Forget the expensive champagne and fancy dinner – if Charlotte Littlefield snares her first Group 1 on Saturday in the Empire Rose, she’ll be drinking Fireball.
Littlefield, who has just 32 horses in work, says she will fill the Empire Rose Stakes trophy with the highly alcoholic spirit to celebrate if Concord Connie wins, in what would be a life-changing moment for the 41-year-old.
“I always think about what I would do and what would happen. I don’t think you can ever imagine what could happen and what you’ll actually do in the moment of winning a Group One,” she said.
“We’re a small team. I’ve got thirty-two in work.
“We work twenty-four hours a day, literally. It’s just that it never stops. It’s our whole life.
“And for us to win a Group One, it’s hopefully not the only one we win. We want to go on to big and great things and win a major.”
Littlefield recalled on Friday how she arrived from the UK with a backpack and a sense of adventure.
She said she fell in love with Australia – and Flemington – before eventually falling for racing too.
“I was just thinking about the first time I ever came to Flemington Racecourse, and it was in 2006, I arrived in Australia only months before with a backpack and had no connection to racing whatsoever,” she said.
“And I walked up to the corner there where the roses were.
“And I walked up to that rose bush, and it was the year Delta Blues won the Melbourne Cup, and it was about nine degrees that day and hailing. And I was probably in a dress that I shouldn’t have been in that day, but back in those days, I thought I could get away with it.
“I had a great day. But walking up to those rose bushes on that corner, I remember it. I remember the hairs standing up on the back of my neck, and I really felt a connection with this particular place. And if I could have told myself my 22-year-old self back then, what could be achieved, I suppose coming here and racing a horse on this big day and potentially winning a Group One.”
Concorde Connie is the flagship horse in her stable, so good, in fact, that Craig Williams came knocking to get the ride.
Williams is well known for hunting horses he thinks will deliver him Group 1 glory.
“Craig and I have worked together closely for the last three years. He’s probably the reason for my successes. He really launched me and helped educate,” she said.
“He was sort of always in my ear, asking to get on Connie. When the opportunity arose in this Group One.”
Concord Connie lines up in the Empire Rose Stakes tomorrow with the hopes of breaking the Group 1 maiden for Charlotte Littlefield and Hayfields Racing. If it were to come true it’s fair to say the Garfield Hotel will be the place to be on Saturday night!
@FlemingtonVRC @HayfieldsRacing— Betsy (@betsy_com_au) October 30, 2026
Littlefield acknowledges her star faces some tough opposition from the likes of Lady Shenandoah and Surfin’ Bird, but thinks her mare’s love for Flemington will help come race time.
Nor is it lost on her how special it would be for the sport if a boutique stable knocked off the super-stables in a historic Group 1.
“That’s what I want to showcase that anything is possible. I literally had no backers, I had no money, I had a backpack when I arrived in Australia. I don’t even know if my parents truly know what I do,” she said.
“It’s just amazing what you can do in Australia as a whole. It’s an opportunity here for everyone. If you work hard enough and you’re driven, and you want to do something, it might seem unobtainable at the start. But if you work really hard, you can do anything you want.”
Now to the Fireball and Littlefield’s plan to celebrate.
“There’ll be a bottle of Fireball,” she laughed.
“Probably emptied into that trophy right there. I’m not going to look too closely at it. I am a little bit superstitious and we’ll definitely be taking the team out.
“We’ve got a local pub called the Garfield Pub. I’m sure that will get a good few of us down there. It’s a team environment at our stable. We called it Hayfields Racing for a reason. It’s not just Charlotte Littlefield Racing. It’s all of us combined that put in the hours to get these horses to produce at a good level. And I couldn’t leave them out. As much as I’d love to go somewhere real fancy and drink some nice champagne, I think we’ll have to keep it real and go to the Garfield Hotel.”
