As 2026 begins, punters start to think about dream match-ups in the autumn, but it will be a wait until the Brisbane winter to see Cups hero Half Yours and emerging star She’s A Hustler on a potential collision course.
Rather than a short turnaround, both Half Yours and She’s A Hustler will have long build-ups and be seen toward the end of the Sydney autumn, with an eye firmly on the Melbourne spring.
Tony and Calvin McEvoy will reproduce the Caulfield and Melbourne Cup winner in the All Aged Stakes and use what has become a popular series to set up the spring. Think Zaaki and Without Fight.
“It’s a good kick-off point to aim towards [the All Aged] and then we can consider races like the Hollindale Stakes, the Doomben Cup, the Q22, to then freshen him back into a spring in Melbourne,” Calvin McEvoy said.
Half Yours is already back in work and his 2026 campaign could end with a Cox Plate, Melbourne Cup and even a Japan Cup.
“We’d love to consider a Japan Cup too. We couldn’t do it this year as he’d been up racing for so long, he had a couple of grand finals,” McEvoy said. “But who’s to say that we don’t try and give it a little bit of consideration [in 2026].”
Grahame Begg isn’t scared of a challenge with She’s A Hustler, which won the Tesio Stakes, was runner-up in the Matriarch Stakes and then took out the Zipping Classic in the spring.
“She’s back in work, but we will wait for the Queen Of Turf during The Championships in Sydney to see her again,” Begg said. “She will need every bit of the mile and then onto Brisbane for the Hollindale, Doomben Cup and Q22.”
“It is the best way to get to the Caulfield Cup next year, which I think is a perfect race.”
