As spring came to an end on Saturday, the stayers showed the Cups form is top class, while Shadhavar gave Prime Thoroughbreds a Group 1 and Joe O’Neill a reason to remember a great friend. Glorious Moments and the racing in Perth offered a couple of insights into the upcoming summer, while a couple of favourites had reasons for letting punters down.
HITS
SHADHAVAR GIVES MORROW A GROUP 1
The late legendary sports commentator David Morrow would have raised a glass of Resch’s upstairs after the Tom Dabernig mare got her Group 1 in the Orr Stakes.
Morrow, a great mate of Prime Thoroughbreds boss Joe O’Neill, died a couple of years ago. O’Neill told his wife, Kris, to keep the share in the mare.
She delivered racing’s ultimate prize with a powerful performance at Sandown.
Shadhavar was still on her way up heading into her Group 1, while others had already had their grand finals, and completed a hat-trick in the past month, all at 1400m.
CUPS FORM STANDS UP
Kingswood and Juja Kibo have emerged among our best stayers this spring and staged a stirring battle in the Zipping Classic.
Kingswood added the Group 2 2400m to his Caulfield Cup, edging the Melbourne Cup placegetter and Metropolitan and Moonee Valley Cup winner in a photo.
Kingswood will head to the Hong Kong Vase to give an indication of where our stayers sit against the world.
Small Fry, Geelong Cup runner-up to Point Of Law, was a close-up third, adding to the question of how good the Melbourne Cup winner is.
THE 2400M KING 👑
KINGSWOOD WINS THE ZIPPING CLASSIC IN A PHOTO FINISH 📸 https://t.co/tUefAA8G3Q
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) November 14, 2026
CONCORD CONNIE
Charlotte Littlefield went one more run with Concord Connie in the Summoned Stakes and got a valuable Group 3 win.
The Contributer four-year-old has never missed a place in eight starts, and her best is to come after also being Empire Rose Stakes runner-up this spring.
Craig Williams labelled her “an exciting horse” after she ticked the wet-track box with a determined effort to finish her preparation.
It will be interesting to see what they decide to target next year, but races like the Doncaster and Coolmore Classic look ideal goals.
NATURAL FLING
The Tony and Calvin McEvoy training partnership is exactly that, and the experienced half of the team got it right with Natural Fling, as she won the Thoroughbred Club Stakes on Saturday.
Calvin had questioned whether it was wise to go another run after her Coolmore failure.
“He was listening to the outside noise and getting nervous,” Tony McEvoy said.
“We could see the filly we had in front of us and knew how good is, so the way she came through that [Coolmore] run, I was in no doubt that she would do what she did at Sandown.”
The autumn sprints will appeal to Natural Fling, which will get into a Newmarket with an attractive weight.
JIM AND GREG LEE
The Lee brothers don’t have a big team, but they have a smart one in Glorious Moments.
They have handled him perfectly, and his win at Newcastle on Saturday will be a stepping stone towards The Ingham next month.
After two unplaced efforts as a two-year-old, Glorious Moments had more than a year off through injury, but has since won five of seven starts.
Glorious Moments has stuck to benchmark grade so far but looked beyond that the way he won on his return at the weekend.
MISSES
BEIWACHT
There were certainly excuses for Beiwacht not continuing his incredible record over 1400m at weight-for-age on the weekend.
While he found the front as is his usual wont, jockey James McDonald told stewards Beiwacht was never comfortable in the shifty ground.
Stewards reported when McDonald “endeavoured to increase the tempo in the middle stages …. Beiwacht dipped on several occasions, was not comfortable on today’s track conditions and did not finish the race off as expected”.
He will be spelled and he might be kept for firmer tracks in the future.
DARK GLITTER
Punter John Walter pointed out on X that Dark Glitter has been nothing but consistent since her last win back in July.
In the final event at Newcastle she again finished sixth, for the sixth consecutive time.
She had another sixth in the Dark Jewel Classic earlier in the year.
Her run of sixths has netted $26,000, even though three of them have been in Group 2 races.
ROCK FEST
Like Cosmic Crusader last year, Rock Fest might miss out on the Railway Stakes after failing to win the Peters Stakes as odds-on favourite.
Chris Parnham settled back midfield and made his run from 600m, but couldn’t reel in Awesome Boy, who took advantage of the easterly winds to open a winning break.
Brandon Louis rode the winner smartly, kicking clear on the turn, and will have a good chance of doing the same in the Railway.
Rock Fest will have to depend on scratchings to get into the Group 1 mile next Saturday, which has been his target.
PERTH ODDS-ON LOOK GONE
There were plenty of short-priced favourites at Ascot on Saturday, and it was a graveyard for punters.
Rock Fest finished a black day, where Westbound and Cinque Stella went down earlier in the afternoon.
Westbound got three back on the fence and Willie Pike bravely tried to squeeze him through on the fence in the straight.
He can be forgiven and will win better races.
Cinque Stella got a little lost on the turn, losing ground back in the field, which she couldn’t make up on the leaders, who were advantaged by the easterly wind.
REGAL PROBLEM
Don’t expect to see Regal Problem back in blinkers again after Saturday.
The mare is going for a spell after dropping out as an even-money favourite at Newcastle.
Nash Rawiller told stewards “the mare raced keenly and refused to settle through the early and middle stages. He said that then failed to respond to his riding in the home straight and when it weakened to be out of contention for the placings, he eased it down.”
Regal Problem is better than what she showed at Newcastle.
