After years of frustration Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin operation finally-claimed the $7 million Group 1 Lexus Melbourne Cup with the northern hemisphere 3yo gelding Cross Counter (GB) and by any standard, this was one of the greatest performances in the storied history of the race.

Champion trainer Chris Waller won the Group I VRC Empire Rose Stakes on Saturday with Savabeel mare Shillelagh and was back in the winner’s circle at Flemington on Cup Day with another promising galloper by Waikato Stud’s champion sire.

Rugged front-runner Saint Emilion once again showed his penchant for the Ellerslie track when he led all the way to win the Group III OMF Stakes (2000m) on Tuesday.

Royally-bred Nordicus opened his winning account at his second start in a 1200 metre maiden at Randwick on Tuesday.

Driving rain and a dark misty morning at Flemington on Cup Day were hardly ideal conditions for the Group III VRC Bumble (Ottawa) Stakes (1000m)  with Australia’s champion sire Snitzel delivering the winner Bella Rosa trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.

Pedigree to create a horse with the genes to run two miles and a trainer capable of turning that talent into results are the key factors in Melbourne Cup success, so let’s take a look for the Top five on pedigree.

Darley have announced fees on their European roster for 2019 headed by champion sire Dubawi who stands at a fee of £250,000.

Zebedee (GB)  sired his 6th stakes winner on Sunday in the form of Group III winning filly Charline Royale.

There’s more to racing on Mebourne Cup Day than just the Cup with a hot field of two year-old fillies set to start the program in the Group III VRC Ottawa Stakes including last start stakes-winner Champagne Boom and the much hyped Sisstar, the full sister to Saturday’s Group I winner Sunlight.

Enable assured her place in history as one of the all-time greats when adding Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Turf to her Arc double but she was made to fight down the length of the Churchill Downs straight by the 3yo filly Magical, which ties in nicely with our Melbourne Cup tip.

Nine graded stakes races on Derby Day at Flemington highlighted by four Group I events makes this arguably the best day of racing in Australia, so what did we take from it from a bloodstock perspective apart from the blindingly obvious that Zoustar has arrived as a super sire of the future to rival Snitzel and I am Invincible for commercial sale ring superiority in 2019.

The O’Leary brothers won’t be the only New Zealand farmers cheering on a horse they own in Tuesday’s A$7 million Group 1 Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington.

gavelhouse Australia graduate Tavitaka broke her maiden on Friday over a mile at Kilmore for Jamie Edwards and having been bought in July for just $1,900, she’s already returned over $13,225 to her new connections.

Three year-old More Than Ready (USA) gelding Ultra Boost opened his account in South Africa on Sunday saluting at Greyville as favourite.

Aquis Farm enjoyed a sensational day at Flemington on Saturday sharing in the ownership of Victoria Derby hero Extra Brut and Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Sunlight as well as G1 place-getters Fundamentalist and Lean Mean Machine with Aquis owners Tony, Justin and John Fung all on hand to enjoy the rewards achieved from years of careful planning and investment in Australian bloodstock.

It is with both sadness and joy we announce Steve O’Connor has left to take up the role as Manager for prominent racing and breeding identity Sir Owen Glenn’s Go Bloodstock.

Evergreen kiwi stayer Who Shot Thebarman will attempt to make it fourth time lucky when he lines-up in the A$7m Group I  Lexus Melbourne Cup 3200m at Flemington on Tuesday.

Aquis Farm’s decision to buy into Domesday colt Extra Brut earlier this week paid immediate dividends when the 3YO won today’s Group 1 Victoria Derby at Flemington.

The champion Lonhro kick-started the Flemington Carnival on Saturday with two stakes-winners, Ranier and Aristia, however, at Rosehill all the talk was about Lonhro’s unbeaten son Roheryn.

After coming ever so close to siring his first winner with Miss West Coast at Belmont back on October 6, Oakland Park Stud’s first season sire Safeguard achieved that milestone when the Paul Jordon-trained Specialism made a winning career debut over 1100 metres at Ascot on Saturday.

While most 6yo daughters of Redoute’s Choice have started their broodmare careers that’s not the case for Bob Peters’ late bloomer Galaxy Star who opened her stakes account in Saturday’s Group III Asian Beau Stakes (1400m) at Ascot.

A historic win by Enable in the Breeders’ Cup Turf and a first Breeder's Cup winner for trainer John Sadler with the Lookin At Lucky (USA) 5yo Accelerate in the Breeders’ Cup Classic highlighted Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup programme at Churchill Downs.

Connections of the Sepoy filly Divine Quality had to suffer through five consecutive seconds from November last year to June this year, which may be the reason for the exuberant celebration when the Robbie Griffiths-trained mare exploded from the pack to run away with the Group III Furphy Sprint (1100m) (Begonia Belle Stakes) at Flemington on Saturday.

Godolphin will be sad to see 2018 come to end.

Supporters of the Chris Waller-trained Shillelagh closed their eyes and said a few Hail Marys as James McDonald navigated a perilous path between runners to power home in Saturday’s $500,000 Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington.

Earlier this week Aquis announced their purchase of a share in exciting Domesday colt Extra Brut and that decision paid big dividends when the three year-old powered to the line to score a stylish victory in the $2million Group I VRC Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington on Saturday.

A typically heady ride from top Central Districts jockey Johnathan Parkes paved the way for the ultra-consistent Five To Midnight to take out the Listed Ricoh Feilding Gold Cup (2100m) at Awapuni.

Third in the Herbert Power Stakes behind ruling Cup favourite Yucatan, the Charlie Fellowes-trained A Prince Of Arran (GB) needed to win Saturday's $300,000 Group III Lexus Stakes to earn a spot in next Tuesday's Melbourne Cup and he did just that.

Widden Stud's exciting young sire Zoustar always looked to have a strong hand in the Group I VRC Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on Saturday with three top chances and they delivered the dream result with a sensational win for Sunlight, the lone filly in the field over Zousain and Lean Mean Machine.

After Darley Stud’s great Lonhro sired the first two winners on Derby Day, the charismatic champion featured as the sire of the dam of the admirably honest Osborne Bulls winner of the $300,000 Group II The TAB Stakes (1200m) (Linlithgow Stakes) who may just have earned a trip to the World Cup meeting in Dubai next year.

Darley’s champion sire Lonhro was quick to make his mark on Derby Day with Ranier winning the Group III VRC Carbine Club Stakes to start the program and progressive three year-old filly Aristia following up to win the very next race, the Group II VRC Wakeful Stakes.

Fresh of a win with the Galileo filly Line Of Duty in Friday’s Gr I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Churchill Downs, Godolphin opened the Melbourne Cup Carnival at Flemington with the striking Lonhro colt Ranier saluting in the $200,000 Group III Carbine Club Stakes.

Three year-old Camelot (IRE) filly Welsh Harp opened her account when saluting as favourite at Greyville on Friday.

You don’t often see a Godolphin two year-old come out and blitz the opposition to win by five lengths, but that happened this morning at Rosehill with the half-brother to Group I stars Alizee and Astern.

Online auction website, Bloodstockauction is excited to offer the very first and only original and NSW ‘WINX’ number plates for auction! .

Bullet Train (GB) gelding Chapada will on Saturday bid to join Second Coming and Monaco Consul as winners of the Gr.

Australia's number one thoroughbred auctioneer Magic Millions has today announced that the 2019 Tasmanian Yearling Sale will now be conducted on MondayFebruary 25.

In a spate of announcements across Australia, State Governments have been declaring their support of the local racing and breeding industries in their respective States with rebates from taxes recently imposed on betting operations.

The $1million Group I VRC Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington on Saturday might be worth half as much as the Victoria Derby, but for a colt that can win this 1200 metre sprint, the prizemoney is a mere drop in the ocean compared to the future income he can generate at stud.

Swettenham Stud shuttler Toronado (IRE) posted his 20th first crop winner overnight with promising filly Listen to the Wind scoring at Lingfield in the UK.

After winning five of her 11 starts for trainers Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards, Shillelagh has added just two more wins from 17 starts for Chris Waller, but no doubt the least concerned about that stat are the mare’s owners and breeders, Christopher and Susanna Grace.

It seems hardly a week goes by that we don’t see winners for our exciting young classic type sires Dundeel and Fiorente (IRE), who both posted impressive maiden winners on Thursday at Gosford and Geelong.

Cranbourne trainers Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young know what it takes to win a GroupI VRC Derby (2500m).

Former Haunui Farm stallion Showcasing (GB) (Oasis Dream) is enjoying a break-out season in Europe in 2018.

The Group 2 winning filly ALJAZZI sold for a record-breaking 1,000,000 guineas at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale, breaking the previous record of 700,000 guineas sale of ELIZABETH BROWNING at this sale last year.

Group One winning mare Consensus will have the first run of her seven-year-old season in the Chesters Plumbing & Bathroom (1300m) at Tauranga on Saturday.

The Group I VRC Victoria Derby is worth a whopping $2 million making it the richest race for spring three year-olds in the country and with no Group I winners engaged it’s a field of up and comers doing battle including the favourite Thinkin’ Big, who may well progress to the Melbourne Cup if victory is his on Saturday.

This month marks New Zealand Bloodstock's Ready to Run Sale of Two-Year-Olds – an event that has become a 'must attend' for Australasia's and Asia's leading trainers and buyers.

Making his 44th trip to the races in Wednesday’s $350,000 Group III Jayco Bendigo Cup (2400m), the 6yo High Chaparral (IRE) gelding Red Alto had failed to hit the board nine times previously in stakes races, so it was no surprise when he went off a friendless $71 chance.

Talented Sebring filly Whiskey Shooter won on debut at Canterbury in January and was so impressive she was immediately dispatched to the Gold Coast for the Magic Millions 2YO Classic won by Sunlight - not sighted since then she reappeared at Randwick today.

A pair of blue-bloods fought out the finish of the 1400 metre maiden at Bendigo on Wednesday with an $800,000 Snitzel colt getting the better of the half-brother to Cox Plate winner and champion sire Savabeel.

With the breeding season in full swing, Swettenham Stud’s Toronado (IRE) and Highland Reel (IRE) are bringing a smile to the faces of stud masters and breeders around the country, thanks to their stallions performing brilliantly in the breeding shed.

Five lots sold for 300,000 guineas or more on the second day of the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale with Middle Eastern buyers dominating proceedings.

Talented four year-old Your Song mare Intothelimelight scored her third win when saluting at Kenilworth on Tuesday.

The Breeders Cup meeting this weekend at Churchill Downs brings together the very best horses in the Northern Hemisphere  and two year-old racing is a big part of the program with five events devoted to juveniles and many familiar sires to Australian breeders represented.

There’s been plenty of two year-old trials around the country in the past week, including some Easter yearlings that have made their way to Western Australia, so here are all the placegetters with breeding and sale details.

New recruit Smart Missile has been making all the news for Twin Hills Stud this spring, but the arrival of some stunning first foals by his barn mate Odyssey Moon has put the dashing young son of Snitzel firmly in the spotlight.

Three-quarter brothers Frankel and Bullet Train will both have runners in the Group I VRC Victoria Derby on Saturday.

Four juvenile heats at Randwick on Tuesday featured winners for Hinchinbrook, Smart Missile, Not a Single Doubt and Medaglia D’Oro (USA), who is the sire of a Turangga Farm homebred filly with a bright future.

World Champion Jockey Hugh Bowman has donated his breeches worn on Champion mare Winx to the National Jockeys Trust, after winning a historic fourth Cox Plate.

The Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale is underway with champion trainer Chris Waller striking on day one to secure promising three year-old Mr Reckless for 240,000 guineas.

Cox Plate Day at Moonee Valley had everything - anticipation, adrenalin and at the end of it all there were tears of joy as Winx raced into history with a fourth Cox Plate win, so what did we take out of this from a bloodstock perspective – how to breed another Winx, the best advertising a stud can have and some more genetic magic.

Sun Stud’s decision to gamble on Melbourne Cup and Australian Cup winner Fiorente (IRE) is a decision that might pay big dividends with the son of champion German sire Monsun posting four winners in the past four days from his first crop of three year-olds.

The passing of Nothin' Leica Dane has touched a chord with our audience including Bobby Barter, who had a soft spot for the Victoria Derby hero of 1995 and wrote this poem after staying as a guest of the late Martin Hawcroft and his wife Jenny at Byerley Stud in 2011.

On what will go down as one of the greatest days in Australian racing history, a filly bred and trained in Tasmania stood up and made herself known at Moonee Valley.

The European flat racing season is drawing to a close with the last Group I juvenile races of the year in England and France both won by colts sired by Green Desert’s champion son Invincible Spirit.

After the half-brothers Doubt Defying and Group II Roman Consul Stakes winner Sesar won at Randwick back on October 6, Brisbane-based trainer Steve O’Dea continued his profitable southern with Doubt Defying earning his first stakes win in Sunday’s $200,000 Listed Sale Cup (1600m).

Easter filly Espaaniyah is the first horse eligible to claim the new $3m Inglis Triple Crown following her win in the Inglis Banner at The Valley – and the lure of the bonus appears it could prove too strong for connections to dismiss.

Cambridge Stud proprietors Brendan and Jo Lindsay dominated proceedings at Ellerslie on Saturday with three individual winners before signing off their red-letter day with a Group Three victory for a member of their broodmare band at Trentham.

Exuberant (NZ) (Savabeel) became the first stakes winner for the new-look Karaka Book 1 Sale when he made a winning debut in Saturday’s $50,000 Listed Hanley Formula Wellesley Stakes (1000m) at Trentham.

Thoroughbred Breeders Queensland Association President Basil Nolan welcomes the State Government’s $26 million in funding for thoroughbred racing.

Fourth at Doomben when making her career debut three weeks back, the Toby Edmonds-trained filly Betaima scored a bloodless four and three-quarter length win over 1000 metres at the Sunshine Coast on Sunday to credit her sire Better Than Ready with his second winner.

As far as imports go, Ventura Storm (IRE) would rate highly on his overseas form with a Group 1 win in Italy and a Group 1 second in the historic St Leger at Doncaster, yet it took 17 starts to break his maiden in Australia, which came in Saturday’s Group II Moonee Valley Gold Cup (2500m).

Bob Scarborough may have sold his showpiece Wood Nook Farm in Nagambie but the former Moonee Valley Racing Club chairman is still making his presence felt in the breeding world.

The Peter and Dawn Williams trained I Am Invincible filly Media Sensation cemented her claims for next month’s Group I Gavelhouse New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton with a stylish victory at Ellerslie.

With the crowd still buzzing after the record-breaking fourth Cox Plate victory of Winx, Sun Stud’s Melbourne Cup hero Fiorente (IRE) chose a good time to record his first stakes-winner when Robbie Laing’s Victoria Derby bound colt Stars Of Carrum broke his maiden in the $200,000 Moonee Valley Vase (2040m).

What a beautiful scene, before an adoring crowd roaring themselves hoarse at Moonee Valley, the incomparable Winx rounded the home turn poised to create history as the first 4-time winner of Australia's Weight For Age Championship, the $5 million Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m).

Champion trainer Darren Weir has better horses in his stable than Cliff’s Edge but few with a bigger heart.

Progressive mare Dark Princess continued her rise up the ranks with her first victory at stakes level when successful in Saturday’s Group III Gee & Hickton Thompson Handicap (1600m) at Trentham.

Tasmanian-bred filly Mystic Journey earned her third stakes win with a typically courageous performance in Saturday’s $200,000 Group II Aquis Farm Fillies Classic (1600m) at Moonee Valley.

Te Akau Racing capped off a strong day at Riccarton on Saturday with a brave win by Swing Note in the Listed Christchurch Casino Spring Classic (2000m).

Champion trainer Chris Waller already has two Group winning colts in the stable by his former champion Zoustar in Zousain and Lean Mean Machine and added a third at Moonee Valley on Saturday when Charge scored a bold front running victory in the Group III MVRC 1300 Australia Stakes.

The Tony McEvoy-trained filly Beauty kept her record at a perfect three for three when coming from midfield to capture Saturday’s Listed William Crockett Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley.

A decade after the St Covet mare God Love It produced the Magic Millions 2yo Classic heroine and multiple stakes-winner Mimi Lebrock, God Love It foaled the Group III BRC Grand Prix Stakes winner and Group 1 QLD Derby runner-up Heavenly Thought whose year younger half-sister Shoko joined the fray with an all the way win in Saturday’s Group III Tesio Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley.

Mossfun and Estijaab have carried the green and white Emirates Park silks to victory in the Golden Slipper in recent years and on the strength of the win by the I Am Invincible filly Espaaniyah in Saturday’s $500,000 Inglis Banner (1000m) at Moonee Valley they will have a major say in the richest juvenile race on turf in 2019.

Japanese-bred, Australian-owned and trained Brave Smash (JPN) ran down the US-bred, Irish-trained Spirit Of Valour (USA) and Godolphin’s local hope Kementari in a thrilling renewal of the $1 million Group 1 Ladbrokes Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley on Friday night.

Sent out the second favourite on the strength of an impressive barrier trial win at Warwick Farm, the John O’Shea-trained Intrepidacious made every post a winner under Tye Angland in Friday night’s 2YO Fillies Maiden (1100m) at Canterbury to become the first winner for Darley Stud’s Caulfield Guineas winner Shooting To Win.

Ben and Lizzie Cooper's Merricks Station has certainly been getting some important visitors at their immaculately appointed property of late and while it may not have been Harry and Meghan, they did recently host the First lady of Racing, Gai Waterhouse for a royal tour of their Mornington Peninsular acreage.

At the Melbourne Spring Carnival two year’s ago, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott took the wraps off a future topliner in Invincible Star in the Group III VRC Ottawa Stakes and they will be hoping for a similar result when another daughter of I Am Invincible kick-starts her career in Saturday’s $500,000 Inglis Banner (1000m) at Moonee Valley.

Brilliant Zoustar filly Sunlight takes on the older sprinters in the Group I MVRC Manikato Stakes tonight and in an omen for good fortune to come, her dam Solar Charged has delivered her seventh consecutive foal at Widden Stud.

Three year-old Stratum filly Markle makes her debut in New Zealand today at Pukekohe Park, which does make you wonder if Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, will be making a side trip to a TAB on their travels today.

Spendthrift Australia, in conjunction with Fulmen Park Longwood, has come up with an exciting offer for breeders called the “Spendthrift 50 Day Deal”, the farm announced today.

A step up in distance proved just what this daughter of Champion 3YO Dundeel as looking for at Ballarat on Thursday.

Sad news from Byerley Stud this week with the announcement former great racetrack warrior and Group I sire Nothin’ Leica Dane was put down last Sunday at age 26.

The foals keep coming into to our 2018 Breednet Foal Gallery with this new addition likely to become a half-brother to a Group I winner next Saturday if all goes to plan in the Group I VRC Victoria Derby.

gavelhouse graduate Kauri Cove provided a special milestone win for Kelvin and Aimee Tyler’s newly minted father/daughter training partnership at Winton last week.

Harry Angel, the record-breaking World Champion sprinter at three and the best by Dark Angel, will become the highest-rated sprinter to retire to stud in Britain for more than 30 years when he stands at Dalham Hall Stud in 2019.

A cautiously excited Michael Pitman has been given the green light from his surgeon to travel to Melbourne on Friday to watch Savvy Coup contest the Group I Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley.

As he admired a plucky chestnut foal who arrived on October 11, 2010 Justin Lovatt dreamed of good things as all breeders of the thoroughbred do, but never did he imagine just how big a journey this horse would take him on.

Leading thoroughbred racing and breeding figures have today launched Thoroughbred Industry Careers- a not for profit organization seeking to safeguard the long-term future of the billion dollar industry by strengthening its reputation amongst the young and making it an employer of choice for future generations of Australians.