Bren O'Brien

Galileo’s progeny have won nearly all the world’s best races, but despite 34 attempts, never a Melbourne Cup. On Tuesday, the late Coolmore legend has three more chances. But he is not the sire with the strongest numerical hand.

Switzerland minted his future as one of Australia’s most valuable stallions with an emphatic win in the Coolmore Stud Stakes as Chris Waller and James McDonald nabbed a Flemington Group 1 double, while it was a South Australian-flavoured Victoria Derby.

William Haggas took his extraordinary record to 10 wins from 22 starters in Australia with his four-year-old Lake Forest causing an upset win in a rough-and-tumble Golden Eagle at Rosehill.

PointsBet has reported that more than two-thirds of its active customers now prefer betting on sports over racing as it recorded growth in almost every key metric over the first quarter of the 2024/25 financial year.

While the Melbourne Cup scratching of Jan Breughel was hitting headlines for the wrong reasons in Australia, another Coolmore-owned colt was making waves in the sales ring in England.

Aidan O’Brien’s troubled relationship with the Melbourne Cup has continued with the stable’s leading Melbourne Cup chance Jan Brueghel ruled out of next week’s feature by Racing Victoria vets.

James McDonald became just the fifth Australasian jockey to ride 100 Group 1 winners with Via Sistina’s stunning success in the Cox Plate. We break down the century milestone by all the key metrics in this week’s Run The Numbers.