The $1.5million G1 Epsom Handicap (1600m) has history, tradition and a cracking field of 19 to do battle.
Click here for a look into the history of the Epsom.
The girls are out in force in 2026, with seven of them lining up on Saturday, spearheaded by Yulong's unbeaten 4YO daughter of Written Tycoon, Well Written.
Will lightning strike twice? The glamour Kiwi has won all of her seven starts - the same record Autumn Glow brought to the race last year.
Clearly, the dual G1 winning Well Written is a special racehorse, but faces one heck of a test at her first Aussie appearance.
She seeks to become the first NZ-trained winner since Te Akau's wonderful Savabeel daughter Probabeel, but that horse had already had a successful G1 winning Australian campaign at three (and also been twice a G1 runner up in Oz at that age).
Probabeel carried 52.5kg to her Epsom victory - Well Written has been allotted 55, just half a kilo less than race favourite, dual G1 Guineas hero and last start G1 WFA placed Autumn Boy (who has already placed in a Donny - and if not for Sheza Alibi would be hailed as a near- superstar)
Well Written has the same weight as rivals Lady Shenandoah and Idle Flyer, both G1 winners over the testing Randwick mile, and five kilos more than 2000m G1 Oaks winner Panova.
Being out of a Sebring mare, Well Written is bred on a version of the More Than Ready cross that produced Written Tycoon's G1 sprint winners Coolangatta and Southport Tycoon. Her talent is undeniable and she's drawn to get an economical run, but I've just got a niggling doubt about her stamina in the closing stages of this tough race against this level of opposition - especially if the rain arrives as predicted.
If she wins - too good, and we have another unbeaten supermare on our hands!
Chris Waller deploys a formidable arsenal containing but not limited to four individual G1 winners, as he strives to match Gai and her dad TJ’s record seven Epsom wins.
But I’m also leaving out the favourite Autumn Boy, well in for a penny in for a pound - he’s the deserving favourite but it almost looks too obvious. He's a dual Guineas winner dropping from WFA, he's unbeaten third up, barrier 1, biggest name trainer, biggest name jockey, he probably wins. But he goes back to midfield on the rail on a wet track, there could be traffic issues, it's a big handicap - I'm looking for value!
It's up to last year's runner up Fully Lit to defend the Waterhouse pride as the stable's sole representative - he led and almost pinched it last year, and arrives in winning form this year - can the talented Hellbent gelding go one better?
2024 Epsom runner up Tom Kitten is looking for a return to form, and the dual G1 mile winning son of Harry Angel will carry the good horse's weight of 57kg.
Declichy Boulevard (Snitzel) and Perfumist ( El Roca) are very good mares well suited in this handicap, while Ciaron Maher's well travelled “warmare” Vivy Air ( Hellbent) loves the Randwick mile and will always give you a run for your money.
The Epsom field is rounded out by Waller's interesting Kiwi-bred Almanzor gelding Mr Miller, lightly raced with a bit of X-factor and on the up - could he make the leap to G1 glory?
A stormy Sydney day with rain is forecast and we all know what that means - it could be a couple of thundershowers passing over Randwick - or it could be a biblical deluge.
Top Pick: ATTICA
Somewhat surprisingly, the late, great Lonhro has never sired a winner of the Epsom or Doncaster Handicaps - perhaps in part because his best were busy winning WFA races and thus weighting themselves out of the famous Randwick miles.
The legendary son of Ocky ran fourth himself as favourite in the Doncaster of 2003 under 57.5kg to another champ in Grand Armee, who carried 51.5.
It would be lovely to see Lonhro's legendary stud record adorned posthumously with a winner of one of these two iconic races, and in Attica he looks to have a red hot chance.
Four year old Attica drops to 51.5 from the WFA conditions of the Tramway and he is arguably “ the weight horse” of the 2026 Epsom, being a G1 winner and G1 placed at the track.
His record currently stands at 10 starts for 3 wins, 4 placings and more than $1.5 million in stakes.
But (as many a Melbourne Cup punter has lamented after the fact) being “ the weight horse” is no guarantee of victory.
There are pros and cons with Attica. It has to be said he was honest without ever looking remotely threatening in Sheza Alibi's Doncaster in the spring, under even less weight and on rain affected ground.
Since then the blueblood has been gelded - somewhat regrettably, as the Spring Champion Stakes hero may well have been the last G1 winning entire by Lonhro to go to stud.
On the other hand, the outstanding ability which saw him take that G1 at just his fourth lifetime start was being compromised. So, like Tom Kitten - another Spring Champion winning colt from the Godolphin operation - Attica got the big snip.
That decision worked out brilliantly with the now 6yo Tom, who raced on to claim consecutive G1 All Star Miles and multiple G1 placings including a second to Attica's stablemate Ceowulf in the 2024 Epsom. Both warriors carried 54 kg as 4yos that day.
One son of Lonhro who thrived after gelding is Lindermann, now a veritable fixture in Sydney G1s and earner of more than $5.3 million.
What about the likely rain affected track? The Lonhros mostly handle it, and with Street Cry, Redoute's and noted sire of mudlarks Sequalo as his first three damsires, I'm putting faith in the Doncaster flop on soft being due to other factors.
For one thing Attica was fourth up there and having his third consecutive start at 1500-1600m - this time the Joe Pride trained galloper is third up and going to what should be a strongly run mile for the first time this prep. I think that set up suits him.
Attica was well-trialled but unraced at two, and was the first foal bred from Darley's extremely classy 5 x G2 winning racemare Savatiano (Street Cry), a half sister to G2 winner Vilana ( Hallowed Crown) and to Lonhro's dual Listed winning filly Athiri.
The colt was sent to Joe Pride unraced, after the Godolphin / Cummings split and won on debut before taking the Listed Dulcify over this course. He quickly stepped up to the elite level and was third in “Sheza's” Randwick Guineas (Autumn Boy second) before his brave Spring Champion triumph, when he had to make up an enormous amount of ground to win.
Attica is bred
Mr Prospector 4m x 4m
Never Bend 5f x 6m, 7m
Having got off the mark in the best possible way with a G1 winner, his dam Savatiano produced colts by Palace Pier ( named Sabates) and I Am Invincible (Nautical Mile) who are yet to race, and foaled a Too Darn Hot colt earlier this month.
Savatiano and her stakes winning half siblings are among six winners from the winning Redoute's Choice daughter Retsina, who has most recently delivered a 2024 Pinatubo filly named Requisite and a 2025 filly by Native Trail. The mare is awaiting a Harry Angel foal this spring.
Retsina is out of G1 QTC Sires heroine Star Shiraz (Sequalo) who placed in the G1 Coolmore Classic and TJ Smith, the best of six winners and a half sister to stakes producer Mondeuse.
Star Shiraz was the standout offspring of her dam Starshine Express, by the mighty broodmare sire Semipalatinsk out of the stakes producing French-bred Bellypha (Lyphard) daughter Starshine.
Attica's damline goes back to G1 producer Sirya by the champion French sire Sicambre and is a branch of family 2-h descending from taproot mare Martha Lynne, dam of the breedshaping Epsom Derby winner Voltigeur.
Star Shiraz has a 5f x 5f cross of Sicambre who was himself bred 3f x 4f to Rabelais ( tail male to Sicambre's relative St Simon) and 4 x 5 to Perth, while her grand dam Starshine was 5 x 5 to the Rabelais son Rialto.
Both St Simon and Perth's sire War Dance were descendants of Voltigeur.
Zabeel in particular carries many lines of Martha Lynne descendants - Bend Or ( male line of the ubiquitous Teddy) as well as Voltigeur via sons and daughters, Lord Clifdon (via Gainsborough) and Rabelais.
Zabeel's ancestress Vaneuse and Lonhro's fifth damsire Le Filou are three quarter brother and sister. The “special sauce” on that damline is the tail male presence of another descendant of Martha Lynne, the immortal Carbine.
Lonhro's ancestress Wee Rose was bred 4 x 4 to Carbine's sire Musket while Carbine's son Spearmint, third damsire of Nearco, is linebred and sex balanced in Lonhro via his son Spion Kop. Nearco's damsire carries a Rabelais / Teddy cross and thus Octagonal's damline of Blue Hen Eight Carat is key for that great matron was bred 4m x 4f to Nearco with another line to his half brother Niccolo Dellarca.
Attica's pedigree boasts lovely linebreeding to Blue Hens
Thong - sex balanced by son Thatch (himself a descendant of Thong's grand dam Dalmary) and daughter Special ( (dam of Nureyev)
Lalun - son Never Bend x 3 is boosted by Lonhro's sex balanced cross of her fourth dam Knockaney Bridge via three quarter siblings Brookfield and Be Faithful bred on the Bimelech ( La Troienne) cross - Bimelech meets his relatives Buckpasser and Mr Busher in Attica's dam.
Another standout feature are many speed-enhancing sex balanced lines of Turn-To and his sire Royal Charger.
Big gear change for the Epsom - Attica gets the blinkers on!
Kerrin McEvoy retains the ride and the duo should get a good run from barrier 6
Next Best: LADY SHENANDOAH
Lady Shen has been racing so consistently at the highest level without a win for what seems like forever ! There is no horse in the country more deserving of another G1 win than this wonderful daughter of Snitzel.
Since winding up her champion 3YO season Lady Shenandoah has raced ten times and not once has she put in a poor performance. She was tried as a pure sprinter and was a tragedy beaten by Headwall in the Concorde, unlucky again in the Manikato (4th), brave in The Everest (2.3 lengths off Ka Ying Rising) and second to the mighty Jimmysstar in the Russell Balding.
Her Autumn prep saw two placings to Joliestar and a fourth in the George Ryder behind “Glow” before finally getting back out to the mile and going down narrowly to her Epsom rival Idle Flyer.
Lady Shen comes to the track/distance, scene of her G1 Flight Stakes triumph, third up off two solid G1 fourths and is nicely weighted for a 3 x G1 winner. I like that she is drawn wide because she has run her best races coming from well back.
This will be start 18 for the Waller-trained five year old, who has won 5, placed in 7 more and earned just a tick under $4.5 million.
What about the ground? Despite being by Snitzel, Lady Shenandoah has run her best races on good tracks and she's not going to get that on Saturday. However, the record might be a little deceiving. Her second to Jimmy on a soft 7 came after The Everest - and you can forgive any horse for being a bit flat after chasing the fastest horse on the planet.
As a two year old Lady Shen was placed on Heavy 10 and Soft 6 tracks in Brisbane. Since then, she hasn't seen a heavy track but I'm betting she would handle it well. By late afternoon on Saturday, it's likely Randwick will be pretty wet.
Lady Shenandoah was a $525,000 purchase for Hermitage Thoroughbreds from the draft of her co-breeders Arrowfield at Inglis Easter 2023.
She is the fifth foal from her winning dam Star Pupil (Starcraft) who also produced G1 HKJC Centenary Sprint Cup hero Stronger (Not A Single Doubt), a $1.5m Inglis Easter yearling purchase for James Harron Bloodstock now a popular young sire.
Star Pupil's Maurice colt sold for $550,000 to R Fownes at Inglis Easter last year, while her 2025 foal was an exciting full brother to Lady Shenandoah by the late Snitzel.
This elite producer awaits her 2026 foal by The Autumn Sun.
Star Pupil is a full sister to stakes winner Ain'Tnofallenstar, dam of the very good stayer Ain'tnodeeldun (Dundeel)
They are daughters of the top race mare Ain't Seen Nothin - by Danehill's mighty son Nothin’ Leica Dane from Icecapade by Sir Ivor's son Ghengiz, she was at one time a leading Caulfield Cup contender, won three stakes races and was placed in a G1 Underwood.
The mare proved to be a top producer as well, foaling G3 winner Bachman (All American) and dual Singapore Champion and HOTY Stepitup (Hussonet), as well as her two daughters to Starcraft.
Her dam Icecapade was a half sister to both Patou by Covetous, (dam of Golden Slipper heroine Polar Success) and the dam of Bring Me The Maid - dual G2 winner at two and third in the Golden Slipper.
This is the immediate family of Australian and international champions Elvstroem and Haradasun, their dam the AJC Oaks winning, Caulfield Cup runner up Circles Of Gold, and a multitude of Australian, NZ and international G1 winners including Starspangledbanner and Highland Reel.
This amazing family traces tail female to the matriarch Eulogy (22-b) from whom descend the likes of Bonecrusher, Vo Rogue, and our modern day champion Dundeel.
Lady Shenandoah is bred
Northern Dancer 5m,5m x 5m
Danehill 3m x 4m
Snitzel x Starcraft is definitely a nick to take note of with Lady Shen being the best of four stakeswinners bred on the cross. Another is Epsom rival Declichy Boulevard.
Starcraft's third dam Entrancing Belle was sired by Bellborough, from the family of Snitzel’s third damsire In Reality.
Starcraft's sire the Nureyev son Soviet Star descends from the taproot mare Maid Of Masham (9-f) through a French-bred mare - this complements Snitzel's multiple lines to her North American bred descendants including Bull Lea, Star Shoot and Sun Again.
Sun Again is also carried by Starcraft tail male through Pompeii Court's damsire Damascus - and all of the above nick powerfully with Lady Shenandoah's third damsire Ghengiz!
Sex balanced inbreeding to Danehill is significant as his damsire His Majesty traces to the mare Manganese - she is also Starcraft's ancestress.
Lady Shenandoah is reunited with Tommy Berry for the Epsom. The big girl doesn't know any other way but to give her all, and they will be rattling home from gate 16.
Roughie: DECLICHY BOULEVARD
Another five year old, Waller - trained Snitzel mare and bred on the same cross as Lady Shenandoah! - this time by a daughter of Starcraft's champion son Star Witness, damsire of two truly great mares in Bella Nipotina and Aeliana.
Declichy hasn't paraded her name in lights like those two or Lady Shenandoah, but she is G1 placed to Treasurethe Moment at three (and had been twice G2 placed to Lazzura and Too Darn Discreet at prior starts), so she is not short on class or ability, nor is she short on pedigree!
Lightly raced, Declichy Boulevard drops from the 59.5kg she carried to romp in over this very course last start to a measly 50kg - and she loves a wet track.
Declichy Boulevard has raced 14 times for 3 wins and 7 placings which have notched up $438,000 in earnings.
The mare races in the silks of her owners Kevin and Vikki Payne and was a $380,000 Inglis Easter buy for Waltrin Pty Ltd / Cameron Cooke Bloodstock from the draft of her breeder Kulani Park.
Her winning dam Red Velvet Swing (Star Witness) is a sister to G3 placed Serenade, and half-sister to dual G1 winner Stratum Star, and G3 winner and G1 ATC Sires Produce Stakes runner-up Prague ( three quarter brother to Declichy), both now at stud. The Redoute's Choice sireline is a boon for this family!
Declichy Boulevard is the third winner from as many to race for Red Velvet Swing, whose first foal was the good sprinter Redzoust (Zoustar)
Declichy Boulevard's full brother Second Swing sold to TFI/Kia Ora Joint Venture for $575,000 at the 2024 MM Gold Coast and is a winner from two starts to date.
Red Velvet Swing produced a Capitalist filly in 2024 named Velvet Hustle. Last season's foal was a Shinzo filly and the mare is awaiting an Ole Kirk foal this spring.
Her dam Purely Spectacular by the great Snippets son Pins was bred by Waikato Stud from their O'Reilly daughter Vanilla Sky - a golden cross!
Purely Spectacular was placed from five starts but shone in the stud and was a full sister to stakeswinner Raid, dam of Vancouver's dual Listed winning daughter Night Raid, and half sister to stakes placed Cruising Speed ( Savabeel)
Declichy Boulevard's next dam Principation ( Prince Echo) was a daughter of the champion Emancipation, Queen of the Randwick mile! and was thus a half sister to G1 producers Virage and La Suffragette, plus stakes producers Felicitation and Animation and the G2 winning entire Royal Pardon.
The list of G1 winners descending from Emancipation keeps growing and was to the forefront again last season when the electric filly Apocalyptic (Extreme Choice) swept the board to claim Sydney's Princess Series culminating in the G1 Flight Stakes.
The taproot mare of this family is Victory Flight imported from GB in 1953.
Several of Victory Flight's daughters were infertile but from the handful that bred on eventually came greatness.
The Emancipation line traces to her daughter Sweet Victory by the brilliant speedster Newtown Wonder - the 1971 Golden Slipper winning filly Hartshill was out of her daughter Victory Piper, and was a half sister to Emancipation's grand dam Miss Wendy.
Until Gunsynd covered Miss Wendy the family was quiet - and Gunsynd for all his greatness on the track, was by that time a forgotten sire.
The unfashionable mating produced Ammo Girl - she carried a 3f x 4f duplication of Newtown Wonder by Fair Trial, and was tail male to a minor son of Star Kingdom.
When Ammo Girl met some of Star Kingdom's most potent tail male blood through Biscay - adding another line of Newtown Wonder! - via his champion Bletchingly (who sex balanced Fair Trial and War Admiral) bingo! Emancipation.
The flying grey was an unstoppable force in the early ‘80s, racing only at three and four years when she won 19 of her 28 starts. The turf legend won the Doncaster as a filly, and even beat Manikato in the George Ryder Stakes.
Declichy Boulevard is bred
Danehill 3m x 5 m
Snippets 3f x 4m
Last Tycoon x 5f,5m
Northern Dancer 5m,5m x
And additionally her dam is bred 4f x 5f to Pompeii Court, while her sire, the dual G1 winner and Royal Ascot runner up Star Witness is bred 4f x 5f to Never Say Die's son Battle-Waggon 4f x 5f - he descends from a daughter.
All of the Snitzel nicks for Starcraft detailed above apply, boosted by a double dose of Damascus via Pompeii Court, while double Last Tycoon provides for high powered linebreeding to Best In Show and Godswalk sex balances the War Relic son Intentionally carried by Snitzel.
Declichy Boulevard's fourth damsire Prince Echo tops off the 4-d family nicks being by Crowned Prince, a close relation of Danehill's damsire His Majesty.
Declichy Boulevard has drawn barrier 2 which gives me some concern but - she carried 62.5kg on a slow track and got up from last to win here over 1400m first up last prep!
With featherweight Andrew Adkins on her back and a bit of luck in the straight, the striking daughter of Snitzel can be absolutely motoring late.
Declichy Boulevard and Andrew Adkins will launch from barrier 2.
Blowout: VIVY AIR
I had Vivy as my top pick in the Doncaster - Sheza Alibi blew that delusion out of the water - nevertheless, it was just a messy race for her. She got shunted around and lost her rhythm, at one point going from midfield back to near last and coming on resolutely to make it back into the top ten as they crossed the line.
Blinkers go on this gallant daughter of Hellbent who is now six, and I’m happy to include her again. You need a tough horse to win these big Randwick miles and that’s one quality Vivy Air has in bucketloads!
Under the care of Ciaron Maher the mare has bloomed into the big race performer she always promised to be.
Vivy Air is a journeywoman. She has raced in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. She has trekked to Dubbo, Tamworth, Kembla, Geelong, Seymour, Ballarat, Grafton and Newcastle. No matter which racecourse she finds herself at, from the humble to Headquarters, she puts in 1000% every time.
From 32 starts, she has won 4 and placed in 13 for career earnings of just a tick over $3 million.
Last prep she finally nabbed a G1 placing in the Coolmore first up, unleashing the best closing sectionals of the race but after two more unplaced runs she went for a good long spell - the kind of break she hadn't experienced since her 4yo days.
Again, she was closing off hard in the Cameron first up under 58kg and her overall second up record is excellent, she loves the mile here having twice been runner up to her stablemate, the excellent Gringotts, in the Big Dance and drops to 51kg.
Bred by OTI Racing, Vivy Air had a change of ownership and trainer last year.
Her dam Head Over Heels by Fastnet Rock was resident at Yarraman Park where she sadly died early this year while carrying a sibling to Vivy Air.
Her last foal by Hellbent is the OTI bred filly Somersault, who shows promise.
Vivy Air is one of three stakeswinning fillies sired by the son of I Am Invincible from Fastnet Rock mares - the others being the top class mare Savvy Hallie (another tough customer!) and dual Listed winner Sunrays.
Vivy Air is a half sister to South African G2 winner and dual G1 sire New Predator, and is one of seven winners from seven to race from her dam.
Head Over Heels is a half sister to the four time stakes winning sprinter Presently and they were foaled by Centaine's Gift ( Centaine). She had a full sister Celebrity Status, who would produce three stakes winners including Belongs In Lights, dam of three stakes winners of her own.
That mare would become the grand dam of the memorable upset G1 Newmarket Hcp / VRC Sprint Classic heroine Roch'N'Horse!
Note - Vivy Air's third dam Forever And Ever was by the Epsom / Doncaster hero Authentic Heir ( a son of Coronation Boy) out of Minnie Sue by Better Boy.
Vivy Air was born to be an iron mare - the Hellbent progeny in general have an incredible constitution and will to win - but she is also bred x 2 to one of the toughest and most genuine racehorses to ever look through a bridle in Better Boy, who famously “won” the Caulfield Cup of his own volition having lost his jockey at the start, beating home the hot favourite Redcraze. No pilot required!
Vivy Air is a descendant of Absurdity, a full sister to Doxa who became the third dam of breedshaping matriarch La Troienne - through the stakes winner Mere who founded a successful and very speedy branch of this family through her daughter Captivation by Vain.
Vivy Air is bred
Danzig 5m,5m x 4m
Green Desert 4m,4m x
Better Boy x 5m,5f sex balanced
Her pedigree is basically a symphony of linebreeding to Better Boy’s sire My Babu.
She has further lines to him via Sir Tristram and Artaius (daughters) and son Crozier.
My Babu is from the family of Turn-To to whom she carries multiple lines including Sir Ivor (sex balanced) and Habitat, plus relatives Alycidon and Klairon.
Vivy Air’s ancestress Doretta was by Foxlaw, son of Alope (2f) and this pedigree boasts extensive duplication of family members Round Table and Aureole plus Atan, this being Fastnet Rock's tribe as well.
Both Hellbent and Century, who sired Vivy Air's second damsire the great Centaine, descend from daughters of Talking, a VRC Derby winning son of the legendary stallion Magpie.
Talking's dam Society was by Absurd and Vivy Air's own ancestress Folly was Absurd's full sister. It's the La Troienne nick - and she is so prominent in the pedigree of Hellbent via Green Desert x 2 who brings her via Blue Hen Lalun, by Djebel - not only My Babu's sire, but also of Targui - who creates yet another turbocharged nick by appearing on Vivy Air's damline.
What a great pedigree and she'll be a jewel in the breeding barn I'm sure, but can beautiful Vivy get her G1?
Vivy Air and longtime pal Reece Jones (who rode her to victory in the $2m Five Diamonds last Spring) will have options from barrier 9.
