While the margin was tighter than her overwhelming odds-on price suggested, Autumn Glow firmly stamped her queenly class with a victory in the Champions Mile at Flemington.
Her inaugural race at the venue and her first start outside of Sydney saw any minor concerns about the change of scenery proving inconsequential.
Autumn Glow ($1.18) scored by 1¼ lengths, needing to overcome a valiant effort from stablemate Lindermann ($16). She loomed up on the gelding at the top of the straight, ultimately easing the usual nerves of trainer Chris Waller on the line in the Group 1 1600-metre feature.
“I was (nervous) because you don’t want a horse like Autumn Glow to disappoint,” Chris Waller remarked. “There’s a massive crowd here today and it was good to see her go through her paces. She had to put up a fight. Lindermann, he dug deep and to come away that last 100 metres, it was special.”
Autumn Glow became the 23rd horse to win the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes (1609m) and the Champions Mile in the same year. Waller, meanwhile, celebrated his fifth win in the race, a streak that began with Albert The Fat in 2013.
Her record now stands at 15 wins from 16 starts, accumulating over $14.5 million in prize money. James McDonald has partnered her in 11 of these victories.
“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,” McDonald stated. “But once she opened the shoulders up, she was never going to get rolled. She’s just a brilliant specimen, a pleasure to ride, she’s just so, so special.”
The star jockey concurred that the five-year-old mare is Australia’s undisputed champion miler, and she required every bit of that characteristic to prevail at Flemington.
“I think so,” McDonald confirmed. “Now that she’s had this run here, it’s very foreign to her, but you look up at the Flemington straight, the roses, the people, she knew she was somewhere different and she was a little slow to balance and quicken up, but she’s a champion.”
He added, “Champions make their own luck in this game and she just plants herself on speed and away she goes. She’s an absolute pleasure to ride. A jockey’s dream.”
Buckaroo ($14) rounded out the placings, giving the Waller stable a clean sweep of the top three.
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