By Brian de Lore
Published 21 February 2019
The long-awaited re-appearance of The Autumn Sun in Saturday’s group two $400,000 Hobartville Stakes on Saturday may be symbolic in that it heralds the ushering-in of the new champion, as the reigning champion moves closer towards the lowering of the curtain on the most glamourous racing career in thoroughbred history.
Three more races for Winx and that curtain will finally will be down, but just as champion trainer Chris Waller may have been hopeful of a reprieve from the pressure of training a winning sequence not to be broken, the next best horse appears ready to step-up onto the mantle she will vacate.
Outside of Winx there’s no denying The Autumn Sun is the most exciting racehorse in Australasia. After just six starts which includes five wins including three at group one level, he is easily rated the top three-year-old in the country.
In winning the Gr. 1 Caulfield Guineas in October at his sixth start, The Autumn Sun was Timeform rated at 126, an assessment attained by only three other winners in the history of that illustrious race including New Zealand’s Three-Year-Old Champion of 1995-96 in Our Maizcay, and Australian Horse of the Year and Champion Three-Year-Old male Weekend Hustler in the 2007-08 season.
Some of the biggest thoroughbred names in the history of Australian racing have won the Caulfield Guineas including The Autumn Sun’s own sire Redoubt’s Choice in 1999. Others include Manikato, Vain, Sobar, Mahogany, Beechcraft, Storm Queen, Red Anchor, Dual Choice, Rajah Sahib, Tulloch, Luskin Star, Grosvenor, Sovereign Red, Grand Cidium, Lonhro and Surround.
But none of the household names above have matched The Autumn Sun’s time of 1.35.5, and with the weight-scale lifted from 55.5kg to 56.5kg around 10 years ago he carried an extra kilogram. In addition, he sat three deep the entire journey and won easing down by four and a half lengths, the second biggest margin in history.
Very few horses have ever achieved three group one successes within the first six starts of their career. A fortnight prior to the Caulfield Guineas the colt had put in a scintillating last to first performance in the Gr. 1 Golden Rose at Rosehill, and before that at his final start as a two-year-old won the Gr. 1 J.J Atkins at Doomben beating Zousain which he also relegated to second in the Golden Rose.
After the Golden Rose Waller said, “This horse has amazing potential and I feel we have unearthed only a small portion of what is to come. His athleticism, temperament, good looks and speed combine to create a horse that dominated at two and now into his three-year-old season, and I have no doubt this will continue as a later three-year-old and beyond.”
Athletic he was but at 480kg he was far from the heaviest spring three-year-old. His natural ability combined with a Winx-like temperament has been to the fore in his so far brief career but now as an autumn horse the physical development will be evident at Rosehill on Saturday. He has furnished and strengthened and is now closer to 500kg.
The colt’s only career defeat came in the Gr.2 Stan Fox Stakes. That race was over 1400m at Rosehill in September on a heavy track at his first three-year-old start and was first-up after a spell of three months. He was beaten into third place by Tarka and Dealmaker, 1.4 lengths from the winner.
Saturday’s Hobartville Stakes sees The Autumn Sun as one of only nine entries with a benchmark rating of 110. Nearest on the ratings is the 88-rated Gem Song which won the Gr.3 Eskimo Prince two weeks ago, with most the other top colts apparently avoiding the race for obvious reasons. The $1 million Randwick Guineas is earmarked as his second start back but beyond that no further plans have been made.
The Autumn Sun was jointly bred by Arrowfield Stud and The Aga Khan Studs and was sold at the 2017 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale where he was selected by Mulcaster Bloodstock and then purchased by Chris Waller and Hermitage Thoroughbreds for $700,000. In October prior the running of the Caulfield Guineas John Messara AM bought a half share back for Arrowfield Stud for an undisclosed sum.
The astute Messara recognised The Autumn Sun for his stallion potential, and particularly as a replacement for the now 22-year-old Redoubt’s Choice, himself a son of the incomparable Danehill which Messara bought for Arrowfield Stud as long ago as 1989 – a decision that changed the face of Australian breeding and began a new dynasty.
The Autumn Sun is out of the Galileo mare Azmiyna, a half-sister to His Highness The Aga Khan’s European Champion and fourtime Group 1 winner Azamour. Selected by Mulcaster Bloodstock from Arrowfield’s 2017 Inglis Easter draft, the colt was purchased for $700,000 by Hermitage Thoroughbreds & Chris Waller Racing.
