Since 1865, the All Aged Stakes has been a treasured highlight of Sydney's autumn racing carnival and is now one of two G1s which bring it to a close.
Through every era since those earliest days, many if not most of the best remembered WFA champions have won this race.
The mighty Ajax stands alone with his three-peat of 1938/39/40.
In 2026, Jimmysstar (Per Incanto) is attempting to join a list which contains some seriously big names - Tim Whiffler, Carbine, Gladsome, Malt King, Yaralla, Kilsherry, Dalrallo and Rough Habit (the last of them, in 1992/93) - as a back to back winner of the All Aged Stakes.
Sunline - in typical Sunline fashion- broke the mould by collecting her two All Aged wins a year apart in 2000/2002, and the only other horse with non-consecutive victories was Marvel back in 1891 and 1894.
She's not Sunline, but she's pretty good! - the 2024 All Aged heroine Magic Time (Hellbent) with the blinkers removed will attempt to equal the Kiwi queen's achievement.
And 132 years later it's a modern day wonder Giga Kick (Scissor Kick) who will attempt to emulate old Marvel by winning his second All Aged Stakes after blitzing them in 2023 as a three year old.
Apart from the greats already mentioned, the All Aged honour roll ticks off the legends: Briseis, Wakeful, Chatham, Cuddle, Tulloch, Desert Gold, Amounis, Tobin Bronze, Bernborough, Malt King, Peter Pan, Lord, Sky High, Tontonan, Wenona Girl, Emancipation, Shaftesbury Avenue - and many more.
Great horses of their day stir memories of golden turf moments - Triton, Always Welcome, Belmura Lad, Vite Cheval, All Our Mob, Intergaze, El Mirada, Shamekha, Private Steer, Bentley Biscuit, Racing To Win, Hay List, Flying Spur, Atlantic Jewel…..
As its name implies, this prestigious contest when inaugurated was open to all ages. The two year old filly Astroea emerged triumphant in 1885.
From its inception until 1972, the All Aged ran over the old Randwick mile, and from 1972 - 2003 at the official 1600m.
In 2004 the complexion of the race changed a little when the distance was reduced to 1400m.
The history of the All Aged Stakes is closely tied to the very beginnings of thoroughbred racing and breeding in Australia.
Its very first winner, the mare Maid Of The Lake ( 1859) was by a half Arabian stallion Lambuscat out of Ladybird, and bred at the famous Bylong Stud.
Bylong established Colonial family 16 through Ladybird and her sisters, who were all the produce of a chestnut known only as The Steeltrap Mare, born in NSW in 1834.
Ladybird's line continued at Bylong well into the 20th century and brought forth horses like Melbourne Cup winner Zulu.
The great stayer Spear Chief who caused one of the all time boilovers in the Rawson Stakes of 1939 when he beat Ajax by seven lengths, was of this colonial family which was also nurtured at Alma Vale Stud in Queensland.
A win in the All Aged Stakes for an entire has long been a good indicator of a successful career at stud.
The most recent winners in this category are Pierata (2019), Trapeze Artist (2018) and Tivaci (2017), who are now all at stud.
Before that trio, the All Aged honour roll of modern times includes some epic stud successes like Flying Spur and his son All Too Hard, and plenty of good ones such as Hurricane Sky.
In 2026 three entires contest the All Aged, and two are already G1 winners.
Darley's homebred Beiwacht (Bivouac) is attempting to regain the extraordinary form that saw him bolt in the Golden Rose at three.
Royal Patronage, a regally bred 7YO son of the late Wootton Bassett, beat Amelia's Jewel at his Australian debut and followed that up with G1 success in the Canterbury Stakes when fresh last campaign.
Yulong owned Angel Capital ( Harry Angel) has already landed on his feet as far as his breeding future goes, but he really does need that big G1 to consolidate his standing at the top of the mountain.
The All Aged has certainly been a great race for the girls with most recent winners Magic Time, Tofane, English, Atlantic Jewel, Hot Danish and Shamekha making for good reading!
Apart from Magic Time who is already there, crowd favourite Fangirl (Sebring) and the G1 Coolmore heroine Lazzura ( Snitzel) will bid to add their name to a long list of elite females who have made this race their own.
There are stars and great stories everywhere we look in this hot field, none brighter or more of a racing fairytale than the reigning Caulfield Cup / Melbourne Cup champion Half Yours ( St Jean) making his first appearance since that fabulous first Tuesday.
The Cups hero taking on Everest sprinters - and no one would be shocked if this exceptional horse put himself into the finish!
Tom Kitten (Harry Angel) created a piece of history for himself two starts ago when he became
the first horse to win two All Star Miles. The Blinkers go on for this drop back from an unsuccessful Australian Cup tilt.
Joe Pride's talented galloper Headley Grange ( Exosphere) has struck some genuine G1 WFA form at the age of five and is unbeaten at the track and distance, while battle hardened G1 campaigners Kovalica ( Ocean Park) and the in form Pericles (Street Boss) are far too good to be dismissed.
Then there's Briasa (Smart Missile) who was just out of the placings behind Jimmysstar in this race last year and hasn't enjoyed the wet tracks at his two runs this time in. The charismatic grey could improve sharply on a drier track.
Fourteen runners - all but three of them are G1 winners and two of those three are G1 WFA placed. It's a ripping field and there's nowhere to hide!
The Waller arsenal comprises five runners, but most of the big stables are there with live hopes and some not-so-big but hugely respected stables are right in this fight.
Royal Randwick was upgraded to Good 4 on Thursday morning with some showers forecast late Friday, and a fine race day - so barring one of Sydney’s infamous thunderstorms I'm guessing borderline 4 /5.
Top Pick:ANGEL CAPITAL
Could this - finally - be the day when Yulong's four year old Harry Angel entire finally moves from “knocking on the door” to bursting right through it?
I believe the occasion might have arrived, for there's never been any doubt on his G1 ability and he has never been going better. Angel is the race favourite at time of writing so there are plenty of us who think this is his moment!
Angel Capital has had big wraps on him since he stepped out as a 2YO on debut at Cranbourne over 1000m, and powered home from last to win going away by more than two lengths.
Initially trained by Clinton McDonald, at three he went into the Caulfield Guineas as hot favourite after two lead up wins at stakes level but endured an awkward run when sixth, strongly, bouncing back next start to bolt in the 1400m G2 Autumn Stakes.
Following this victory the exciting stallion prospect - an early Australian Guineas favourite at the time - was swooped on by Yulong and duly transferred to the Waller operation.
But Angel didn't line up for his second G1 Guineas, unfortunately having to be scratched on race morning.
One of the turf tragedies of last Spring was Angel Capital's desperately unlucky fourth in the G1 Sir Rupert Clarke at Caulfield, before his unplaced Everest run which was meritorious to say the least when steaming home from a hopeless position behind Ka Ying Rising to finish just over two lengths from him on the line.
Angel ended the prep with a rock solid second to Jimmysstar in the new-look G1 Orr Stakes in November, having followed him all the way home.
First up this autumn in the Expressway - well it was a bit of a horror show at the barriers and in the run and probably best forgotten.
Angel Capital was held up in the Newmarket at a crucial stage when third to Caballus and found a bit more bad luck in the William Reid when he flew home to just miss that elusive G1 win once more.
Two things have become clear. The first is that Angel Capital can be his own worst enemy at times and that, combined with genuine bad luck, has cost him at least one G1 win. The second is that he is absolutely loaded with elite ability and is very genuine at the finish of a race, even if he is a bit of a hothead. He's electric, and these types are intelligent and can anticipate too much - not a flaw, it’s due to their desire to please!
Angel Capital's record currently stands at 14 - 5-2-1 for just over $2.5 million in earnings.
Angel Capital was a $400,000 yearling when purchased by Gregory Ho and Upper Bloodstock from the draft of the famed South Australian nursery Mill Park Stud at the 2023 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.
Bred by David Peacock, he is the third stakes winner for the excellent Teofilo mare Bahamas.
The other two are the classy stayer Berkeley Square (Territories) and the G3 winner Senor Toba (Toronado) who was runner-up in the G1 QLD Derby and placed in the Champions and Chater Cup at Sha Tin.
Angel Capital's damline has been nurtured through the generations on the lush paddocks of Mill Park Stud.
It goes back to the mare Indiscreet, a daughter of the magnificent old stallion Rain Lover, winner of two Melbourne Cups and a champion WFA performer to boot.
How good is it to see the old boy's name crop up in the pedigree of such an exciting stud prospect!
The female line continues back to the 1928 GB foaled import Gaiment, a mare from a relatively obscure branch of the famous 13a family and descending from Magdalen, a half sister to breedshaping Blue Hen Stray Shot. The latter became ancestress of the great French champion Tourbillon and of Blue Hen Lalun's damsire Djeddah, Mr Prospector, Seattle Slew and Darshaan - to name but a handful of champions belonging to her most lofty tribe.
Angel Capital is bred
Northern Dancer x 5m,5m
Danzig 6m x 5m
Just a handful of of the speed enhancing patterns he is bred on:
“The grey ghost of Sagamore” Native Dancer is duplicated via his sons Atan, Raise A Native and
Dancers Image, and sex balanced through numerous lines to his greatest daughter Natalma.
Blue Hen Special sex balanced 5f x4m through his dam
Blue Hen Schiaparelli is sex balanced - Harry Angel has two lines to her daughter Barley Corn, while Bahamas descends from a daughter of Matrice, by her son Masthead.
Mahmoud and more Mahmoud - the famous grey is the foundation of this pedigree through many duplications of his daughter Almahmoud, but also Mahmoudess and Level Sands - while Harry Angel carries a sex balanced duplication of the sire Migoli - out of Mahmoud's three quarter sister Mah Iran - and this is a major source of his blistering speed.
Sire Harry Angel and damsire Teofilo are both noted for getting horses that come into their absolute prime at about this age and I think Angel Capital is ready to claim a couple of big wins over the next few months - starting this Saturday!
Angel Capital has champion James Mc Donald in the saddle for the very first time, and as there's none better for tactical awareness or for getting a horse to relax, that's got to be a big plus for this electric backmarker.
J Mac and his Angel will fly from barrier 4
Next Best: GIGA KICK
As mentioned, beautiful Giga is attempting to do what no horse has ever done and win the All Aged for a second time, three years after his first triumph.
He’s now a six year old and had his share of hiccups along the way, notably a year off through injury, but this supremely gifted speedster was a G1 winner in the Melbourne spring and comes here off a G1 second to glamour mare Joliestar. He steps to 1400m for the first time since he won this race in 2023.
Trainer Clayton Douglas and owner Pinecliff Racing ( managed by his breeder Jonathon Munz) will be hoping for one of Sydney's notorious cloudbursts to unload right on Randwick on Friday night because their big boy loves a bit of give in the ground.
But crowd favourite and Everest champion Giga doesn't require any rain to be a huge winning chance.
Bred by Munz’s GSA Bloodstock and raised at Bhima Stud, Giga Kick is the best of eight winners from ten to the races out of the Royal Applause mare Rekindled Applause (GB), a half sister to stakes winners Rekindled Interest, Where We Left Off and Porticcio.
His sire Scissor Kick (Redoute's Choice) was also bred by Munz. At stud, he never lived up to either his excellent racetrack performance or his regal pedigree and was last heard of serving mares in Tunisia - but like many such well bred stallions he came up with one blazing star.
The imported, stakes placed Rekindled Applause visited only the best, including Redoute's Choice himself - five times.
But it was her visit to the least exalted of her mates Scissor Kick, which gifted the world with her tenth foal - the flashy little colt who would grow up to be a champion.
Giga Kick was one of the first horses bred on what is now an increasingly commonplace and hugely successful pattern - linebreeding to his own damline through its most influential daughter Best In Show meeting other daughters of her grand dam Stolen Hour.
Best In Show is ancestress of Giga's sire Redoute’s Choice and of Try My Best, the tail male line of his damsire Royal Applause. Giga's own ancestress is Bubinka, out of a half sister to Best In Show's mum.
Giga Kick is bred
Northern Dancer 5m x 5m,5m
Rainbow Quest 4m x 3f sex balanced
Nijinsky 5f x 6m,5m x sex balanced
Nijinsky meets up with his three quarter brother The Minstrel in this pedigree, all the more significant as their damline is a branch of the bigger 8-f tribe to which the Best In Show family belongs.
Doubling up champion sire Rainbow Quest adds even more depth and classic power to the mix, and all of this is what gives Giga his enormous engine and ability to wind up a huge finish even in a race run at a punishing speed.
Many of our best hoops have had the pleasure of riding Giga Kick, but this will be the first time since he made his winning debut at Sale in early 2022 that he will have a woman jockey.
The immensely talented Rachel King takes the reins having just made history as the first woman to ride an AJC Derby winner, and she will pilot Giga from barrier 7.
Roughie: FANGIRL
Hardly a “roughie” - but likely to start at a bigger price than we have been used to seeing for this mighty mare, who is now a seven year old and every bit as much a darling of the racing public as Giga Kick.
She has wowed us all with her big heart and fighting spirit but was not seen at her absolute best last preparation ( though she beat Lindermann second up at a mile here).
Fangirl resumes - and the question is, are they perhaps a wee bit too sharp for her at 1400m now? Nor does she want too much of that rain.
But her first up 1400m record at this track - on any surface - is pretty compelling, and it would look even better if she hadn't met a rampaging Anamoe!
Fangirl has never been a standout at trials so her two unplaced efforts in preparation for this don't raise red flags.
Age catches up with us all, but I'm in no way convinced that this four time G1 winning turf Queen and veteran of 37 starts for winnings of over $10.7 million is ready to hang up her horseshoes just yet - and there is none better than Chris Waller with the older mares.
Fangirl is a homebred for the Ingham family and is bred in the purple by champion sire Sebring out of the stakes winning Encosta de Lago daughter Little Surfer Girl.
Hers is the family of 3 x G1 winning mare Special Harmony (Spinning World) in turn a daughter of the great WA broodmare Marooned Lady.
Fangirl is thus closely related to WA turf stars Redwoldt (Karrakatta Plate), King Canute (Perth Cup) and She's Fit (WA Oaks).
Fangirl is bred
Northern Dancer
5f x 4m,5m sex balanced
Mr Prospector 5m,5f x 5f sex balanced
Blue Hen Rolls 4m x 4f sex balanced
Blue Hen Special x5f,5m sex balanced
What a beautifully calibrated pedigree, and boy didn’t it pay off.
Ben Melham will ride Fangirl for the first time and her legions of admirers will be cheering the bonny mare home from barrier 8.
Blowout: HALF YOURS
Trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy are not expecting the return of their Cups king to result in a win over the absolutely elite speedsters we've got here. A nice pipe opener for a big Queensland campaign, is how they’re looking at it.
But Half Yours has made a habit of doing extraordinary things in his short racing life to date - and if the speed is brutal I can see him being a chance of doing something jawdropping again.
The Half Yours story has got everything - twists of fate, unbelievable highs and crashing lows.
Just three weeks after that unforgettable triumph on the first Tuesday in November catapulted the sire of Half Yours into the national breeding spotlight, he was gone.
He was the beautifully bred but unheralded Teofilo son St Jean (IRE), a G3 Auckland Cup winner standing at owner Grant Dwyer's Brackley Park stud in Victoria since 2017. After Half Yours began his meteoric rise to the top, breeders took a second look at this stallion who descended from one of the bluest of Blue Hens, Highclere.
Interest picked up, and after his son stormed to Cups glory St Jean had a fee increase and Dwyer had owners of Desert King mares ( Half Yours damsire) coming out of the woodwork.
Everything was looking rosy and then the fates stepped in.
In late November, the heartbreaking news broke of the death of St Jean resulting from a freak paddock accident and it just seemed too bad to be true.
But life with horses can be like that.
St Jean was the first Victorian stallion to sire a Melbourne Cup winner since 1973.
Half Yours was his first and only stakes winner but interestingly, St Jean’s sire Teofilo got another horse to complete the rare Cups double, Without A Fight Only 13 horses in history have achieved this revered feat. Teofilo himself has sired three Melbourne Cup winners in all.
Half Yours was bred by Janice McKenna in Victoria from the placed Desert King mare La Gazelle, a half sister to the tough G3 winning stayer Moudre.
He was purchased for $305,000 from the 2024 Inglis Digital November (Late) Online Sale by Belmont Bloodstock/McEvoy Mitchell Racing when offered as part of the Halo Racing
Unreserved Reduction Sale following the sad passing of Colin McKenna.
At the time of the auction, Half Yours had raced five times for two wins and earnings of $40,000.
His sale page described him as a “progressive miler to middle distance horse that has the ability to perform in Saturday metropolitan races”.
Since entering the McEvoy establishment, Half Yours has raced 10 times for 6 wins including the G1 Melbourne Cup, G1 Caulfield Cup, G3 Naturalism Stakes and Listed Caloundra Cup for earnings of more than $9.2 million and a place in Australasian turf history cemented.
Half Yours is bred
Danehill 4f x 3m sex balanced
Bustino 5f x 5f
Northern Dancer 5m x 5m,5m,5m
His first four dams failed to win a race!
He descends from a sister to the G2 winning sprinter Touch Of Genius from the stakes placed Toolern Gold, a 1000m winner by Vain.
But this is a branch of the 7-d family - a family which has produced the likes of champions Prince Cortauld, Gurner's Lane, Veandercross, Sovereign Red, Mr Brightside, Ka Ying Rising and many more exceptional thoroughbreds including the mighty Better Loosen Up, who shares a direct ancestress Alecon (by the freakishly talented 1952 Melbourne Cup winner Dalray) with Half Yours.
Her dam Boot Maid was bred on a cross of full brother and sister Popingaol and the legendary imported sire Magpie, by Dark Ronald out of matriarch Chelandry. Their half sister Popinjay is the ancestress of Teofilo.
Linebreeding subject Bustino was out of a mare by Doutelle, from the same family as St Jean himself (2-f Alope) to which also belong Round Table - sex balanced in this pedigree by Grosvenor's three quarter brother Tristino - and Aureole, carried by Sharp Edge.
Half Yours has won when first up at 1400m ( okay it was a Geelong maiden not a Randwick G1) and was only narrowly beaten resuming at that trip at Sandown, at the beginning of an epic preparation which took him all the way to the first Tuesday.
He just strikes me as the sort of freakishly gifted horse that defies normal logic. It's hard to see him actually winning but I wouldn't be surprised to see him barnstorming down the straight into a top four placing!
Cup heroine Jamie Melham is back aboard Half Yours and they have drawn barrier 5.
