Autumn Glow shines on Champions Day as Birdman reverses Plate fortunes and Point Barrow delivers in Group 1 sprint
Champions Day produced the expected dominance of Autumn Glow, but an unexpected result in both the Champions Stakes and the Champions Sprint, where Tempted’s winning streak came unstuck.
On Champions Day at Flemington, one champion stood up, one had her colours lowered and another avenged Cox Plate defeat to bring the curtain down on the four-day Melbourne Cup carnival.
Autumn Glow, at her first start in Melbourne, rounded out an unblemished spring campaign with a faultless Champions Mile performance, stretching her record to 15 wins from 16 starts.
One race earlier, the reigning The Everest winner Tempted also set foot on Flemington on race day for the first time but became the straight course’s latest victim.
Tempted missed a place, finishing fifth in the Champions Sprint, with the spoils left to Point Barrow, delivering a long-range spring plan orchestrated by her trainers Anthony and Sam Freedman.
And the Champions Stakes – the last of three Group 1s run on the final day of the carnival and the eight Group 1s up for grabs at Flemington over the past week – went to Birdman, who turned the tables on Cosmic Crusader.
The latter won the Cox Plate a fortnight ago in the weight-for-age race, run at Flemington for the first time in its 105 editions, but had to settle for second in the rematch.
Trainer Chris Waller, who trains Autumn Glow and Birdman, said it would be “rinse and repeat” in 2027 for his star mare.
But that might have been down to the leading questions which led to the stock-standard answer.
It’s unlikely he and Autumn Glow’s owners Hermitage Thoroughbreds’ Eugene Chuang and Arrowfield’s John Messara will be keen to test her at 2000 metres in the Queen Elizabeth next autumn, the scene of her only defeat so far.
And then there’s also Messara’s dream of campaigning Autumn Glow overseas, with Royal Ascot in June central to that goal which Waller will have to consider.
“(We just) sort of do similar things. Not go too far out of the ordinary, which is what we do with our horses. We keep it simple and try not to take too many risks,” Waller said of Autumn Glow.
The five-year-old mare, the $1.8 million Inglis Easter yearling by Arrowfield’s The Autumn Sun, sat off her stablemate and renowned frontrunner Lindermann and briefly it appeared that she may have been in trouble.
Perhaps it was an optical illusion due to the television director inexplicably cutting to a zoomed-in head-on shot as the field was midway down the long Flemington straight with viewers unable to gain perspective of the margins.
As it was, the judge determined Autumn Glow won by 1.25 lengths clear of Lindermann, with Buckaroo another length away in third in a Waller-trained Group 1 trifecta.
It was a big achievement, but of course not the first time it happened at Flemington this carnival with Ciaron Maher training the Melbourne Cup trifecta.
Autumn Glow is a champion, but still has a way to go to be on the Waller-trained podium, where Winx stands alone.
“She’s as good as any horse that I’ve trained, it’s just about longevity. Winx just kept going, and going and going for four or five years,” Waller said.
“She could beat Winx on her day but Winx would probably beat her on Winx’s best day pretty easily in fact, especially over 2000 (metres).
“That’s the unique thing about people’s favourites, you can’t really compare them.”
James McDonald added Lindermann shouldn’t be underestimated.
“He’s so dangerous that horse because he’s got a beautiful high cruising speed. When Damian (Lane) let the shackles go at the 600 (metres), just her, who hadn’t had a run here left-handed, she was a little bit lost, at sea a bit, and even when we straightened and I gave her a click, she took about 50 metres to get going, but once she opened the shoulders up, she was never going to get rolled,” McDonald said.
“She’s just a brilliant specimen, a pleasure to ride, she’s just so, so special.”
Stewards reported the champion mare pulled up with lameness in her left foreleg.
A race later Waller and jockey Ben Melham were fronting the media in the glory of the Champions Stakes win by Birdman, who now has three Group 1s on his CV.
“The way he finished the race off, he was strong. He hit the 200m mark with purpose, and he was running down some good horses,” Waller said.
“And I could see Cosmic Crusader on Aeliana’s back, and I thought, ‘Oh no, here we go again’.
“But he just really launched, he said I’m here, so it was good to see. He’ll hold it now, he’ll hold that form.”
Birdman defeated Cosmic Crusader and Sir Delius, who ran an improved race to finish third, 1.25 lengths behind the winner.
“He’s got a very good turn of foot, my bloke, and I reckon I used it up too early in the Cox Plate, but I kind of had to, to sort of make some running for him,” Melham said.
“Today he was better, just parked up, travelled up underneath me, and very explosive the last 250 metres.”
Earlier, in the Champions Sprint, Tempted had been expected to complete a perfect 2026, but it was not to be.
A brilliant ride plotting the right lane by Mark Zahra, who won the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes on The Next Episode over the same course and distance last week, helped Point Barrow to her maiden Group 1 win.
Not that it should be a surprise – certainly not to trainers Anthony and Sam Freedman.
“It’s been a long week and the team turned her out in great shape. She’s a good mare and I had good confidence coming into the race albeit with Tempted in the field,” Sam Freedman said.
“She’s been a bloody good mare for a while and it’s been a long time coming. I’m glad she’s got the win at the top level.”
Zahra made the call to not head to the outside rail when Chad Schofield on Tempted elected to do so, which may have proven decisive.
“I was following Tempted but I didn’t like how far out they were coming in the straight because it was out in the worst part,” Zahra said.
“I waited and just needed a little bit of room when I went in. She’s got such a good turn of foot I was able to part the seas and she was in for the fight late.
“They came at her late. She dug in and I always say the fresh horse on the scene, that hasn’t been to The Everest, is the one and she’s got the chips.
“Most of my career has been with the Freedman’s and you know when you’re riding a horse for that stable and they’ve set a race for it, it’s so fulfilling when it comes off.”
Plaintiff, a $101 chance, ran second while Skybird, a Black Caviar Lightning Stakes winner in the past, ran third.
As for Tempted, Schofield said: “She’s obviously had a long, successful preparation but it has come to an end.”
Post-race vet investigation revealed she had suffered EIPH in the run.
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