Autumn Glow smashes Winx Stakes clock in frightening return

There was clear improvement left in Autumn Glow, but she still produced the fastest Winx Stakes win seen at Randwick.

Quicker than the great mare, who the race is named in honour, quicker than Lonhro, Sunline and Filante, who ran 1.21.06 compared to the 1.21.03 on a slow track on Saturday.

The wintery look to Autumn Glow’s coat turned a few yard watchers off as they headed onto the track and the betting followed as the star mare touched $1.80 as they went onto the track.

But it was by design.

“We didn’t clip her because she has had a few skin infections, so we are going to let her coat come through,” Waller explained.

“She is going to improve on that as you can see, but that was pretty good.

“Peter said Sheza Alibi was 82.7 per cent so we might be 83.1 per cent. It is hard to quantify.

“She was ready to go because I didn’t want her to have a tough time first-up.”

Autumn Glow would jump $1.70, and supporters never really feared defeat as the pressure poured on by Midnight Dynamic was to her liking, much more than her rivals, including Sheza Alibi.

Those back in the field knew at the 600m mark.

“I looked up at the 600m when the hammer went down and she was the bridle and nothing else was,” said Tommy Berry, who was on Fangirl.

“She just dropped all us when the time was right. It was scary.”

When James McDonald asked for the effort around 250m out, the response was immediate and the best horses in the country were left in Autumn Glow’s wake.

McDonald gave his trademark look back to see where the rest were on the line with Sheza Alibi ($3.50) 1-1/2 lengths back and Gringotts ($21) 1-3/4 lengths back in third.

AUTUMN GLOW DOMINATES AND WINS THE WINX! 💛🖤@mcacajamez @cwallerracing @WorldPool pic.twitter.com/qgPoioMnmS

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) August 22, 2026

“She’s so special, just her gate speed and tractability. She knows when she’s in a race because from the 500m to the 400m, it’s like she just powers into herself and just builds herself, she just knows,” McDonald said.

“It’s an incredible feeling and even though she puts herself in good spots, for her to have that audacity to fill her lungs up and know it’s go time, just let rip, it’s just incredible.”

Peter Moody, who made the clash by bringing Sheza Alibi to Sydney, could give a nod to the winner.

“She went well, we just found another mare that went better,” he said. “She was on the back of the winner and couldn’t go with her.

“She made ground late but only because the other one was eased up.

“She just got beat by the best in the land.”

Sheza Alibi’s jockey Luke Nolen added: “We are in for a really good prep. She kept closing.

“The other mare has had a few more pre-seasons than we have. She was a bit sharp for us today.”