It's a Cox Plate rematch in the G1 Champions Stakes and Flemington was a Soft 5 on Oaks Day with the odd shower persisting until Saturday, but that's when the forecast turns a little ugly as Cosmic Crusader seeks to cement his place as the 'Best from the West' since Northerly.
It will be cold, windy and wet with a worst case 10-15mm forecast to fall during the day. Hopefully we won't see the track deteriorate to the Heavy 9 we ended up with last year.
At the very least I'm thinking it will be Soft 6 by the time this race is run - read more on the Cox Plate rematch!
Top Pick: COSMIC CRUSADER
I had Aeliana over Cosmic in the Cox Plate, thinking it might be a run too far in this epic prep he's having.
On Cox Plate day, watching the horses parade, I thought he looked about as fabulous as an equine athlete can look. He was absolutely glowing and moving like a panther. And he ran accordingly.
Now he's going around again, and again, I think it may be a run too far, but this horse silences doubters!
He is a special racehorse. So - much as I adore the mare and would love to see her win this after her brave run in the Cox Plate - I've come out with The Crusader on top.
He didn't win the Caulfield Cup, and he isn't Northerly, but if Cosmic wins this he cements his place ( I think) as the best galloper to come out of WA since that great son of Serheed.
The striking son of Maurice has always looked like an exceptional talent. Trained by Michael Grantham in Perth, the gelding won his only start as a two year old. He was competitive in every start at three, and ran well in the G2 WA Guineas without placing. He then underwent throat surgery.
At four he exploded, reeling off four straight wins before two G3 thirds and a Listed win at 1400/1500m, and was desperately unlucky to be balloted out of the G1 Railway Stakes. He was stepped up to the bigtime in the G1 Northerly Stakes at WFA over 1800m, zooming home to beat the Railway winner Watch Me Rock in a great battle, with WA warhorse Western Empire five lengths in their wake.
Following this triumph, Cosmic Crusader was dropped back to 1400m just two weeks later to contest the G3 Gold Rush, and just failed to nab the talented sprinter Rey Magnerio on the line.
This spring, in the care of Andrea Leek, he has been nothing short of a revelation - straight into a brace of Group wins at 1200 / 1400m. He was just too far back in the Memsie but made good ground for third, a solid second in the Underwood, awesome win in the Turnbull, extremely brave in the Caulfield Cup and exceptional in taking the one-off Cox Plate at what seems to be his favourite track!
Cosmic Crusader has now raced 24 times for 12 wins ( 3 x G1) and 7 placings (2 x G1). His career earnings have topped $6.8 million.
Unlike some of his Champion Stakes rivals who are staying in this distance range when they might now prefer a little further, this horse retains his turn of foot and 2000m is probably about his ideal distance.
Bred by Bob and Sandra Peters and foaled in New Zealand, Cosmic Crusader is the seventh G1 winner to date for Arrowfield's outstanding stallion Maurice.
The winner of six G1 races at home and abroad including the Hong Kong Mile, Hong Kong Cup and Champions Mile, Japan's 2015 HOTY Maurice is an unusually versatile sire. He was a Champion Sprinter as well as Champion Miler of Japan, and that rare brand of acceleration has been passed on to his best progeny.
He can get a champion stayer like Hitotsu or a pure sprinting machine like his tough-as-nails G1 Doomben 10,000 winner Mazu.
Cosmic Crusader is the best of two winners from the classy Street Sense mare Cosmic Storm, who was also bred and raced by Peters, winning seven including the G3 WATC La Trice Classic and Belmont Oaks.
Cosmic Storm is a half sister to dual Melbourne GI winner Superstorm from the multiple Group winner and stakes producer Stormy Nova, daughter of the great broodmare sire Metal Storm.
Her five stakes wins included the G3 WATC Champion Fillies Stakes, G3 Ernest Lee-Steere Classic and G2 Yallambee Classic in Adelaide.
Stormy Nova was originally owned by Peters Investments, but bred her last three foals at Northerly's birthplace, Oakland Park Stud.
All of her ten foals made it to the track, nine of them winners and four stakes winners.
Stormy Nova's dam Pro Challenge was sired by the Mr Prospector son Protos, like Metal Storm an enduring source of quality in the WA broodmare population.
She too was a talented race mare, stakes placed and one of only three foals from her dam Carousel Challenge, all winners.
This female line is Colonial family 10 tracing to the taproot mare Betty, sired in the early days of NSW settlement by the famous Arabian stallion Hector out of the imported Old Betty.
Betty founded a prolific family and her line continues strong in the West, notably through her descendant Todvega, daughter Vegahoney and grand daughter La Volta.
Like Cosmic Crusader, they descend from Fine Pim, a daughter of the longtime champion WA sire Sansofine who got four winners of the Railway Stakes and became an elite broodmare sire.
There hasn't been a superstar from the Betty line for quite some time, but Cosmic Crusader has brought honour to the tribe!
A fantastic WA galloper of the 1990s, Willoughby, belongs to this family
The formidable sprinter miler notched up 24 wins including the G1 Railway Stakes and was twice runner up in the Winterbottom Stakes. He also won WFA races in Melbourne.
Willoughby was one of the best weight carriers the west has ever seen. Carrying weight is a noted quality of this family, which produces big-hearted, tough as nails racehorses. What is needed over it is class, and that's where Maurice comes in, as well as Cosmic Crusader's damsire Street Sense!
Cosmic Crusader is bred
Northern Dancer 5m x 5m
Mr Prospector x5m,5m
Street Sense was a sensation on the track, becoming the first ever colt to take the Breeders Cup Juvenile ( by ten lengths!) and Kentucky Derby double.
The son of breedshaper Street Cry from the family of Danehill Dancer has been just as good at stud with 13 G1 winners to date and is still powering on for Darley America.
Street Sense shuttled to Australia and Japan. His G1 winners from his time here were Golden Rose hero Hallowed Crown, Doomben 10,000 winner Sense Of Occasion and the elite mares Politeness and Dixie Blossoms.
As a broodmare sire, Street Sense is the damsire of the ill fated champion Roaring Lion who sired this year’s Caulfield Cup hero Kingswood.
Australian G1 winners for Street Sense were out of a Zabeel mare (Sense Of Occasion) and from the immediate family of Zabeel (Hallowed Crown) - so easy to see the appeal of Maurice for Cosmic Crusader's dam, as that stallion is out of a daughter of Zabeel's close relative Carnegie.
One of the most notable aspects of Stormy Nova's pedigree was her 4f x 5f breeding to the excellent son of My Babu, Milesian. His family (22-a) is one to which Maurice's damline is extensively linebred including via a line to Primero, the full brother to Milesian's second dam Athasi.
In fact much of Cosmic Crusader's pedigree is built around the affinities between the various branches of the 22 family, including Street Sense himself (22b), and Petingo (the all important grandsire of Street Cry's dam Helen Street) to name but two.
Another fantastic nick is Cosmic Storm's dual lines to Delta Judge - his daughters produced both Street Sense's damsire Dixieland Band and her own second damsire Protos.
Delta Judge is a close relation of Roberto, the tail male ancestor of Maurice.
Cosmic Storm carries sex balanced lines to Blue Hen Costa Sola by Worden, the ancestress of Street Cry and dam of Sun Prince - her fifth dam was sired by his son Moon Sammy.
Maurice brings multiple lines of Worden's close relative Norseman.
Cosmic Crusader is linebred to Halo,his dam Cosmah and her half sister Natalma as well as to Halo's sire Hail To Reason, to whom Metal Storm is a relation, though distant.
His pedigree also creates duplications of His Majesty and Riverman and through the latter's sire Never Bend and Sadler's Wells, to Blue Hen Lalun.
Bob Peters has plenty of faith in the mating of Maurice over Cosmic Storm and she has a three year old colt by him called Cosmic Icon who is yet to race. The mare lost a filly by him before missing a cover, but happily she safely delivered a little sister to the Crusader this spring!
Cosmic Crusader has certainly more than justified that faith.
The soft track will work to Cosmic’s advantage and if anything I reckon the wide gate is in his favour. He came from second last to win the Plate in a same sized field. He is versatile, and Willie Pike can put the horse where he is comfortable in the run.
Cosmic and Pikey will race for a piece of history from barrier 11.
Next Best: AELIANA (NZ)
Aeliana will be watching the rain come down from her raceday stall at Flemington with her happy face on.
Super brave in the Cox Plate when flushed out a little early, my only query on this fantastic mare is that she stays at 2000m for her third consecutive run at the distance, and this is new for her.
Trainer Chris Waller has made no secret of the fact that this horse of enormous talent is not a big, robust creature and that's why he didn't ask her to carry 58kg in the Melbourne Cup.
Last spring it seemed as if she hadn't fully rebounded from her three year old heroics, which were exceptional.
Aeliana is now five, at or approaching the peak of her powers right now, after coming of age in the Sydney autumn. She has been good all spring at the highest level, only once out of the placings when first up.
A $180,000 Karaka Book 1 purchase for Denise Marten's Star Thoroughbreds from the Rich Hill Stud draft, Aeliana is closely related to their G1 winning mare Invincibella (I Am Invincible)
This gifted mare will line up for start 23 on Saturday with the record of six wins( 3 x G1), seven seconds ( 6 x G1) and two thirds ( 2 x G1) which have netted connections more than $5.2 million.
Her sire, the G1 Guineas winning Dundeel son Castelvecchio was runner up to the Japanese mare Lys Gracieux in the 2019 Cox Plate.
Her dam is by Star Witness, son of Starcraft who was third in Savabeel's Cox Plate - her second dam is a Galileo daughter, and her fourth a daughter of Zabeel, providing for a 4f x 4f duplication of the Cambridge Stud legend.
The arrogant manner in which Aeliana won the G1 AJC Derby was something rarely seen from a filly - in fact she was only the second to win the Classic in the last 35 years, and she bolted in.
That came off a narrow second to elite colt Broadsiding in the G1 Rosehill Guineas, a race won by her sire.
She also just missed winning in the G1 1,000 Guineas in the spring. Aeliana is pure class.
Aeliana is bred
4m x 4m Sadlers Wells
4f x 4f Zabeel
She was the second foal and the only stakes winner to date from her placed dam Temolie (Star Witness) - a half sister to G1 Tatts Tiara heroine Invincibella (I Am Invincible), to the excellent stakes placed mile / middle distance mare Secret Blaze, and stakes winning gelding Extreme Flight.
Temolie is domiciled at Rich Hill stud in NZ, where she has produced three younger half sisters to Aeliana by champion sire Proisir.
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 the tough Kiwi stayers The Hind (Adelaide Cup) and Oregon Star ( Geelong Cup) - and was out of the stakes winning mare Taciturn by the great Noble Bijou, from Top Secret.
Top Secret was sired by the fine Never Say Die son Mellay, out of a half sister to Starcraft's second dam Entrancing Belle - by Never Say Die's son Battle- Waggon.
As Aeliana's damsire Star Witness himself descends from a Battle- Waggon daughter, what a great linebreeding pattern this is!
Battle-Wagon's champion son Battle Heights won the 1974 Cox Plate.
Aelina's family (4d ) is prominent in the damlines of Castelvecchio's sire Dundeel and in his fourth dam Flash In The Pan.
Her 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.
Will it be four mare-powered Champions Stakes in a row for the dream team of Waller and J Mac?
Aeliana and J Mac will launch from barrier 4.
Roughie: LIGHT INFANTRY MAN (FR)
While most of the opposition were floundering on the Heavy 9, Light Infantry Man actually made up decent ground in this race last year where he was uncharacteristically marooned out the back after missing the start.
That was off his good Cox Plate fifth when he led - it was a different outcome this year at Flemington when he tired late off the hot pace. He needs a soft track to be up there with the best of these.
He probably needs the track to go down to a Soft 7 or heavy 8, as in the Turnbull when he beat all but Cosmic Crusader to the line.
There is never any hype or headlines about this horse, but he is a dual G1 Australian Cup winner and that deserves respect.
This is one tough, journeyman galloper. Light Infantry Man began his career with a win in GB, contesting the G1 2000 Guineas at his second start.
The David Simcock trained son of Fast Company went to France and claimed consecutive G1 seconds at 1400m /1600m, beaten only by the great Inspiral in the last, before he was on a plane to Australia where he contested the $5million Golden Eagle at Rosehill and was a close up sixth ( as favourite) to the mighty I Wish I Win.
Next thing he's back at Longchamp for a G1 second over 1800m, then at Royal Ascot for a third in the G1 Queen Anne at the mile, over to Deauville for another G1 placing to Inspiral and back in Oz where he flopped badly in the 2023 G1 King Charles. Jet lag does take the edge off!
Light Infantry Man permanently emigrated into the stables of Ciaron Maher, but the elegant chestnut had lost his way a bit. He had travelled so far, tried so hard time after time in the most elite company, and he hadn't cracked it for a win. Horses can get a bit depressed and disheartened, just like humans.
The Man kept on performing honestly though, and Maher was busy figuring out what could turn this ship around.
Success finally came at Listed level, when Light Infantry Man bolted in the Chester Manifold Stakes at Flemington. Two starts later he got his well-deserved G1 in the WFA Northerly Stakes in Perth (1800m), and he was back on his way!
Since then, Light Infantry Man has won two Australian Cups, placed in an All Star Mile and G2 Zipping Classic (2400m) and run second in a G1 Turnbull.
His battle with stablemate Pride Of Jenni on a wet track in this year's Australian Cup was a beauty. The mare fought like a tiger, but he relentlessly ran her down in the shadows of the post.
The gelding’s stats read 27 starts, 5 -1 3- for prize money of just under $6 million and he’s a good horse alright.
A € 25,000 purchase at the 2020 Arqana October Yearlings Sale, Light Infantry Man was then bought for £82,000 by Blandford Bloodstock at the 2022 Goffs Breeze Up Sale.
Bred by Barbara Moser, he is the best of five winners from five to race from the winning Kyllachy mare Lights On Me (GB).
His first three damsires are Machiavellian's half brother Exit To Nowhere, the French G1 Classic winner Akarad ( male line of Crepello) and Nijinsky's champion Green Dancer. His daughter Green Rosy, Light Infantry Man's ancestress, also produced the dam of the outstanding Melbourne Cup winner Americain.
Light Infantry Man is a member of the famed Chelandry family through her descendant Sunstep, the branch of this vast tribe which produced the champion racer and sire Never Say Die as well as a multitude of Australian stakeswinners to the present day including G1 winners Joliestar, Merchant Navy, Spright and Music Magnate.
Light Infantry Man has no inbreeding within five generations
He is the best of three G1 winners among 42 international stakes performers for his deceased sire Fast Company ( IRE), a son of Danehill Dancer who raced only three times at two and was a G1 runner up in the Dewhurst Stakes. Fast Company was a relation of the Aussie G1 winner and sire Charge Forward and the excellent sire Khozaam.
Light Infantry Man's damsire Kyllachy was a brilliant sprinter and sire of sprinters; the son of Pivotal unsurprisingly also a fine getter of quality broodmares.
Light Infantry Man's pedigree brings together Nijinsky and his three quarter brother The Minstrel and the Never Bend sons Mill Reef and Riverman.
His sire is sex balanced to Blue Hen Mixed Marriage (2-f) by Tudor Minstrel, via Atan and Gone West.
Kyllachy was also linebred to Tudor Minstrel in male line.
Great grandson Henry The Seventh sired Pivotal's ancestress Zerbinetta (he also has multiple 2-f lines through his second damsire Bustino), while Kyllachy's dam was by another grandson, Song.
This pedigree features strong linebreeding to Blue Hen Almahmoud ( Danehill, Halo, Exit To Nowhere) and to the tribes of Banshee ( Akarad, Djeddah, Sing Sing, Tourbillon, Mr Prospector a relation) and La Troienne /Adargatis (Buckpasser sex balanced, Cornish Prince and Bimelech)
Light Infantry Man gets Mark Zahra aboard and the duo will jump from barrier 5.
Blowout: VON HAUKE (NZ)
Let me be clear - I don't think Von Hauke can win this race, but I think he might be able to spring a surprise and run top four. On what do I base this wild assertion? A few things.
One, this is exactly the sort of race these tough Kiwi- breds love - it's a wet track, the end of the carnival - some of the opposition might be ready to put the cue in the rack, but the Kiwis will keep on truckin’.
Two, though he doesn't breathe the same air as Cosmic, Sir Delius or Aeliana, or even Light Infantry Man - Von Hauke is not your average racehorse.
The seven year old son of the late great Savabeel is a G2 winner and G1 placed, a stakes winner at Flemington and has won more than $1.1 million from 32 starts which have resulted in 5 wins and 7 placings.
Three, his trainer Cliff Brown. A genius horseman with a stayer. Von Hauke has contested the last two Champions Miles - like most of the field he was skating on the surface water last year, but wasn't disgraced behind Mr Brightside the year before. If Cliff has set him to run 2000m for the first time in his life this prep, I'm backing Cliff's judgement.
Next, I believe Von Hauke's form isn't as bad as it looks. He was quite good in the Sir Rupert Clarke and Toorak but very average third up. His fourth up run is always his best, and he likes soft tracks.
Finally, his all important pedigree!
Von Hauke was a $190,000 purchase for his trainer at Inglis Premier from the Stonehouse Thoroughbreds draft. He is co - owned by Barree Pastoral Co and Imperial Racing Stable.
Bred by Waikato Stud, Von Hauke is out of the O'Reilly mare Tiara who had quite a lot of ability, and she is from a true staying family.
Tiara was one of the fancied runners in the NZ Oaks of her year but nothing went right. She was a serious hothead, reading through the old form comments on her races makes that clear! Nevertheless she won two races and was good enough to place at stakes level at a mile.
Her son has inherited some of the old girl's fierce-going ways but he has definitely improved a lot with maturity. Von Hauke was the fourth foal from his dam, all sired by Savabeel, and by far the best of them. His raced brothers are Savvy Sovereign ( six wins to 1500m) and Savvy Crown ( winner 1400- 2000m)
The trainer loves this family! He purchased Von Hauke's three quarter brother Rogan ( Super Seth) for $50,000 from Waikato's Karaka Book 1 draft. Rogan has won at Caulfield over 2000m.
Tiara produced a filly (2022) and colt (2023) to Tivaci before visiting Banquo ( Written Tycoon) and producing a colt by him. She has not had a foal since then. Brown also purchased the Tivaci filly for $22,000 at the NZB National Weanling from Waikato’s draft.
Tiara's dam Royal Lady (Stravinsky) won five races and his grand dam Royal Tiara ( by Fappiano son Blanco) was a top stayer whose wins included the 3200m G1 Auckland Cup. She was also runner up in the G1 Queensland Oaks ( when it was 2400m) and G2 AJC St Leger (2800m)
Neither mare won below 2000m in their careers.
Von Hauke has a really interesting damline which worked its way to NZ via the Hungarian-bred Maganyos who won races in six countries from 1200-3000m! How tough was this bird?
Incredibly, Royal Tiara's half brother Elbio was a Champion Sprinter in GB with numerous Royal Ascot wins.
Maganyos was sired by Pioneer, a son of Zabeel's old friend Pieces Of Eight (Eight Carat cross) and also on Von Hauke's damline we find the stoutly bred German sire Indikator and the 1924 Epsom Derby hero Sansovino.
Von Hauke's family is a branch of 6-d descending from the Epsom Oaks runner up Depeche by Gallinule and is closely allied to the sires Alibhai, Turkhan and Pakistan.
Von Hauke is bred
Nureyev 4f x 4m
Never underestimate the old Waikato Stud magic.
Savabeel over O’Reilly mares has produced numerous G1 Derby and Oaks winners and many stakes winners who excelled at 1600-2000m including multiple G1 winners - as well as champion sprinters and tough as teak two milers! The great son of Zabeel could do it all and O’Reilly was the perfect foil, contributing his own brand of thoroughbred excellence..
So given all the above, you see why I believe Von Hauke's first experience of racing at 2000m might be to the old boy's liking. On his day, he can produce a fine turn of foot.
I like a nice little omen bet aspect to it, too, in the last G1 of the 2026 carnival.
The story of this spring is that The King bred ( and sold) the horse that won the Cup. Stiff upper lip and all that - but secretly, he'll probably never get over it. I know I wouldn't.
The children of Julia Von Hauke, Princess of Battenburg, anglicised their name to Mountbatten during WW1. Thus, Julia is a direct ancestor of King Charles III
Von Hauke and Damian Lane will jump from barrier 3.
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