Seven days in … racing – Outpost destinations and high-profile spring journeys

In this edition:

• Written In the Stars – Years of dedication and a Strand of fortune
• A thousand miles away – King Island to Birdsville via Betoota
• Eustace shapes up to second Hong Kong season with confidence
• Separate paths, same destination for Yulong’s Cox Plate-bound mares
• It runs in the family – a horses-for-courses clue to the Moir Stakes
• What does a 50-race Australian Group 1 calendar look like?
• Pattern on hold – Racing Australia board meeting called off at the 11th hour

Almost two centuries ago, an American philosopher and essayist came up with the line: “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”

The quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson portrays a message about the lessons learned along the way to a goal and how they can be more important than the final outcome itself.

Its use in the modern-day vernacular has reached a point where it has become hackneyed, a mantra for wellness influencers of dubious qualifications with an eye for an easy dollar.

What’s that got to do with racing? 

Not much except that Emerson died in 1882, the same year a group of stockmen who worked on cattle stations in Australia’s outback got together to stage a meeting that is now embedded in our racing culture.

In Birdsville’s case, it is about the destination. As for the journey, well, it can be a hazardous one. Dusty roads are turned into quagmires at any hint of rain.

You never know who will turn up in Birdsville. Malcolm Fraser made the trip in 1978 during his Prime Ministership.

A 2017 video of Pauline Hanson playing a cameo role as a card-carrier for Fred Brophy’s Boxing Troupe went viral.

The Birdsville Cup will be run on Saturday. As usual, there will be an eclectic bunch of racegoers, matched only by a collection of thoroughbreds who pay their way criss-crossing the remote townships of far north and far west Queensland.

For some, like Cup runner The Driller, Birdsville is just another stopover in a career that began as a member of the highly prized Godolphin string as the son of a Prix de l’Arc Triomphe winner Sea The Stars out of the 2015 Oakleigh Plate heroine Shamal Wind.

Stories such as The Driller’s are commonplace on our remote racetracks and they are fertile subjects for people like Sharon Lee Chapman, who has earned a reputation as one of Australia’s best thoroughbred photographers.

Chapman has been a regular visitor to Birdsville and her insights have been captured in Jessica Owers’ latest Written In The Stars column published on Friday.

Complementing Chapman’s journey is another fascinating read from Matt Stewart on what Birdsville means to Australian racing and why it is a bucket-list item for many.

But his story also comes with a cautionary tale about not taking places like Birdsville for granted, given the demise of King Island racing for the 2025/2026 season.

Birdsville and the Brook surname are inextricably linked, but attention will be divided on Saturday.

A year after Phillip Stokes won the Cup for the Brook family, the trainer will be trying to win a race in their white and green silks on a much bigger stage.

Stokes has Ferivia entered for the Listed Atlantic Jewel Stakes at a Moonee Valley meeting that starts a countdown to the track’s temporary closure after October’s Cox Plate finale.

The Moir Stakes will be the highlight, and our preview of the Group 1 sprint has unearthed a connection between a bush trainer preparing for retirement and Midwest, an entry from the Anthony and Sam Freedman stable.

Midwest has Moonee Valley short-course racing running through his bloodlines that might just work in his favour.

Of course, Moonee Valley is best known as the home of the Cox Plate, and it will be the spring destination for Yulong’s benchmark mares, last year’s winner Via Sistina and Treasurethe Moment, a newcomer to the weight-for-age ranks and a force to be reckoned with after her Memsie Stakes victory.

Yulong has announced the pair won’t meet until the Cox Plate, setting the scene for an enthralling Valley farewell.

Treasurethe Moment’s path to the Cox Plate will involve two more races at Group 1 level but the same cannot be said for Via Sistina.

As we reported on Thursday, Via Sistina is likely to remain in Sydney for the time being, where her next start will be in the 7 Stakes, a race lacking black type but offering $1 million in stakes.

It’s yet another example of how Australia’s pattern of racing has become a messy affair.

Bren O’Brien offered a solution in his piece on what to do with Group 1 racing, but the journey out of this programming black hole is one that Australian racing administrators seem reluctant to embrace.

What you may have missed this week:

• Eustace shapes up to second Hong Kong season with confidence
• Mega-stables gang tackle Melbourne Cup nominations
• What will happen with Australia’s black type Pattern?
• Via Sistina crowned Australian Racehorse of the Year
• ‘Going at pace’ – Entain commits to winning in Australia and focuses on new game plan for growth
• Football betting hits record levels in Hong Kong, as racing turnover edges up
• Home Affairs leads numbers of named juveniles
• Randwick one day, Kentucky the next – Widdup takes flight to Keeneland with Mulberry’s backing
• Karaka demand – Huge uptick in numbers for NZB’s Ready to Run Sale
• Rowe On Monday – Winx influence on Yulong blueprint, Kingstar opportunities, why racing needs to keep governments onside

Don’t forget to check out this week’s episode of the Straight Talk Podcast where Bren O’Brien and Tim Rowe were joined by Hong Kong trainer David Eustace to discuss the new season of racing and how he has adapted to life in the thoroughbred capital of Asia. The status of Australian Group 1 races is also covered.

Enjoy your Group 1 racing weekend,

Warwick Barr

Senior Editor

The Straight