Seventh Group 1 this season for Via Sistina

There were some short prices on the card at Randwick with the cream rising to the top. The horse racing bookmakers will have been hoping to have got more of the short-priced ones beaten as the punters had the better of the battle.

The big race of the day on Saturday at Randwick was the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. One of four Group 1 races on the afternoon, it saw a record-equalling run from Via Sistina as Chris Waller’s mare added another big race to her career tally.

Seven Group 1 wins this season for Via Sistina

Australian horse racing has seen many superstar mares down the years. Via Sistina is the latest in a long time, putting her name in the record books on Saturday after tying the record that Winx set of winning seven Group 1 races in a single season.

By anyone's standards, it is a remarkable number. For any horse to win a single Group 1 is an achievement, to win seven is rarified air, to land those all within one season of racing marks her down as one of the best that we have seen on the track.

Chris Waller was talking about another season from her prior to the race. What the plan will be now is going to be interesting as her value as a broodmare to Yulong will be huge but she clearly still loves her racing and is still one of the best in the country!

Moment to treasure for Yulong

It was a special afternoon for the Yulong team as they also saw Tresurethe Moment landing the Australian Oaks. It was a third Group 1 win for the three-year-old filly as she took her career record to nine wins and two second-place finishes from 11 starts.

She had to work hard to get the job done with the front pair always a little closer to the steady pace than she was. That made them hard to run down but she has shown that she has both the gears and the attitude to get her head in front where it matters.

Fangirl is Queen of the Turf

It had been a case of close but no cigar so far this season in Group 1 company for Fangirl. She needs things to drop her way and the return to race against her own sex after taking on the boys was all that she needed to add a fourth Group 1 win for her career.

Her success took her past the $10 million mark in prize money won so far in her career. That is due reward for her consistency. She has won 11 of her 33 career starts and has only finished out of the first three once in her last 10 starts. Chris Waller’s six-year-old remains one of the top performers over 1600m.

Arapaho king of the roughies

Bjorn Baker and Rachel King combined to take out the Sydney Cup with Arapaho. The veteran has been running well all season over shorter distances and relished the return to a 3200m contest. He was a $20 winner with none of the first eight past the post shorter than $16.

It was only the second Group 1 win in his career but he has more than held his own at that level throughout his time on the track. The first had come in the 2023 Tancred ahead of a run in the Sydney Cup where he finished fourth. Those runs were reversed this year, fourth in the Tancred before a Sydney Cup win.

An incredible afternoon at Randwick for Yulong with both Via Sistina and Treasurethe Moment saluting for them in Group 1 races. The quality of future broodmares they have is incredible for another generation of stars to take on the betting sites.