circumstances, could she have won the race? Potentially, but you can’t dwell on it, you just have to move on.
“She’s come out of it very well so she’s all systems go to hit the Oaks third-up.”
Another Oaks aspirant is After Summer’s stablemate Classic Gem but whether she fronts up at Randwick or waits a fortnight for the G1 Australasian Oaks over 2000m at Morphettville will be decided after she runs in Saturday’s G3 Adrian Knox Stakes.
Sutton had considered running the filly in Melbourne again after her first-up placing behind Getta Good Feeling in the G3 Alexandra Stakes but said the 2000m option in Sydney appears the better fit for her campaign.
“We’ll go to Sydney (with Classic Gem), all things being well,” he said.
“We feel like she’s looking for the 2000m more than staying at the mile.
“It gives us the option if she runs well, we can either back-up in the Oaks up there and run both fillies or we can go three weeks into Adelaide.”
The two fillies have been flag-bearers for a fledgling stable that has now gone within a couple of centimeters of training a second G1 winner inside its first 30 winners, since Sutton saddled up his first winner in early 2024.
But such has been his aggressive approach at the yearling sales in recent seasons that the Flemington horseman has a stable full of young, well-bred and well-educated horses that have been able to make an impact on the racetrack, particularly as three-year-olds.
In 2025, Sutton’s team spent more than $4 million on yearlings across the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale and the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale.
He has spent more than $3 million at the corresponding sales this year.
“When we set out on doing what we’re doing and were looking at buying horses at the yearling sales, we wanted to compete at the top level,” he said.
“So there is a lot of satisfaction in getting these nice results for the people that have supported us.
“That’s what made it a little easier getting beaten on Saturday was that she (After Summer) has another Group 1 placing under her belt and her value as a broodmare has only gone up.
“In this game, if you want to compete at the top level consistently, you have to go to sales and buy the ones that you want to train.
“It’s nice that they are hitting the track and performing.”
Sutton confirmed that Saturday’s G3 Doncaster Prelude runner-up Feroce has been spelled and will be aimed at feature races in the early part of the spring.
