Hits and misses: Guest House soars as Cox Plate dream fades

It is the time of year when the best separate themselves from the good horses. The right formlines become apparent and the Golden Slipper stood up again as the best two-year-old form in the country against on Saturday. While some enhanced reputations heading into the spring, others left questions open.

Hits

Guest House

There is not much more the Golden Slipper can do after returning by breaking the Rosehill 1100m track record in the San Domenico Stakes. A daring Zac Lloyd ride was complemented by a powerful three-year-old, who could be the colt to make the Everest more than a one-horse race. Coolmore will be very happy with their investment as they add another important line to advertising material – track record holder. And there is more to come after he will be improved by the outing. The debate about the best two-year-old form was shut down with Music Time running third. Blue Door lost no admirers setting up the record time.

GUEST HOUSE IS BACK‼️

A brilliant return win in the San Domenico Stakes in TRACK RECORD time 🤯@zaclloydx @MickPriceRacing pic.twitter.com/7vpcJKFAn5

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) August 29, 2026

Oliveanotherday

For a couple of strides, favourite backers were holding their breath as Harry Coffey looked for the way past Bridal Waltz, inside or out, he went along the fence, and Oliveanotherday exploded away to put his hand up for an Everest slot. He will stay in Melbourne to press his case, which is probably smart as there is a Group 1 for him at Caulfield, the Manikato Stakes, rather than taking the Everest contenders in Sydney.

OLIVEANOTHERDAY GETS THE GAP AND POUNCES‼️

A brilliant return win for Tom Dabernig’s emerging sprinter who makes it five in a row!@HTCoffey @dabernigracing pic.twitter.com/esxFyKgSDc

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) August 29, 2026

Nash Rawiller

Nash has been just doing Nash things this week. He scouted the outside fence of Canterbury’s back straight on the way to victory on Wednesday. Then when he had full control of the Memsie Stakes, he turned it into a one-act affair on Beiwacht. There is not a better 1400m rider in the country, and might not be a better 1400m horse in the land. It would have been interesting if Beiwacht didn’t spike a temperature before the Winx Stakes.

Kozi show

With the winning tickets for the Kosciuszko drawn in the next couple of weeks, the country showed their wares at Rosehill on Saturday. Lucy Longmire-trained Oh Arthur took another big step up leading all-the-way to beat fellow Kozi contender Kimberley Secrets, while Lisztomania will be one of the first selected after charging home to win the last of the day. Runner-up in the Country Championships and fourth in the Kosciuszko last year, Lisztomania is just getting better as an eight-year-old.

Oh Arthur!

A gritty all the way win for Lucy Longmire’s gelding 💪@adrianlayt pic.twitter.com/V0Lf2cl6ad

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) August 29, 2026

Emerging talents

I would prefer to take the $13 Mr Miller in the Epsom to the $5 Aethelwulf in the Metropolitan after the pair did what was expected on Saturday. Both will need to win again to gain the runs for the big prizes. Aethelwulf has a big action and Zac Lloyd held the handbrake for as long as possible. He is going to be better at 2400m and is very promising but he didn’t beat much on Saturday. Mr Miller also stepped up from midweek grade to a dominant win against benchmark company. Tommy Berry will be hoping he gets a weight he can make in the Epsom.

Misses

Yellow Jersey

He was supposedly a Cox Plate contender going into the spring, those dreams seem a long way away after his failure in a handicap on Saturday. Jockey Mark Zahra wasn’t happy with his action, which will require the stable to report back to stewards. But he was gone before the turn, and it will be a while before he starts $2.30 again.

Sass Appeal

She was so impressive first-up at Flemington, but in a moderately-run race to close the Caulfield card, she was under pressure coming to the turn and disappointed in a leader-dominated affair. She might not have liked Caulfield, which will be problematic because her target was the Sir Rupert Clarke.

Wild Atlantic 

He was thrown in at the deep end in the San Domenico Stakes. He started a shorter price than the Golden Slipper winner, but his inexperience showed in his racing manners as he dropped out to run last. He will probably go back in grade to get some confidence before taking on the big boys again.

Seize The Day

New Zealand Group 1 winner was well in the market for the McNeil Stakes, but jockey Blake Shinn reported that as soon as the pressure went on in the race, he didn’t handle it. The colt lost a plate in running, but even given that, he was very disappointing.

American Eagle hangs on in a thrilling McNeil Stakes 🦅@FreedmanRacing @MyRacehorseANZ pic.twitter.com/ClZtaWpd3e

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) August 29, 2026

McNeil Stakes

On a day where, despite a soft track, times were good, the three-year-old colts went more than a second slower than the fillies. The winner American Eagle had all the favours and was ridden right out to hold off Magic Millions winner Unit Five.  There are going to be much better form races to follow as the spring begins.