On Saturday, the stakes action heads west, with Ascot hosting five stakes races led by the Group 1 Heineken 3-Railway Stakes (1600m).
The Iffraaj gelding Western Empire will go off an odds-on favourite to provide owners Bob and Sandra Peters, trainers Grant and Alana Williams, and jockey Willie Pike with a fourth consecutive win in the race.
Last seasons champion three-year-old Western Empire, rounded out his classic season with four consecutive stakes wins, Listed Lex Piper Stakes, Listed JC Roberts Stakes, Listed Melvista Stakes, and Group II WATC Derby, all at Ascot.
Western Empire took his winning sequence to five when making his four-year-old debut with a bloodless win in the Asian Beau Stakes (1400m) at Ascot on October 30.
The horse he beat that day, Notorious One, is one of two runners in the Railway for Chris and Michael Gangemi.
The battle-hardened Massimo is coming off a win in the Group II Lee Steere Stakes.
The 5yo son of Sessions has won nine and placed in ten of his 27 starts. Twelve of those have been in stakes races, winning three and placing in four. He knows his job and gets on with it.
Although he is a year older, Notorious One has had just 15 starts and only contested his first stakes race two starts back when second in the Listed Farnley Stakes at Belmont.
If Massimo is the ultimate professional, Notorious One is just the opposite. Described as a big dummy by his trainers and full of tricks by jockeys that have endured his antics, Notorious One's career on the track was almost over before it started.
He was lucky to survive when he impaled himself on a running rail at Northam in November 2019.
Coupled with his immaturity, the son of Animal Kingdom (USA) did not see a racetrack until he was a spring 5yo.
He carried the confidence of the stable when making a winning debut at Belmont and was odds-on when he backed that up on the same track twelve days later.
It has not been all plain sailing. Notorious One has drawn the ire of stewards on more than one occasion.
When he brushed inside running rail and became unbalanced in a race at Ascot in March, stewards ruled he would require a senior rider for future starts.
Still, there is no doubting the ability as his record of seven wins from 15 starts attests.
Bred by Arrowleave Joint Venture, Notorious One came from the second of four crops left by the 2011 Kentucky Derby and 2013 Dubai World Cup winner Animal Kingdom (USA).
Beginning his stud career at Arrowfield at a fee of $38,500, Animal Kingdom (USA) shuttled to Darley's Jonabell Farm in Kentucky before being sold to Japan.
Before the emergence of Zaaki (GB), Animal Kingdom (USA) put his sire Leroidesanimaux (BRZ) on the map in Australia.
While he failed to garner the support to make him commercially viable, Animal Kingdom (USA) did sire some top performers led by the ATC Australian Derby winner Angel Of Truth and the top-class Wild Planet.
Notorious One is the final foal of Feather Duster (End Sweep). This talented mare carried the Arrowfield colours to five wins from 18 starts and earned some valuable black-type when third in the Listed Matrice Stakes at Morphettville.
The star on the track for Feather Duster has been the 10-time winner and $705,000 earner She's Clean (Redoute's Choice), whose three stakes wins include the Group III Tibbie Stakes.
Chris and Michael Gangemi. also train Notorious One's stakes-placed half-brother Floyd (Not A Single Doubt), who has banked over $354,000 with seven wins.
The star of the team in the broodmare barn is the Sydney winning Dehere (USA) mare Cleanup, the dam of the remarkable Nettoyer. The daughter of Sebring turned her $20,000 purchase price at the 2015 Australian Easter Yearling Sale into a $2.6million windfall with wins at the highest level in the ATC Doncaster Handicap and Queen of the Turf Stakes.
At this year's Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, Nettyoer was purchased by Newgate Farm for $900,000.
Bromfield Park purchased Cleanup for $260,000 at the 2020 Inglis Chairman's Sale. She was carrying a filly from the first crop of The Autumn Sun, which will be in the Vinery Stud consignment heading to the Magic Millions in January.
Feather Duster is a half-sister to Kinshasa No Kiseki and to Catshaan (Catrail), the dam of AJC Australian Oaks heroine Absolutely, SAJC Schweppes Oaks winner Abbey Marie and Group III Geelong Cup winner Runaway.
Kinshasa No Kiseki is a fabulous success story.
The son of Fuji Kiseki (JPN) carries the (AUS) suffix. Born at Arrowfield Stud, Kinshasa No Kiseki was exported to Japan in 2005. Born to southern hemisphere time, he made just one start at two, winning a Newcomers race over 1200m at Nakayama.
At three, he won two of seven starts and was stakes-placed, and it was a similar story at four with two wins from five starts and stakes-placed.
At five, Kinshasa No Kiseki opened his stakes account in the Group III Hakodate Sprint Stakes and was runner-up in the Group 1 Sprinters Stakes and Group 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen.
At six, the son of Fuji Kiseki won the Group II Hanshin Cup and Group II Swan Stakes.
He was just warming up. At seven Kinshasa No Kiseki won the Group 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen, Group II Hanshin Cup, and Group III Ocean Stakes. He was runner-up in the Group 1 Sprinters Stakes on his way to be honoured as the 2011 JRA Best Sprinter or Miler.
As an 8yo Kinshasa No Kiseki defended his Takamatsunomiya Kinen crown. At his only other starts for the year, he was runner-up in the Group III Ocean Stakes.
The type of horse is usually shunned by the market in Australia but valued in Japan, where Kinshasa No Kiseki has been a perennial top twenty stallion.
Kinshasa No Kiseki is unlikely to be pining for his relatives in Australia. His dam Keltshaan (USA), followed him in 2007, and his niece, Absolutely, joined in 2017, while Abbey Marie made a quick visit to Japan in 2019 when visiting Deep Impact.
The result of that union was a filly, which sold for $900,000 to the bid of Dean Hawthorne at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale in April.
Named Jolted, she was sent to John Sargent and will carry the colours of Jonathon Munz's Pinecliff Racing.
