A capacity Railway field will line up for the first G1 of the Pinnacles Carnival of 2025 and as usual it's a cracker, with 16 runners (4 emergencies) engaged for Ascot's famous feature mile!
Click here to read more on the history of this $1.5million feature first run in 1887!
A couple of possible showers on the day should not affect the track much if they do arrive, as Perth has avoided most of the stormy weather in the west this week, and a genuine Good 4 is most likely.
So, who are the weapons deployed from the east this year?
Born Baker has brought Iowna Merc (Winning Rupert) and he's not here as a mere travel buddy for the mighty Overpass.
The Merc is set to peak at his fourth run of this campaign, and was going well until outclassed by Jimmysstar and Co last start. Some query on him at 1600m and he doesn't seem that well favoured at the weights, but has drawn a decent gate and has Shaun McGruddy in the saddle to help his cause.
The Waller juggernaut rolls into town with the classy Osipenko, a son of Pierro (who has already sired a Railway Stakes winner)
The six year old gelding returned from a month off with a great win at Randwick carrying 62kg, and drops down to 55 here.
He has run well, though without placing around the likes of Pericles and Antino who would be very short odds if they lined up here.
Osipenko’s career highlight at this distance was his third to Mr Brightside at G1 WFA level at Flemington 1600m - but that was in 2023. He also placed in the Caulfield Guineas as a three year old.
He has drawn terribly and I can’t help but think he might be better suited in the 1800m of the Northerly Stakes, but the genius of Chris Waller can never be underestimated!
Annabel and Rob Archibald attempt to win cheeky consecutive Railways with Depth Of Character ( Deep Field) after the heroics of Port Lockroy last year - and this horse comes in off the same preparation with a good run in the Golden Eagle - fourth behind Autumn Glow and Sepals reads pretty well!
Depth Of Character drops to just 53.5, and he is a proven miler, but the barrier gods have been most cruel. Reece Jones will have to pull out a Railway ride for the ages if the gelding is to figure in the finish.
The local hopes are spearheaded by favourite Watch Me Rock. The ultra consistent son of Awesome Rock has done everything asked of him to date and I'm sure he'll run well again. He also drops in weight.
However, I don't like the barrier for him at all in this - even with the magical talents of Willie “rails run” Pike in the saddle - and though his form is very solid and he is super genuine, is he quite as classy as some of his rivals? We will find out. I reckon he is slightly under the odds due to the Pike factor.
Rejuvenated Western Empire (Iffraaj) won this race for Bob Peters - but that was four years ago! This amazing old warrior is a happy horse again, now that he's back in the west with his original trainers, who have ownership of him these days. But he's got to carry 58kg and as a backmarker barrier 1 is not his friend.
Western Empire is pure class but I find it hard to envisage him defying history to win.
Owner/breeder Bob Peters takes aim at Railway trophy number seven with Diamond Scene, a son of the late great So You Think. Lightly raced and kept fresh for this big assignment, the handsome gelding has drawn well and can go forward - as he did when winning the G3 Eurythmic Stakes first up in very impressive fashion!
Super Smink (Super One) is a little bobbydazzler. She never runs a bad race, came from last to run third in the Railway of 2024 (with 53kg) and won the Lee Steere which is usually the best form guide to this. She’s got to carry 56 this time from barrier 15, ironically it's the same gate she drew last year! but the extra weight makes it pretty tough.
The horse Super Smink beat in the Lee Steere was her stablemate In Good Order (American Pharoah) and he's the one I'm most nervous about leaving out of my picks!
He's a big, imposing horse this fellow, and has taken time to mature - although we associate his Triple Crown winning sire primarily with stayers, In Good Order seems very effective at a mile, is great second up, drops from 59 to 55 kg and draws barrier 2 . He's at much longer odds than Sminky - but I reckon he is the better chance of the two and have got him finishing top five.
Four year old mare Storyville (Overshare) is stablemate to the favourite and backs up from a good win, has a featherweight on her back and is a classy conveyance who won her ticket into the race with a devastating win over the boys in the G2 WA Guineas last season.
Then we get to the trusty warhorse brigade - there's Magnificent Andy (Magnus) - you know he'll run well. It would be a victory for the ages if the old boy could get up, and he's going as well as he was last year when less than two lengths from the winner.
Let's Galahvant (Galah), 2023 Railway hero Bustler (Playing God), Railway fixture Comfort Me (Playing God), and to a lesser extent Sentimental Hero (Al Maher) and Ginger Baker (Gingerbread Man) - these hardy veterans are capable of outrunning their odds. They're all horses you'd love to own and they've all had their moments of glory over the journey, often while carting far more weight than they'll be carrying around in this.
Ditto the bonny grey mare Admiration Express (My Admiration) who almost caused the boilover of the decade in last year's Northerly Stakes!
It’s a great race we have before us.
Top Tip: STORYVILLE
She's a bit of a ratbag this girl, but on the plus side that’s not an uncommon trait amongst elite race mares!
Storyville definitely showed that elite quality last season. I think a strongly run mile is exactly what she is looking for to produce a peak performance this preparation.
She beat the boys in the 2024 WA Guineas with a big finish off an absolutely frantic pace, and that earned her the golden Railway ticket!
This mare doesn’t want to be faffing about with any stop / start affair - and hopefully this won’t be one.
I like that she’s drawn in the middle of the field and can find plenty of room, because she is a big striding horse that can get to racing a bit ungenerously when cluttered up.
Storyville tuned up for this, her biggest assignment to date, with her win in the RJ Peters Stakes last Saturday.
The general view seems to be that it wasn't an overly spectacular Railway trial, which may be true, but all they can do is win - and as co- trainer Grant Williams said after the race, the four year old daughter of Overshare went around because she needed “the edge” taken off her.
Grant and Alana are great trainers. They bred the mare, they know her inside out and I'm putting faith in their planning as to how they've gone about getting their high strung, high performance athlete to peak for this big day.
Storyville beat some very good horses in the Peters that were going all out to get a Railway berth - Cosmic Crusader, Bonjoy, Luvnwar.
The gifted Storyville has 5 wins and 3 placings from her 14 starts for earnings of $657,840 - she gets her chance to top up those winnings handsomely, and more importantly gets her chance to claim the coveted title of G1 winner and enhance her considerable value as a breeding prospect!
A half-sister to stakes-placed winners Crescent City (Fiorente) and Axeman's Jazz (Dundeel), Storyville is the fourth winner from five to race for the unraced Time Thief mare New Orleans, a half-sister to seven-time stakes winner Battle Hero (Stratum).
New Orleans has produced three fillies in a row since foaling Storyville in 2021.
In 2023 came a full sister to Storyville by Overshare, followed by a 2022 Toronado daughter and a Pride Of Dubai filly this season.
There could be some exciting times ahead with those girls!
Storyville's second dam is the NZ bred O'Reilly mare Fromm, grand dam of the WA Guineas winning filly Treasured Star (Toronado) - that mare is owned by Peters Investments and had her first foal this spring by superstar Anamoe - guess what, it's a filly!
This classy female line goes back to the stakes winning Pakistan daughter Georgina Belle (a branch of family 7-d) and its taproot mare is the imported Eleusis (GB) - Storyville descends from her VRC Oaks winning daughter Eleusive.
Storyville is very closely related to 4x G1 winner and champion mare Probabeel and to G1 Flight Stakes winning / Spring Champion Stakes runner up Never Been Kissed.
What a family!
Storyville is bred
Danzig 5m, 5m x 5m
Danehill 4m x 4m,5m
Redoute's Choice 3f x 3m sex balanced
Canny Lad 4f,5f x 5f
And this is the kind of intense inbreeding / linebreeding that usually only works to best effect when you’ve got a damline of this quality.
Redoute's Choice and his sons have had a profound impact on the Railway Stakes results over the years.
Something about this high pressure mile seems to bring out the best of that great blood, and Storyville has a double dose of it.
Canny Lad's daughter Elite Belle won the Railway for Bob Peters in 2014.
Overshare's G1 winning daughter Lady Laguna ( sold for $2.5 million at Magic Millions National Broodmare this year ) was an exceptional mare in open G1 company, and I'm betting Storyville can graduate to that elite level as well.
The royally bred Overshare won at G3 level but - like his sire I Am Invincible - he went on to sire far better performers than himself, primarily fillies.
His immediate family is that of Japanese champions and sires Epiphaneia and Leontes, the French G1 winning mare Anna Pavlova and European Champion Older Horse and dual G1 winner Fascinating Rock.
Despite a regal pedigree Overshare wasn’t commercial enough in the Australian market, and the stallion was exported to Indonesia in June 2025.
Can his fiery daughter, with her distinctive high head carriage and mighty stride, give him a second G1 winner in Australia?
Fred Kersley flies home to take the ride on Storyville, and the dynamic duo will jump from barrier 13.
Next best: DIAMOND SCENE
Despite his undoubted prowess as a stayer, the lightly raced Diamond Scene - a son of the mighty So You Think, who was adept at passing on that turn of foot he inherited from his legendary sire High Chaparral - looks well suited to a Railway Stakes when on the fresh side, as he is here.
Six year old Diamond Scene has now won 9 of his 18 lifetime starts and his first up Eurythmic Stakes victory was his first Group win, but the talented galloper collected two Listed victories in the Luckygray and A.T.A Stakes last season before his gallant G2 Perth Cup second.
Diamond Scene is a homebred for Bob and Sandra Peters, and his dam is the stakes placed Zabeel mare Jewelled.
Now retired from breeding duties, Jewelled was bred in NZ by Sir Patrick and Lady Hogan in partnership with Bloomsbury Stud.
All her seven foals to race have been winners, and notably Diamond Scene's G3 WA 1,000 Guineas winning half sister Adornment (Medaglia d'Oro) is her other black type earner.
Adornment is retained by Peters Investments. Her 2022 colt by Wootton Bassett named Arrangement recently placed in a Lark Hill Trial, and she has two colts on the ground by St Mark's Basilica.
The patiently handled Diamond Scene is trained by Michael Grantham and has earned $753,133 to date carrying the famous cerise and white silks of Peters Investments.
Diamond Scene is bred
Northern Dancer 4m,5m x 5m,5m
Blue Hen Special 5f x 5m sex balanced
Round Table 5f x 5f
He is bred on So YouThink's most prolific nick, that formed with mighty Zabeel.
30 winners and 7 Stakes winners are bred on this cross.
They are Think It Over, Nimalee, Midnight Blue, Asathought, Political Debate, Diamond Scene and Revelare.
So You Think's G1 Stradbroke Hcp winner Think About It also had Zabeel as his second damsire!
Diamond Scene and Revelare are two of four stakes winners of the 25/26 season for Coolmore's champion son of High Chaparral, who sadly passed away on the eve of the 2025 Cox Plate.
Diamond Scene hails from a most illustrious female line.
His second dam, the winning Chief's Crown daughter Tbaareeh is a very close relation to the champion sire and influential broodmare sire Grand Lodge, who descends from Filligrana and Tbaareeh from her half sister Good As Gold, the two of them being progeny of GB Champion 2YO Filly Gamble In Gold.
But Tbaareeh is even more closely related to champion sire Tavistock!
Tbaareeh's dam Eye Drop by Irish River was one of several stakes winning daughters from Pushy (Sharpen Up) - a G2 Royal Ascot winner and placed in the G1 Cheveley Park Stakes.
Pushy was a half sister to Pedestal (Reform), the grand dam of Tavistock.
Interestingly, that son of Montjeu was a great sprinter himself - and has sired top tier sprinter milers like recent G1 Champions Mile hero Ceowulf, as well as the fantastic stayers you'd expect with his pedigree.
Tavistock x Zabeel has given us G1 winners like Werther, Snazzytavi, Tarzino, Pinarello, Toffee Tongue and Johnny Get Angry.
Diamond Scene's dam Jewelled is also a close relation to Bart Cumming's grand old G2 winning stayer Precedence - who earned more than $2m on the track, ran in four Melbourne Cups and finished top 10 in three of them!
There is a lovely nick formed with Diamond Scene's sex balanced linebreeding to Blue Hen Special - her dam Thong is bred on very similar lines to Mrs Moss, the sixth dam of Diamond Scene, and this is a great speed / class enhancing pattern.
Diamond Scene is also linebred to Sharpen Up, and sex balanced to that sire’s damsire Rockefella.
Linebreeding to Secretariat / Sir Gaylord is another feature of this pedigree, while So You Think's sixth damsire, the legendary Foxbridge, is from the wider family of Diamond Scene himself.
Will it be glory to the cerise and white again in 2025?
Diamond Scene and Clint Johnston - Porter have drawn ideally in barrier 3.
Roughie: COMFORT ME
As crowd favourite Skybeau once was to the Melbourne Cup, so 9YO Comfort Me is to the Railway Stakes!
The wonderful son of Playing God will contest his fifth Railway on Saturday.
He's been runner up three times - last year, and in 2022 / 2021 - with a 7th placing in 2023. He was a little bit unlucky not to win last year, obtaining a very late split to go very close to knocking off Port Lockroy!
The incredible fact is that the old fellow is going as well as he ever has, coming in off two great lead up runs.
Jockey Holly Watson only started her relationship with Comfort Me early in 2024 when he beat Railway rivals Super Smink and Magnificent Andy to win the G3 Eurythmic Stakes last season. That was his first stakes win! albeit he had been seven times stakes placed and twice G1 placed in his career.
He loves Holly, he goes great for her and she is a very skilled front running rider.
The stakes breakthrough was a long time coming for Comfort Me and his proud owner-breeders Frank and May Edwards.
They bred their gallant old campaigner from the winning Comfy (USA) daughter Southern Comfort, and he was her last foal. His year older full brother Son Of Bacchus was placed in multiple Stakes races as well.
From 53 lifetime starts Comfort Me has won 8 races and placed 16 times for more than $1.7 million in prizemoney.
What a credit he is to his trainer Rhys Radford, who won the 2017 Railway Stakes for Dr and Mrs Edwards with their Magnus gelding Great Shot.
Comfort Me was a second crop foal for his now longtime champion sire Playing God, and was conceived off a $4,400 service fee. Those were the days!
That crop numbered just 28 foals and was headed by G1 Kingston Town Classic winner Kay Cee.
Playing God son Bustler won the Railway Stakes of 2023, and he will contest the great race again on Saturday for the Neville Parnham stable.
Comfort Me is bred
Northern Dancer 5m x 5m
Danzig 4m x 5f sex balanced
He is a grandson of Wild Scenario by the great Scenic and a great grandson Wild Spirit by Marooned, a full sister to multiple stakes producer Marooned And Wild. Their dam was the stakes winning Haulpak daughter Wild Touch.
This branch of “ the running family”, Family1 is one of the oldest in the Studbook (1-a) which goes back to Bonny Lass, a daughter of the Darley Arabian mare.
Holly Watson will become WA's first female G1 winning jockey if Comfort Me wins the Railway. What an incredible story it would be! Can the evergreen old marvel do it?
They will get a great run from barrier six!
Blowout: ADMIRATION EXPRESS
She will start at a triple figure price but I really do give this mare a genuine chance of putting herself in the picture when the whips are cracking!
This time last year the popular grey Admiration Express (My Admiration) nearly caused a massive boilover when she charged home at odds of 100/1 in the G1 Northerly Stakes for second behind Victorian raider Light Infantry Man.
Now a six year old, the 2023 WA Champion Fillies / 1,000 Guineas heroine went without another stakes win until winter this year, when she made light work of the Heavy 9 conditions to comfortably win the G3 Strickland Stakes over 2000m at Pinjarra Park.
She has only had 26 starts, has won 4 and placed in 10 for earnings of $892,590.
The key is that she is third up, as she was in the Northerly off two uninspiring runs back from a spell - it's her peak run, and she Is a 2 x G3 winning miler even if she can stay a longer trip!
Admiration Express was a $60,000 purchase for her trainer Jason Miller from the Namerik Thoroughbreds draft at the 2021 Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale and is from 5-time winning Verglas mare Comme Ci who has been an excellent producer and Verglas was a champion miler.
There is a little bit of Australian turf infamy attached to this family!
The third dam of Admiration Express, Miss Personality, was also the dam of good galloper Bold Personality, the famous “ring-in” horse for the (vastly less talented) Fine Cotton in an Eagle Farm betting plunge gone awry - the resulting scandal sent shockwaves through the sport in the 1980s.
Miss Personality was a top race mare having won the AJC Reginald Allen and STC Fillies And Mares Classic - now the G1 Coolmore Classic
Admiration Express is bred
Northern Dancer 4m x 5m
Mr Prospector 5f x 5f
Admiration Express is one of two stakes-winners for the Encosta De Lago stallion My Admiration,( the other is the dual Listed winning mare Cryptic Love)
My Admiration has the services of gun hoop Lucy Fiore ( also aiming to become WA's first female jockey to win a G1!) and the bonny mare carries just 53.5kg from barrier 8.
