Winter is in the rearview mirror and the first G1 of the season has arrived with nothing short of a cataclysmic bang!
The 2026 $1M Winx Stakes is a contest we've been itching to savour, as glamour Glow meets spectacular Sheza in a race overflowing with elite talent anywhere you look. It's everything we love about our sport.
The magnificent Winx won three straight editions of this historic WFA contest (2016/17/18) - equalling the record of her fellow immortal Kingston Town and Kiwi legend Limerick.
Registered as the Warwick Stakes, it's only fitting that the race now honours the great daughter of Street Cry.
Inaugurated in 1923 and won by Sunburst, Warwick Farm was the sole venue for the Warwick Stakes for almost two decades before it was shared with Royal Randwick.
Canterbury hosted a solitary edition in 2000 over 1300m, won by Al Mansour who flew home to win in record time.
The race has remained at Randwick since 2014, and became the Winx Stakes in 2018. At the same time it was elevated to overdue G1 status, and “Waller’s wondermare” experienced the unique distinction of winning her very own, newly minted G1!
The esteemed list of dual winners boasts household names of yesteryear and today - Chatham, San Domenico, Sky High, Super Impose, Filante, Lonhro and our reigning champion, the now-retired Via Sistina, among them.
The list of one-time winners is no less impressive and includes Windbag, Amounis, Beaulivre, Bernborough, Flight, Tulloch, Shaftesbury Avenue, Defier, Private Steer, Courts In Session, Racing To Win, Metal Bender, Royal Descent, Sunline, Verry Elleegant, Mo'unga, Anamoe and Fangirl! - to name a few.
Won by many a fine sprinter miler but just as often by a Cox Plate champion, the 2026 Winx Stakes result will shape the market for this year’s one-off edition of our greatest WFA spectacle, to be run at Flemington.
The 2017 Warwick Stakes was an unforgettable edition which launched the race into its current era.
Winx was shooting for back to back victories, having bolted in her first by three and a half lengths over the gallant horse who would become the nearest thing she had to a “rival” - Godolphin's 4 X Australian G1 winner Hartnell.
In the intervening twelve months the mare had collected her second Cox Plate and a swag of WFA wins, as racing fans watched on in pure awe.
She broke Phar Lap's winning streak of fourteen races, then cruised past Bernborough and Carbine on fifteen. Her autumn campaign had ended with a triumphant five length plus trouncing of valiant Hartnell in the G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Awards at home and in the global rankings were piling up.
So many turned up or tuned in simply to watch history made, as the now 6YO Winx lined up for her 18th straight win - but those that did bet, went large!
They were left ashen-faced as the gates sprang open and the field thundered into stride, because the mare wasn’t with them.
A fresh Winx had required an attendant at her head, and the distracted champion blew the start by more than four lengths. Suddenly the script was gone with the wind, and so apparently were a lot of betting tickets.
An electrifying jolt of horror swept through the Randwick crowd! But seconds later it was followed by a breathless hush of hopeful excitement, because Hughie Bowman had kept his cool and had Winx back on the job. The task ahead was hopeless - unless you were one of the all time greats.
Bowman had said many times that Winx had capabilities few horses are ever born with, and those words had been backed up with astounding performances.
Again the great mare rose to meet expectations and do what shouldn't be possible. Her stablemate Foxplay had zoomed into the straight and burst clear of the pack.
At the 300m Winx was still dead last. Ice-man Bowman waited, eased her to the middle of the track and released the brakes. The afterburners ignited and so did the crowd!
Kerrin McEvoy aboard Foxplay heard the deafening roar and knew what it portended. Desperately he hurled his mare at the line, but to no avail.
The unstoppable momentum of Winx saw her claim a famous victory by a short neck. Eighteen straight! Even the bookies were left shaking with excitement.
At the other end of the racing spectrum was the 500-1 Warwick Stakes winner of 1987, Pablo’s Pulse.
The 3YO maiden galloper equalled the record payout for an Australian race result when he led almost all the way on a wet track, and shockingly failed to stop.
Pablo never won again in 37 starts, and was last sighted keeping company with the ambulance at Taree.
Incredibly, the jockey who rode him to his one unlikely win was Jamie De Belin, who also piloted the initial record breaking 500-1 winner Anntelle five years earlier! What were the odds of that?!
Everything points to the 2026 edition of the Winx Stakes being one we will be reminiscing about in years to come - for all the right reasons. The stage is set for an absolute epic.
With Aeliana likely to be re-routed to Melbourne for the G1 Memsie Stakes next week, Chris Waller has to make do with only seven of the fourteen runners, poor man.
They share 16 G1 wins between them.
The ageless Fangirl heads them with four. Her 2023 Winx Stakes victory brought up Chris Waller's 150th G1 as a trainer. The fantastic daughter of Sebring was second to Anamoe in 2022, third to Via Sistina in 2024 and scratched from this race last year. Though the spotlight is rightly focused on the Autumn Glow / Sheza Alibi “match race” Fangirl showed in Brisbane that she hasn't exited the big stage just yet!
Waller's nuclear line up of equine fire power goes on with distance specialists Beiwacht and Lady Shenandoah, the ever-dangerous Lindermann, the uber-classy Autumn Boy and Yulong's intriguing import Barnavara.
Waller trained the Winx Stakes trifecta in 2010 and 2024, and the quinella in 2017, 2020, 2023 and 2025.
Going up against this formidable record are Moody and Coleman with the outrageously talented Sheza Alibi, who has her sights fixed on the $10m G1 Golden Eagle at Randwick in October.
The $10,000 dream buy has to step up to WFA for the first time and will be giving Glow a start, but connections are confident. So are many punters, who have unloaded a slew of money on Sheza to beat the great Glow after her last sparkling piece of trackwork on Tuesday.
As for Autumn Glow herself, she kicks off what will very likely be her final year of racing, with the G1 QE Jubilee or G1 Queen Anne over the mile at Royal Ascot - followed by a possible first cover by Dubawi or a European son - pencilled on her dance card for 2027. Before then, a crack at the $20m Everest has not been ruled out.
Who haven’t I mentioned? Dundeel’s superbly related G1 winning mare on the rise, Idle Flyer, for Matthew Smith; the classy returning ATC Derby hero Green Spaces and stablemate the in-form Midnight Dynamite having a crack at WFA for Bjorn Baker; and carrying saddlecloth No 1, Joe Pride's G1 streetfighter Ceolwulf who can never be underestimated in anything.
For the sake of interest ( not necessarily reality) and out of respect for the quality of this field, I'm only putting one of the “ match race” contenders in my picks, so which superstar mare have I gone with?
Top Pick: AUTUMN GLOW
The return of the Queen. While Sheza steps into unknown territory at open WFA, Autumn Glow conquered that territory last preparation and apart from the 2000m blip was dominant within it.
Everything lines up. Sheza Alibi is clearly something special, and more G1 wins - possibly over Autumn Glow - await her, but in this particular race Glow has to go on top for me.
I also have a slight query on Sheza with her racing style and without the blinkers, coming out of barrier 1 on a soft track late in the day and having to make ground on Glow, who by contrast should be perfectly positioned throughout by J Mac.
Autumn Glow lost no fans when her picket fence finally fell over, a gallant third in a solidly run edition of the G1 QE Stakes.
Given her class and breeding, the 2000m simply had to be tried, and she didn't fall far short.
The Arrowfield / Hermitage owned superstar daughter of their champion The Autumn Sun will step out for her 13th race start on Saturday as a 3 X G1 winner, and earner of a tick under $8.6 million.
Glow is not only a blueblood, she is that rare unicorn - a sale-topping yearling that not only lived up to, but far exceeded expectations!
Bred by Newhaven Park Stud, the stunning filly was a $600,000 pinhook for Silverdale Farm/Shrone Bloodstock at the 2022 Magic Millions National Weanling Sale.
Silverdale consigned the baby Glow to the 2023 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, where Arrowfield Pastoral / Hermitage Thoroughbreds shelled out a cool $1.8million to secure her.
Autumn Glow is a three quarter sister to Newgate Farm's G1 Golden Rose hero In The Congo (Snitzel).
She is the third foal, third winner and second G1 winner from only three to race from the Champion Sprinter of South Africa in 2013-14, Via Africa - now a Blue Hen!
Unfortunately, Via Africa hit a tough patch at stud after the birth of Autumn Glow, losing two full siblings to In The Congo and missing to both Snitzel and I Am Invincible, fingers and toes crossed for her current Zoustar pregnancy.
The daughter of the excellent Forest Wildcat stallion Var won 10 races, 3 at G1 level including dual victories in the Scottsville South African Fillies Sprint. Via Africa hails from a very speedy family, with her first two dams by Qui Danzig and Quick
Turnover both prolific producers of sprinters, but Via Africa was on another level of ability entirely.
Her sire Var was the European Champion Sprinter of 2004 and a successful sire of more than 100 stakes winners, his best the 5 x G1 winner and dual South African HOTY Variety Club.
Var, who died in 2022, was the only foal from his dam. He is established as a broodmare sire of note, no surprise for a Storm Cat line stallion out of a Nureyev bred mare and bred 5m x 6m x 4m to Bold Ruler!
One key to Via Africa's speed is a potent sibling duplication - her damsire Zilzal's Blue Hen ancestress Bold Example was sired by Bold Lad (Bold Ruler x Blue Hen Grey Flight) and Via Africa's second damsire Quick Turnover is out of Bold Lad's full sister Bold Consort.
Autumn Glow is bred
Northern Dancer 5m,5m x 5m
Danzig 4m x 4m
The successful Snitzel mating for Via Africa provided another play on the Grey Flight nick through Misty Day carried by Snippets.
Champion racehorse and sire The Autumn Sun provides a Classic bent, without sacrificing speed, through Redoute's Choice and Galileo, and a regal female line from the Aga Khan's stud.
Autumn Glow is one of five G1 winners for her sire, all fillies but for Autumn Boy who is her rival on Saturday.
Autumn Glow is linebred to close relatives Mr Prospector and Bold Native, to their sire Raise A Native - also to Buckpasser and other descendants of La Troienne, and to Rough Shod (Nureyev, Sadler's Wells, Lt Stevens)
It’s great to see her back!
Autumn Glow and J Mac will launch from barrier 3
Next Best: AELIANA (NZ)
Aeliana looks over the odds! She pushed Via Sistina in this race last year from a wide barrier on a heavy 10 track, she has won this track / distance on soft ground when resuming and is arguably better on it than heavy.
For me, Aeliana is the clear value bet in the race despite a slight setback early in this prep. She looked sharp and pleased the trainer in her latest trial.
The now five year old is returning from a G1 heavyweight WFA Autumn double which saw her return to the superstar form of her three year old season.
The arrogant manner in which Aeliana won the G1 AJC Derby was something very rarely seen - she was only the second filly to win the Classic in the last 35 years, and she bolted in! It was every bit as impressive as Sheza Alibi's Doncaster romp, and followed a narrow second to champion colt Broadsiding in the G1 Rosehill Guineas, a race won by Aeliana's sire Castelvecchio.
That son of Dundeel was second in the Cox Plate and in due course Aeliana lined up for her own attempt at the big one last season. She hadn't been at her best all prep, though still twice a G1 runner up. She was desperately unlucky when sixth in the Cox Plate.
5YO Aeliana will have her 19th race start on Saturday. The gifted mare has earned more than $4.4 million for her owners Denise Marten’s Star Thoroughbreds, who secured her for $180,000 at Karaka Book 1 from Rich Hill Stud.
Aeliana is closely related to Star Thoroughbred’s G1 winning mare Invincibella (I Am Invincible) so this family has been gold for them!
Aeliana is bred
4m x 4m Sadlers Wells
4f x 4f Zabeel
She is the second foal and only stakes winner to date from her placed dam Temolie (Star Witness) - a half sister to G1 Tatts Tiara heroine Invincibella (Am Invincible), to the excellent G2/G3 placed mile / middle distance mare Secret Blaze (Sizzling), and to stakes winning gelding Extreme Flight (Extreme Choice)
Rill Stud purchased Temolie for $200,000 from Edinburgh Park at the 2021 MM Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale.
For them she has produced two fillies by their champion sire Proisir.
Summer In Capri was a $250,000 Karaka Book 1 buy for Ciaron Maher Bloodstock / TFI but never raced. She was sold to Kentucky Bloodstock for $100,000 from the Newgate Farm consignment at this year's Inglis Chairman's Sale.
Her sister Jessenya was understandably pounced upon by Star Thoroughbreds/ Randwick Bloodstock Agency(FBAA) when she entered the ring at Karaka 2025. They secured her from Rich Hill's draft for $300,000. This young lady made a pleasing debut in their silks for Waller over 1100m at Warwick Farm in May.
Aeliana's granddam Abscond by Galileo was an unraced half sister to G1 VRC Derby placed Light Up Manhattan (Manhattan Rain), out of the winning Zabeel mare Luminata.
Luminata was a half sister to tough Kiwi stayers The Hind (Adelaide Cup) and the Geelong Cup winning mare Oregon Star - and was out of the stakes winning mare Taciturn by the great Noble Bijou, from Top Secret.
Top Secret was by the fine Never Say Die son Mellay out of a half sister to Starcraft's second dam Entrancing Belle - by Never Say Die son Battle- Waggon.
And as Aeliana's damsire Star Witness himself descends from a Battle- Waggon daughter, what a great linebreeding pattern this is!
Aelina's family (4d ) is prominent in the damlines of Castelvecchio's sire Dundeel and in his fourth dam Flash In The Pan.
Aeliana's pedigree features linebreeding to the families of the great matriarchs Eulogy and Chelandry, and to sires Nureyev, Mill Reef, Alycidon and Asterus( all sex balanced).
She carries duplications of Blue Hens Special, Belle Sauvage, Natalma, Nogara and Lady Giselle.
At time of writing Aeliana's jockey for the Winx Stakes has not been declared.
Roughie: FANGIRL
A big plus for Fangirl here is the residual fitness she will retain from her Brisbane campaign.
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 early in her career.
The 8YO veteran of the field has earned a smidge under $11 m in 40 lifetime starts which have yielded four G1 wins and nine G1 placings.
We have been blessed to watch her in action for so long, and we only need to go back twelve months to find the last 8YO mare to win this race!
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).
Little Surfer Girl has delivered a colt and filly by boom sire Home Affairs. Her 3YO son Gerroa debuted nicely for Waller in May, and his little sister Gerroa Princess proved to be the last foal from her mum, who retired in 2025 after a job well done!
This blueblooded family traces to Zanzara (dam of the mighty NZ sire Showdown) and that mare's second dam Democratie is ancestress of Red Ransom, Dubai Destination, Librettist and Agnes World.
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
Horses get older, but they never become less classy.
Tommy Berry and Fangirl from barrier 10 will be aiming to grab the Winx Stakes crown for a second time!
Blow Out : GRINGOTTS (NZ)
Gringotts was epic in the Doncaster when fourth as topweight, a run easy to overlook because all eyes were locked on what Sheza Alibi was doing!
But it was the effort of a really top class galloper. The Ciaron Maher trained 7YO son of Per Incanto is a real warrior and has a big heart to match his big ability.
Fifth when resuming in this last year on ground too heavy, Gringotts is a G1 WFA George Ryder winner ( beating Fangirl) and runner up in the same race last year to Autumn Glow. He beat Beiwacht in his trial coming in, loves soft ground and has only twice been unplaced in twelve 1400m starts.
Trained by Ciaron Maher, the son of champion sire Per Incanto is bred on the same cross ( (Savabeel) as his G1 winning barn buddy Jimmysstar.
Twice a winner of the $1million The Gong (1600m) at Kembla Grange under big weights, Gringotts nabbed five races worth $1 million or more within the space of barely a year, and the lightly raced 7YO has now had 25 starts for 12 wins and 9 placings earning him more than $6 million in prizemoney.
What a smart buy he was for his ownership group, headed by Ozzie Kheir, when he was purchased privately after failing to meet his reserve at the NZB Ready2Run Sale when offered by Kasa Bloodstock.
They had secured him for $100,000 as a Karaka Book 1 yearling from the Archer Park draft.
Gringotts was bred by boutique breeders Dirk and Nicci Oberholster of Totara Park Stud, who cherish closely related mares from a famous family.
Gringott’s dam is the unraced Savabeel mare Miss Bluebell, daughter of Operavega ( Stravinsky) - a half sister to Vegas Showgirl the dam of Winx!
Gringotts is the best of three winners from three to race for dual stakes producing Miss Bluebell. Her latest public offering was a colt by Satono Aladdin, passed in at Karaka this year.
Miss Bluebell's unraced half sister Miss Vega by Carlton House is dam of Vegas Queen ( Proisir), a G2 winner at Trentham on the same afternoon Gringotts claimed his G1 George Ryder Stakes.
Gringotts is bred
Northern Dancer 5mx5m,5m
Nureyev x5f,4m
Sir Ivor 5f x 5m
His sire, Little Avondale Stud's Street Cry son Per Incanto needs no introduction as an elite G1 progenitor (he is also the damsire of the world's fastest horse Ka Ying Rising!)
Per Incanto's damline traces to the mare Orama, grand dam of the champion full brothers Todman and Noholme carried by Savabeel - and clearly he relishes this duplication of his ancestress.
Another key linebreeding subject in Gringott's pedigree is the mare Not Afraid - a major influence in Street Cry via her sons Cosmic Bomb, damsire of Halo and Prince John, damsire of Riverman.
Prince John's great grandson Success Express was out of a mare by Pilate, half brother to the dam of Not Afraid. Zabeel's linebred third damsire Sunny Boy was by their close relation Jock.
Gringotts is sex balanced to Mr Prospector through Stravinsky. The important stallion Traffic Judge, sire of Best In Show, is carried 5m x 5f by Per Incanto's dam. His family (3) is the biggest genetic presence on Gringott's female line and Gringotts of course is bred on an extension of the Street Cry cross which produced the great Winx herself.
Nice symmetry if he could upset the apple cart here!
Gringotts and Ethan Brown will go for glory from barrier 7.
