Could the dream clash between the unbeaten Autumn Glow and Doncaster winner Sheza Alibi occur in the spring?
The superstars will become the most debated point in racing over the next year, with different spring grand finals likely to keep them apart.
Most logically, the clash will happen at next year’s Championships in the 2027 Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Like boxing, punters want to see the best against the best.
Also like boxing, it takes time to find the right place for a clash.
You can forget about The Everest. Neither want to fight out of their weight division against world champion sprinter Ka Ying Rising.
But there is hope for a spring date between the pair.
Peter Moody has already declared Sheza Alibi will chase the Golden Eagle, which was won by Autumn Glow this season, in the spring.
Autumn Glow will target the Cox Plate and take the traditional Chris Waller path.
So mark down September 19, because it is the only race that would fit into both mares’ programs.
It would not suit traditionalists as the 7 Stakes carries no black type status, but it is run over the perfect Randwick mile.
More importantly, it might fit with the program of the two stars on the way to their real grand finals.
Chris Waller has his template for his good ones. It starts with the Winx Stakes, with a mile run at their next start in September. It was the George Main Stakes, which is now the King Charles III Stakes on Everest Day, thus the creation of the 7 Stakes, for Winx, and for Via Sistina it was the Makybe Diva Stakes.
That flows to a Turnbull Stakes and into the Cox Plate and it has worked six times.
Waller prefers to keep his good horses in Sydney for as long as possible in the spring.
Moody would also like to keep Sheza Alibi closer to home in Melbourne and has made it clear he likes gaps between Sheza Alibi’s runs.
Her first spring run will be in Melbourne, but the 7 Stakes provides the right platform for later in the spring.
It would give him a month to the King Charles III Stakes with another fortnight to the Golden Eagle.
The 7 Stakes being in the middle of football finals could also offer an attractive marketing opportunity for racing.
It might need a promoter and has an obvious TV partner.
Racing NSW has stated it has a war chest of funds. Could it look to offer a purse that would be worthy of such a clash?
More of the best against the best
Racing needs more days like The Championships.
Days where every horse is set to peak and we get memorable performances.
The way racing has been divided in the past decade has been disappointing and does not allow these tests that often.
But look at the Group 1 fields on Saturday. It suggested everyone was there to find the real champions.
However, Saturday did not feel like an event at Randwick. The crowd was modest, a result of the Easter date where locals head away rather than stay at home. However, the racing was incredible.
Joliestar took the best sprinter in Australia title, Green Spaces delivered a knockout blow in the Australian Derby, that had trainer Bjorn Baker talking up a Melbourne Cup bid.
Then there was Sheza Alibi.
She left the crowd in awe, roaring away from Autumn Boy to win the Doncaster by the second biggest margin in history, coming from last on the turn.
It brought a tear to a hardened man’s eye in Peter Moody.
Just how good she might be remains unknown. But champions do not just win, they make you gasp like Sheza Alibi.
She will be three-year-old filly of the year, and she might have given three-year-old colt and gelding of the year a shellacking at her past two runs.
Autumn Boy has won a Caulfield Guineas and a Rosehill Guineas and been runner-up to a superstar in the Randwick Guineas and Doncaster.
He holds a resume better than any other three-year-old in the country, bar Sheza Alibi.
The real test of where racing sits with the general public will come this weekend when the unbeaten Autumn Glow steps out in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. She will surely draw a crowd after an entree that was amazing.
The country’s best don’t always make the Championship final
One of the best concepts since The Championships began has been the Country Championships Final, and it has become the pinnacle for stables around NSW.
Brett Cavanough cut a proud trainer and father after Chidiac won the Country Championships, which he prepared in concert with daughter Georgie.
“I’ve got to try and hold it together a bit, very special today to do it with Georgie. She tipped her all week, she had faith in her,” he said.
The great part of the Country Championships is you get bragging rights in your region before getting to Sydney.
It means horses have to peak twice.
Trainers are setting horses for it six months out and must get it right twice to take the big prize.
The heats are tough to win, with three odds-on favourites failing to get out of their regional heats this year.
How good you need to be to win the Country Championships was illustrated in Saturday’s Carbine Club Stakes when Albury-trained Autumn Break took out the three-year-old Group 3.
His previous two runs had been in the Country Championships qualifier at Wagga and wildcard at Goulburn and he could not earn a spot in the final.
“Our first City winner, so not a bad one to break the ice with that’s for sure. We were hoping to be in the next race, but this is a nice consolation,” trainer Kym Davison said.
Harron secret mission lands $2 million prized colt
Bloodstock agent James Harron is seen spending millions on yearlings, but it is the things you do not see that make it easier to keep bidding.
On Sunday afternoon, as the trade in the Easter Sale continued, Harron made his way to the Arrowfield parade area by himself. He asked for lot 451, a brother to Snitzerland, and just observed.
It was not a parade. Harron had seen the Snitzel colt out of Ms Bad Behaviour several times.
“He was the colt that was keeping me up at night from the sale,” Harron said. “It was about getting to know him better.
“Watching him, seeing his temperament. How he was reacting to things, how he was handling the sale.”
The following afternoon Harron would beat spirited competition to pay $2 million for the colt to race in his famous emerald green silks.
Easter’s top end holds up, but forgets smaller players
Inglis bloodstock boss Sebastian Hutch looked to “the war” to explain the downturn in the Easter Sale market, but does he need to look for a more inclusive model?
The top end of Easter has always been the showcase of the best breeding in the country. Those horses are always going to find homes, but the bottom of the market was not there last week.
The average and median were close to last year’s Easter sale, which was a belter, but many vendors were disappointed.
The international market suffered from a weak Japanese yen and New Zealand dollar.
Economic circumstances played a role, but more than 70 horses failed to make their reserve under $300,000. Trainers are still trying to move yearlings they had bought earlier in the season and were risk-averse.
The overall numbers were similar to those of two years ago in terms of clearance rates.
However, it felt elitist, and the bottom end showed that.
Remember, the horse at the lower end of the market pulls down the average and median, which is the testing point for a sale.
Inglis needs to do more to get everyone back to the Easter sale.
