Robbie Williams set the bar high with a Super Bowl-like performance this week, but racing stars were out to shine as well. Will Hayes deserves a Sydney bonus, Chris Waller is getting close to a world record, and he has a new man in Melbourne. The Autumn Glow coverage didn’t reach those heights, while the Golden Gift is anything but Golden.
HITS
CHRIS WALLER
Group 1 double on the first day of the Melbourne Cup carnival, Group 1 double on the final day, Waller sits on 27 premier wins for 2026 and will have the favourites in the Orr Stakes to draw level with Aidan O’Brien’s world record. Waller has managed Autumn Glow almost perfectly, but we are still waiting for that standout performance. Birdman, a horse bought to win a Melbourne Cup, has become a weight-for-age star. The only downer for Waller was the $50,000 fine for a raceday treatment, a topical cream, which saw Asterix scratched from the Melbourne Cup on race morning.
Will Hayes drew the short straw and went to Sydney, so let’s hope he takes the majority of the winning percentage from the more than $2 million won by Evaporate in the Five Diamonds and Act Up in the Golden Gift. Lindsay Park targeted the right races, and they got the result, but their most impressive winner on Saturday was Soldi in the Inglis Banner. She is unbeaten but will need to win again to get into the bigger two-year-old races later in the season as it was a restricted race on the weekend.
She has won the most races by any horse in Australia this season, five including two Group 1s, and is unbeaten. She is simply too good for the three-year-old fillies and has already beaten the older horses in a Midway. Zac Lloyd ride on Proxima Dea in the VRC Oaks was smart and full of belief in the filly. He kept her out of trouble and in rhythm three-wide, knowing her staying quality would shine through. She is one of the most exciting horses in the country and it will be interesting to see where she gets to in the next year.
BEN MELHAM
Is Mr Melham becoming Chris Waller go-to jockey in Melbourne. He has three Group 1 wins for the leading stables this season and could make it four with Angel Capital next week. Melham showed on Birdman why he is an important part of the puzzle, timing his run to get the last crack at Cosmic Crusader like he did in the Underwood Stakes last month. It resulted in Champions Stakes victory and will only add to his chances of being called up for the best rides in Melbourne when Group 1 racing resumes next year.
ROBBIE WILLIAMS
The Melbourne Cup won the entertainment stakes by lengths. The superstar’s set was like a Superbowl show in miniature. It left Kylie at the MCG, Sweet Caroline at Randwick and whatever it was at the NRL Grand Final in the shade or complete darkness. Point Of Law gave a Williams-like performance in the Cup itself. The bar is now so high for the VRC, like the Bob Beamon long jump world record that stood for 23 years. Good luck topping it next year.
MISSES
THE CLOSE UP OF AUTUMN GLOW
Why do we try to reinvent how we show off our biggest product at major carnivals? We watch races from side-on every day of the year. But come the day when the star of the sport is on show to the wider public, we go to a close-up at the 200m mark. It drew groans from punters around the country, who were trying to work out what was going to fill the placings behind the $1.18 favourite. They don’t change camera angles in the AFL or NRL Grand Finals, if you want to get artistic, do it after the race, not during it.
Channel 9 deserved to lose the coverage next year after going head on Autumn Glow from the 300. #deadset
— Racing Previews (@Racing_Previews) November 7, 2026
PINHOLE
He got the consolation prize in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, but Pinhole would have run second in the Melbourne Cup if he was there on Tuesday. No luck in the Moonee Valley Cup left him, 25th in the final Melbourne Cup order of entry and running for a $250,000 bonus on Saturday. He lapped up the tempo provided by import Defiantly and drove clear for an easy win. Pinhole’s problem will be his mark for next year’s Melbourne Cup, because he looks like another stayer on the rise.
TOO DARN DISCREET
While Tempted and Cosmic Crusader probably lost more for punters as favourites on Saturday, those who backed Too Darn Discreet had a worse hard luck story. The Matriarch Stakes favourite was back in the field sweeping around the home turn and, according to stewards, got held up from 500-300m, and also copped at check at the 400m mark. That set her back a length, but she charged late and once she found clear air ran Sun Gift to three-quarters of a length. If there is another run this preparation, she will certainly be favourite again.
FLEMINGTON OUTSIDE FENCE
Chad Schofield and James McDonald went out into the quicksand on the favourites in the Champions Sprint. Flemington track staff aerate the outside four metres every meeting – the result is it is a no-go zone. The two Sydney jockeys had watched the week of racing where the outside had been the place to come, and went there. But with a change of wind and a softer track out there, it was the opposite on Saturday. The winners of the straight race came in the same spot for most of Saturday, proving local knowledge is king.
GOLDEN GIFT
Racing NSW first got the conditions of this race wrong, with a barrier trial winner balloted out for horses on debut without a trial success. Then it had to watch two Victorians with race experience come in and rip away the major share of the prizemoney. In fact Proverb, which ran fourth, also had its only start in Melbourne. If you are going to have a $1 million two-year-old race in November, you need to have lead-ups. Sydney had had three juvenile races, and a provincial two-year-old race had been deleted. What other million-dollar race would have half a field of first-starters. It does nothing for turnover. And it’s ridiculous that this race offers a direct path to the Golden Slipper.
