Sires With Winners - Sunday December 1

The late Wootton Basset was one of those stallions whose progeny can excel over all distances and he will have two runners in the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday and in the meantime we saw a taste of his merit as a staying sire at Randwick on Saturday when his French bred five year-old Wootton Verni (Fr) won the $750,000 Group III ATC Rosehill Gold Cup (2000m).

Derby Day! It's the race day for purists, when the biggest and best pedigrees tend to be on show, and their merits are tested over all distances.

The Future Starsday of the Breeders’ Cup meeting at Del Mar on Friday always looked as though it could put the spotlight on Australian bred sire Starspangledbanner, who had key runners in both the Group I Breeders’ Cup Turf Juvenile Colts (1m) and Juvenile Fillies (1m) and he duly delivered with exciting colt Gstaad.

Godolphin have an exceptional crop of three year-olds and two of their exceptional colts landed valuable G1 prizes at Flemingto on Saturday over distances of 1200m and 2500m.

The field and barrier draw has been decided for the Group I Melbourne Cup on Tuesday with favourite, and sole Australian bred entrant, Half Yours drawing in barrier eight.

Two weeks on from a luckless third in the A$20 million Gr.1 The Everest (1200m), Jimmysstar had a well-deserved moment in the spotlight with a dominant victory in Saturday’s A$3 million Russell Balding Stakes (1300m) at Randwick.

New Zealand syndicator Go Racing will be out to plunder the riches on offer at Randwick on Saturday, with their silks to be represented in two of the meeting’s key races.

With those same tearaway tactics that have made her one of Australian racing’s fan favourites in recent years, Trelawney Stud-bred mare Pride Of Jenni ran her rivals off their feet again at Flemington on Saturday and became the first two-time winner of the Gr.1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m).

After Ethical Diamond won the Ebor Handicap in August the obvious path was the Melbourne Cup but he did not meet strict veterinary requirements, so Irish trainer Willie Mullins bought a bell, and went to win the Group I Breeders Cup Turf with his seven time hurdler.

The ever-consistent Watch Me Rock nabbed one of only two golden tickets remaining into the G1 Railway Stakes, with a typically gutsy performance to take out the 1400m G3 Asian Beau in an Ascot thriller!