The last Autumn running of the CF Orr Stakes in 2025 closed a long chapter when Another Wil narrowly denied Mr Brightside consecutive victories and the historic first running of the “new” race in November last year had a worthy winner in race favourite Jimmysstar, who is back to defend his title.
Jimmy unleashed his big finish that day to beat Angel Capital and Evaporate and has raced on to claim his fourth G1 in the Manikato Stakes this spring, while Angel Capital finally cracked it for his first in the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes and Evaporate won the $2 million Five Diamonds last weekend.
Jimmy and Angel are back to do battle again in the 2026 Orr Stakes, and they head a small field of eight runners which also includes Bjorn Baker's warhorse Pericles, fresh from an impressive victory in the Russell Balding Stakes in Sydney, and the reigning Memsie hero and avowed 1400m specialist Beiwacht.
Team Hayes deploy their G1 Stradbroke winner War Machine who is back in form, and the G1 Goodwood winner Desert Lightning will race without his familiar nose roll having had blinkers fitted instead.
Two bonny mares round out the Orr field - Grahame Begg's G1 Tatts Tiara heroine Splash Back, and the up and coming speed machine Shadhavar who contests her first G1 race.
Top pick: JIMMYSSTAR (NZ)
Jimmy gets the gear off and goes around minus blinkers / winkers as he not only attempts to defend his CF Orr crown, but go back to back at two different tracks!
The last horse to win consecutive Orr Stakes was Moods’ great mare Typhoon Tracy in 2010/11.
I see no reason why the Ciaron Maher trained son of Per Incanto can't win. He loves the 1400m, he loves big tracks, he loves good ground and he is a recent - spectacular - G1 WFA winner.
The manner in which Jimmy put them away in the Manikato showed that he has lost none of his lethal turn of foot.
His last two runs when contesting a fifth race into a prep have resulted in a win in this race last year, and a narrow defeat by Headley Grange in the G1 Kingsford Smith Cup (1300m) in Brisbane.
The powerful chestnut burst onto the big sprint stage in Australia early in 2025, with explosive G1 victories in the Oakleigh Plate (1100m) and All Aged Stakes (1400m).
Jimmysstar won two of his first three starts in NZ for his original trainer Guy Lowry, before a majority share in the exciting galloper was sold to a big group of clients of the Maher stable headed by prominent owner Ozzie Kheir.
Jimmysstar has earned more than $11 million from 32 starts to date, which have netted him 12 wins ( 4 x G1) and 9 placings (4 xG1).
This outstanding performer was bred by Wairarapa couple Pete and Chrissy Algie in partnership with Little Avondale Stud, who stand his remarkable sire Per Incanto (Street Cry).
Little Avondale Stud proprietors Sam and Catriona Williams, along with the Algies, remain in the ownership of the galloper they bred from Anniesstar - a daughter of the amazing Zabeel son Zed.
Anniesstar won five races including the Listed Feilding Gold Cup (2100m), while her full-brother Jacksstar was a seven-time winner up to G2 level and also placed in the G1 Auckland Cup (3200m)!
Her talented half-brother Bourbonaire was runner-up in the G1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m).
Jimmysstar’s second dam is Star Guest by the champion racehorse and sire Pentire, who frequently passed on his brilliant turn of foot to his progeny, which performed over all distances.
Jimmy's classy female line is Argentinian-bred and descends through the G1 winning mare Love's Hope, who goes back to the great Argentine foundation mare Ante Diem (by Carbine's sire Musket) exported from GB in 1884.
She became the ancestress of at least 19 Argentinian Classic winners, including the 1931 Triple Crown legend Mineral.
A damline which is the perfect foundation for Per Incanto's brand of scintillating speed.
Ante Diem (9-g) was a granddaughter of Maid Of Masham (two of her daughters founded families 9-e and 9-f) - thus these individually designated families do share a close genetic affinity.
Jimmy’s dam Anniesstar found a great mate in Per Incanto, also producing Jimmy’s sister Charms Star (G3 Manawatu Breeders’ Stakes, runner-up G1 New Zealand Oaks and G1 QLD Oaks) to him.
Then came a full brother, who was offered on behalf of Little Avondale by Riverside Stables and sold for $260,000 to Group 1 Bloodstock (FBAA) at Inglis Easter in 2024.
Named In’kantosstar and also trained by Maher, this patiently handled four year old has won his last four starts (of five) in the Ozzie Kheir colours and he has a bright future.
He was the last foal from Anniesstar who died in 2024, and what a grand producer she was.
Jimmysstar is bred
Northern Dancer 5m x 5m
Sir Ivor 5f x 5m sex balanced
Notably Street Cry and Pentire share the same ancestress in far removes, the immortal matriarch Illuminata (family 1-l)
An outstanding feature of Jimmy's pedigree is sex balanced linebreeding to Klairon - tail male ancestor of Per Incanto's damsire Indian Ridge, and damsire of both Star Way and Zed's ancestress Klairessa, dam of Eight Carat - carried by his dam Anniesstar.
He is linebred to Blue Hens and three quarter sisters Natalma and Cosmah, and sex balanced to Boudoir through her son Your Host and daughter Flower Bowl.
This pedigree boasts duplications of the sires Petition, Alibhai, Never Bend, Hail To Reason, Grey Sovereign and of mighty War Relic, who was bred 3m x 3m to Blue Hen Fairy Gold - her fourth dam was Maid Of Masham, Jimmysstar's own ancestress.
Jimmysstar and Ethan Brown will race for G1 number five from barrier 1.
Next best: SPLASH BACK (FR)
Splashy will start as one of the outsiders here, but I'm not putting her in as a roughie because I think she's a genuine winning chance - and deserves more respect than the market is currently giving her.
Unlike some of her CF Orr opposition, she's got fresh legs - and she will be primed to run a huge race.
Grahame Begg's lightly raced seven year old is a G1 winner against her own sex, but showed she could mix it at open WFA in Brisbane with her outstanding G2 Victory Stakes win and subsequent slightly unlucky showing in the G1 Kingsford Smith.
She's a backmarker, the huge field didn't suit her there, nor in the Straddie. This track and distance (she is already a course winner) and field size suits perfectly, her second up run is her best run and her first up effort in the G2 Gilgai was excellent.
Splash Back's record currently stands at 24 -9-2-2 for more than $1.2 million in prize money.
Bred in France to southern hemisphere time, Splash Back was purchased for €100,000 at the 2021 Arqana October Sale by Sandy McGregor and John Foote, who also bought the 2015 Melbourne Cup hero Prince Of Penzance at the same sale.
Splash Back was another they purchased with a view to a staying career, and is bred to excel in that department, but as is often the case the mysteries of equine genetics had other gifts to impart to the daughter of Le Havre.
Grahame Begg is a wondrous trainer of mares, and once Splash Back came into his care he quickly realised that training her to perform as a middle distance type wasn't what this girl enjoyed doing. She had a big motor and a sharp turn of foot and she wanted to show them off!
What she inherited from the stamina depths in her pedigree was a real toughness and willingness.
As Begg has described it, “ She'll go out there and go to war for you, this mare.”
Splash Back never raced in her homeland, and had her first start in Australia for owners the Ronball syndicate as a four year old.
She is a half sister to the G2 GB Park Hill Stakes (14.5furlongs!) winning Galileo daughter Into The Magic - who has produced her own winner of the race, Nakheel (Dubawi)
They are daughters of the G2 winning, multiple G1 placed Danehill Dancer mare Tamazirte.
Her dam Tanami Desert was by the G1 Middle Park Stakes winning Mr Prospector son Lycius, who shuttled to Australia for one season in 1999, out of Tanami ( Green Desert) a half sister to G1 producer Wannabe out of Propensity by Habitat.
Next dam Kalamac ( Kalamoun) was a daughter of the US- bred Tarmac by Native Dancer's little-seen son Takawalk, who was a half brother to Blue Hen Sly Pola - ancestress of Green Dancer, Soviet Lad, Makfi, Authorised, Alhaarth and Grey Dawn - out of the Hyperion mare Scarlet Oak.
This regal and Classic family traces to Woodlark ( Bois Roussel), daughter of studbook matriarch Aurora by Hyperion ( family 1-w)
Woodlark is half sister to the legendary quartet of half brothers and breedshaping broodmare sires Alycidon, Borealis, Agricola and Acropolis.
Splash Back is bred
Northern Dancer 4f x 5m,6m, 5m sex balanced
Danzig x 4m,5m
Her G1 winning sire Le Havre died in 2022, just weeks after being retired from stud duties.
An Irish-bred son of Blushing Groom's champion Noverre ( three quarter brother to Arazi), Le Havre's dam was a half sister to the great sprinter Polar Falcon, sire of Pivotal.
Le Havre's damline is that of Blue Hen Barley Corn (8-c), ancestress of Arc hero Sassafras and a half sister to the ancestress of Last Tycoon.
Le Havre was a most elegant near black horse and Splash Back is like him in type, but is “splashed” with far more white than her sire.
Her grandsire Noverre was a top class miler, placing in nine G1 races and winning one of them, the Sussex Stakes. His son Le Havre was bred to be a great filly sire, and so he proved to be.
Although a G1 Classic winner, the stallion wasn't seen as a particularly commercial stud prospect - his sire Noverre had failed to live up to lofty expectations and ended up being shipped out to India.
Le Havre's first crop produced the dual G1 winner Avenir Certain and she was followed by Villa Marina, Quisisana and La Cressonniere, all French Classic winners.
There were further fabulous fillies - Wonderful Tonight, winner of the 2020 British Champion Fillies and Mares Stakes and another Prix de l’Opera for her sire, and the Shadwell Turf Mile winner Suedois.
Le Havre's progeny have been seen to advantage in Australia, with sons Auvray, Harbour Views and Eliyass winning multiple stakes races here.
Splash Back is his only black type winning daughter in Australia.
She carries the familiar linebreeding to Blue Hen Almahmoud via Danehill and Halo.
Native Dancer is sex balanced in Noverre's dam, and he descends from a daughter of Raise A Native.
Danehill provides the double of Native Dancer's greatest daughter Natalma, while Danehill Dancer's dam carried two Native Dancer sons, Atan and Dancer's Image.
Splash Back's damlines to Mr Prospector son Lycius, who sex balances Raise A Native, and to the little known Native Dancer son Takawalk - a classy short course sprinter in France who ended up at stud in Japan - are key.
The Tom Fool son Tompion sired Le Havre's third damsire Blue Tom (also a G1 winning sprinter in France) from the family of Ben Brush - the broodmare sireline of War Admiral, also carried by Native Dancer and doubled in Natalma - with yet another line added by Danzig.
Green Desert and Habitat are important here, with the first directly tracing to a War Admiral daughter and the second inbred to the family through his dam.
This also ties in beautifully with Blushing Groom's close relation Khaled, who sired champion Swaps - his daughter Iron Reward was by Beau Pere out of Iron Maiden by War Admiral - while Green Desert descends from Tulle, by War Admiral out of Iron Reward's half sister Judy Rae by Beau Pere.
The dam of Splash Black is linebred to Blue Hen Khara via half sisters Savage Beauty, grand dam of Habitat and Little Sphinx grand dam of Dancer's Image. The speed influence Khara is from the family of Nearco, and his daughter Noorani was the dam of Charlottesville who appears in the damlines of Le Havre.
Le Havre also has the influential Nijinsky son Isle De Bourbon tucked away in further removes. That sire is a relation of Lycius carried by Splash Back's dam - as well, he brings the great German sire Dschingus Khan (multiple lines of the 4-r family) - whose second damsire Allgau was by Ortello - another Ortello son was Torbido, and his daughter Sylvan is Splash Back's direct ancestress.
Jordy Childs is back aboard Splashy for this big G1 assignment and the dynamic duo will launch from barrier 4.
Roughie: SHADHAVAR
Well in the market, and contesting her first G1 race is the flying Shadhavar!
Here is yet another supremely fast daughter of Pride Of Dubai, and as we know all too well, when he gets a good mare they tend to be very good indeed.
The Tom Dabernig trained Shadhavar has been patiently brought along and like many of her breed, she is getting better and better with age. Now five, the mare has raced 19 times to date for 8 wins which include stakes victories in the Listed Regal Roller and Matrice Stakes, G2 Tristarc and her last start triumph in the G3 HKJC Stakes on Cup Day when she romped in by a blistering four lengths. She has also placed in 5 of her starts and boasts current earnings of $768,090.
No doubt this is a sprinter on the rise and she carries weight well too. I think she'll rise to the challenge here and prove extremely competitive.
Bred by China Horse Club, the typey chestnut was purchased by Prime Thoroughbreds for just $85,000 from the draft of The Chase at Magic Millions Adelaide, and what a seriously good buy she was.
Her dam is the winning Sebring mare Cross Legend, a half sister to the G2 Australia Stakes winning sprinter Thronum and stakes winner Cythera, and one of six winners - all her foals - bred from the imported US-bred Helena's Secret.
That mare was a daughter of Mount Helena ( Danzig x Blue Hen Helen Street) and thus a half sister to breedshaping sire Street Cry, his full sister Helsinki (dam of breedshaper Shamardal), Historian ( grand dam of undefeated champ Victor Ludorum) and Grecian Slipper ( ancestress of Territories)
Shadhavar is one of three to race and win from Cross Legend. Her talented year younger half brother Golden Cloud ( Russian Revolution) has won 4 of his 7 starts.
Cross Legend was on-sold in 2023 at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale for $80,000 to Noorilim Park Thoroughbreds.
She foaled a filly by Hanseatic last year and produced a colt this spring by the I Am Invincible son Move to Strike.
Shadhavar is bred
Blue Hen Helen Street 3m x 4f
Danehill 3f x 5m
Mr Prospector 4m x 6m,6f, 5m
Danzig 5m x 6m, 5f
Halo 5f x 5m
The first stakes winner inbred to the G1 Irish Oaks winning Helen Street appeared in 2012.
Since then, duplications of the remarkable daughter of Troy have proven extremely successful. Most of them have involved the meeting of her famous son Street Cry with her grandson Shamardal, a magic nick which also provides a sex balance of Machiavellian. As time passes we begin to see other permutations of inbreeding to this fine mare.
For Shadhavar’s ancestress Mount Helena by Danzig, it’s easy to see why the dual G1 winner Pride Of Dubai was chosen as her mate.
A son of Street Cry, he is out of a Danehill mare from Danzig’s own family (7a) who carries a son of close relation Rockefella.
This pedigree creates sex balanced lines of Northern Dancer, Never Bend, My Babu and more.
One of the most interesting aspects is sex balanced linebreeding to Blue Hen Banish Fear through daughter Not Afraid ( her son Prince John is damsire of Riverman) and son Cosmic Bomb (damsire of Halo) This family (14-f) is that of the sire Bounteous who got Pride Of Dubai's third dam Border Bounty. The third dam of Bounteous is a half sister to the grand dam of Banish Fear.
Both those damlines feature The Tetrarch, to whom the duplicated Almahmoud was bred 4f x 4m, while Helen Street was linebred to his close relations and three quarter brothers Royal Charger and Nasrullah, as well as family member Fair Trial. My Babu's damsire Badruddin is another close rellie in the mix!
The flying Shadhavar and Kerrin McEvoy will likely lead, and they'll try to run them a merry dance from barrier 2.
Blowout: WAR MACHINE (NZ)
War Machine has been a bit of an enigmatic character to follow, but there’s never been any doubt that he is an elite sprinter on his day.
The six year old son of Harry Angel achieved G1 glory when he rocketed to the line for trainers Ben,Will and JD Hayes to claim the 2025 Stradbroke Handicap.
He's contested an Everest and a Newmarket since then, in which he wasn't able to match it with the very best at 1200m.
At this distance, his record is excellent, being a four time winner and twice unplaced in six 1400m runs - both of them the G1 Sir Rupert Clarke in which bad barriers cruelled his chances in big fields.
The Harry Angel gelding has raced 21 times for 8 wins and 6 placings which have amassed upwards of $3.5 million in prize money.
War Machine has struck up a good partnership with Mark Zahra, who piloted him to his gutsy last start win in the G3 Moonga Stakes. His fourth up record is excellent.
The Lindsay Park trained galloper was touted as a genuine Everest horse after he earned his way into the field by winning half of his first fourteen starts.
Bred by MDJ Bloodstock Ltd, War Machine was offered for sale at both the NZB National Yearling Sales and the Ready To Run Sale via the Wallace family's Ardsley Stud, but failed to reach his $100,000 reserve on both occasions.
The big gelding went into training with Jim Wallace and won a trial by six lengths. Suddenly he was a hot commodity! War Machine was then privately purchased, and races for a big group of owners headed by Lindsay Park Bloodstock, with the Wallace family retaining an interest.
Though foaled in NZ, War Machine is out of the Aussie-bred 1000m winning mare Caserta, a daughter of the top notch broodmare sire Hussonet.
War Machine was Caserta's fourth foal and is her only stakes winner to date.
Her first two fillies Stolen Away (Shamus Award) and Stolen Innocence ( (Darci Brahma) were followed by colt Bourbon Falls (Sacred Falls)
After producing War Machine to Harry Angel, Caserta's filly Fleeting Spirit ( Per Incanto) was a $275,000 KPW Bloodstock Karaka buy and she was followed by colt Vanvitelli ( Darci Brahma) who has raced twice.
Caserta’s 2023 colt by Satono Aladdin is named Maxus Meridius and is yet to race.
The mare then travelled again to Australia to be covered by In The Congo, to whom she produced a filly bought for $300,000 by Stephen Marsh Racing / Dylan Johnson Bloodstock from Ardsley Stud at Karaka Book 1 this year.
Her 2025 foal was a filly by Per Incanto and she was covered by him again.
War Machine's second dam the USA-bred Duchesse De Berri (Diesis) was a stakes producer and as well as Caserta, daughter Absolute Lure also became a black type producer.
War Machine's damline could hardly be more topical as his next dam Berry Berry Good by Nijinsky son Shadeed was a three quarter sister to G1 Fillies Mile heroine Leap Lively by Nijinsky himself, who in turn became the dam of the legendarily tough racemare Forest Flower (G1 Irish 1,000 Guineas) - ancestress of one of the hottest stallions on the planet in 2026, Dubawi's Night Of Thunder!
War Machine's damline traces to the speedy American racemare and influential broodmare Bellesoeur by mighty Beau Pere.
Her third dam Tiara by Flying Orb was a three quarter sister to a champion filly of the European turf Diademe and a half sister to another Classic winner in the colt Diophon.
Tiara and her siblings are from the same female line (2-n) as Teddy, who was bred on the same Bend Or cross as they - and thus the combination appears in numerous individuals, including War Machine's ancestress Tivoli by Teddy.
War Machine is bred
Mr Prospector 5m x 3m
Sharpen Up 5f x 4m
The Mr Prospector blood comes via sons Machiavellian and Hussonet who both had Hoist The Flag as second damsires, and this pedigree also features linebreeding to Bold Ruler, My Babu and his family (notably Klairon) and Ribot ( Tom Rolfe, Graustark, Ragusa).
War Machine and Mark Zahra will deploy from barrier 5.
