News

Zoustar has become just the fifth Australian-bred sire to produce a winner of a Breeders’ Cup race, after the victory of Starlust in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar.

Ozzie Kheir has tasted Melbourne Cup success before as an owner, but never in his own colours. On Tuesday, he has four chances to do just that but shuns comparisons to leviathan Cup owner Lloyd Williams.

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.

Broadcasting legend Bruce McAvaney still believes the Melbourne Cup is racing’s greatest prize, but believes it no longer stops the nation. Matt Stewart spoke to McAvaney and trainer Richard Freedman about how the Cup has changed.

The Golden Gift for two-year-olds and The Warra at Kembla Grange appear to have been handed Group 3 status with immediate effect for the first time, but the latest changes to the New South Wales Pattern are unlikely to be recognised by international authorities.