The Autumn Sun Keeps His Record Perfect in JJ Atkins Stakes
From maiden to Group 1 winner in the space of six weeks, the rising young star The Autumn Sun kept his unbeaten record intact in Saturday's $600,000 Group 1 JJ Atkins Plate (1600m) at Doomben.
Ridden by Kerrin McEvoy, the handsome Redoute's Choice colt defeated his Chris Waller-trained stablemate Zousain by a neck with Fundamentalist (Not A Single Doubt) a length and a quarter back in third. (photo Steve Hart)
Waller had previously won the JJ Atkins with Pressday (2010) and Press Statement (2015), with Press Statement going onto win the Caulfield Guineas as a spring three-year-old and The Autumn Sun is expected to follow a similar path.
The last words from Hall of Fame trainer John Hawkes to Brenton Avdulla were to emulate the feats of Todman, Vain and Manikato in leading a Golden Slipper from go to whoa as a flying Estijaab channelled some of Australia's sprinting greats in the $3.5 million scamper.
The Hawkes Racing-trained
An innovative experiment to split the stud career of Northern Meteor's best son Zoustar between Widden Stud in the Hunter Valley and Woodside Park Stud in Victoria found overwhelming success in the sale ring this week where his second crop of Victorian conceived youngsters duly sold like the proverbial hot cakes.
Stratum colt The Enzo broke his maiden is style when scoring a tenacious victory in the $250,000 Inglis Classic at Warwick Farm on Saturday, also providing Sebring with the milestone of having his first stakes-winner as a broodmare sire.