Lady Shenandoah conquered all before her this autumn. Now it’s time for her unbeaten stablemate Autumn Glow to take centre stage.
A battle between Chris Waller’s three-year-old fillies in last spring’s Flight Stakes would have been fascinating. Autumn Glow was the raging $1.35 favourite, only to be scratched 24 hours before the group 1 because of a knee chip.
James McDonald wins last spring’s Tea Rose Stakes on Autumn Glow.Credit: Getty Images
Lady Shenandoah saluted, before going on to win all three starts this campaign – including last weekend’s group 1 Coolmore Classic.
If Autumn Glow lives up to the hype, starting with Saturday’s first-up assignment in the listed Darby Munro Stakes, a battle between the two heavyweights later this year will become an even more tantalising prospect.
But Arrowfield Stud boss John Messara said there was a good chance the pair would never meet. In fact, had Autumn Glow remained fit, Lady Shenandoah may have never run in the Flight Stakes.
“My partner in Autumn Glow is Hermitage, who also own Lady Shenandoah, and while I’m not saying Lady Shenandoah wouldn’t have run in the Flight Stakes last year, I do know Hermitage were thinking there was no point batting against each other, and could have looked for something else,” Messara said.
“Hermitage bought Lady Shenandoah from us. We bought Autumn Glow [for $1.8m] as a yearling with Hermitage. They may one day race against each other, they may one day not race against each other. One of the best men who has a clue as to [which horse is better] is the jock – James McDonald rides both of them.
“I’m just excited for Saturday and to see Autumn Glow back. The jockey rides a lot of good horses, but he’s very enthusiastic about her, and so is the trainer. We know she’s good – we just don’t know how good.”
Waller said Autumn Glow could have kicked off in group 1 company over 1400m in the Surround Stakes – a race won by Lady Shenandoah – but it made sense to give her a little longer in work, including a third barrier trial.
The 1200m is not her ideal distance, but Messara said her class and speed shown in work would hopefully be enough to keep her record intact.
“It probably is short of her best, but we have a lot of faith in her – even though it is a bit short, she’ll have enough speed to handle it,” Messara said.
Depending on what happens at Rosehill with Autumn Glow, Messara said a possible second-up target could be the group 2 Arrowfield Sprint over 1200m on April 12.
“Historically, she’d go beyond that distance second-up, but she’s showing a lot of pace in her work, and that’s a potential race,” he said.
Waller, who has since sent Lady Shenandoah for a spell, said of Autumn Glow: “This is the perfect starting point for her. She still needs to be at her best to win, but in our eyes, she looks like she’s come back really well.”
Meanwhile, Waller’s Fangirl will be chasing an overdue George Ryder Stakes win after missing the race last year because of injury, and finishing second the year before to eventual horse of the year, Anamoe.
Waller said jockey Courtney Van Der Werf hopped off Fangirl on Thursday morning and said, ‘She’s flying’.
Haggas in a pickle
The Doncaster or Queen Elizabeth Stakes? That is the burning question English trainer William Haggas hopes to have answered by Saturday afternoon when it comes to his six-year-old entire Al Mubhir.
Haggas has a freakish strike rate with the rich carnival features Down Under. He won the $1million Ranvet Stakes race in 2020 with ball of muscle Addeybb, then again with Dubai Honour in 2023.
Via Sistina, the $1.40 elect in early markets, is expected to continue her winning ways in the Ranvet this weekend. But Haggas will be watching closely before deciding whether to run Al Mubhir in the $4m Doncaster or save him for the $5m Queen Elizabeth Stakes and a second showdown with Via Sistina a week later.
Trainer William Haggas.Credit: PA Images via Getty Images
Al Mubhir has won four of his 23 starts, and hasn’t raced since the end of October when third in the Robin Hood Stakes in Nottingham. Haggas said his horse would have preferred a bit of sting out of the ground, which was unlikely to be the case with only a slight chance of rain forecast for western Sydney.
Al Mubhir’s CV may not be as impressive as those of Addeybb and Dubai Honour, but Haggas said the horse would more than hold his own on Australian soil.
“At the moment he’s not as good as those two, but he’s not a million miles off,” Haggas told The Form from his English training base in Newmarket.
“Dubai Honour ran second in a Champion Stakes, which Al Mubhir wouldn’t have done. Dubai Honour and Addeybb grew another leg when they got to Australia – their form improved when they got here.
“I didn’t particularly fancy Dubai Honour when he won the Ranvet. I thought the track was too fast for him, but he handled the surface with no problems at all.
“I’m hoping lightning strikes twice. The horse is training very well. He’s primed for a decent run. I don’t think he can beat Via Sistina, but I think he’s useful, his form is much better right-handed than it is left-handed – his form is strong right-handed – and he gets the [2000m] trip well.
“I need to get a race into him, then decide if we go to the Queen Elizabeth or Doncaster.”
Should Al Mubhir finish in the first three and “Via Sistina doesn’t win by eight lengths like she did in the Cox Plate”, Haggas said he would lean towards the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Dubai Honour, which also made the trek to Sydney, will race next Saturday in the Tancred Stakes before pushing on to the Randwick showpiece event.
But the other option for Al Mubhir is dropping back to the mile for the Doncaster. Haggas has already put Hong Kong jockey Andrea Atzeni on standby to ride at the 53kg.
“The problem with the Doncaster is there are a lot of runners, and you’re a bit of a hostage to fortune if you draw wide,” Haggas said. “But I’ve asked Andrea to come and ride because he can do 53kg comfortably, and he’s accepted that.
“Dubai Honour will definitely go to the Queen Elizabeth, and it’s just whether Al Mubhir joins him.”
A third Haggas runner, Desert Hero, struggled with the long-haul flight to Sydney, and is only now starting to put weight back on, with a race target still to be decided.
Haggas completed the Ranvet Stakes-Queen Elizabeth Stakes double in 2020, then won the Queen Elizabeth Stakes again the following year. Young Rascal, Favorite Moon and Post Impressionist took out the Manion Cup in 2020, 2021 and 2024 respectively, Protagonist won the 2023 Sky High Stakes, and Lake Forest snuck along the rails to win the $10m Golden Eagle last spring.
As for Lake Forest, Haggas said: “He’s back in work. We’re looking at going to Hong Kong for a mile race on April 27, and if he continues to do well, he’ll go to the Breeders Cup [in the US], or return to Sydney [in the spring] for the King Charles Stakes, then go to the mile race in Melbourne at the end of their carnival.”
