Chris Waller‘s unbeaten filly Autumn Glow is already odds-on in Flight Stakes 2024 betting for the Group 1 on October 5 following her brilliant win in the Group 2 $300,000 Tea Rose Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on Saturday.
The nicely bred daughter of the stable’s former star The Autumn Sun was too good again proving she is the real deal to make it a hat-trick of wins in the Tea Rose Stakes with jockey James McDonald aboard for the ride.
The classy youngster is going from strength-to-strength in a short time having only debuted on August 17 winning a Benchmark 72 over 1300m at Rosehill by 2.5 lengths.
She then stepped up in grade and beat home the boys in the Group 3 Up & Coming Stakes at the same track and trip on August 31 before saluting again as the $2.05 top elect in 2024 Tea Rose Stakes betting.
Off an on-speed run, Autumn Glow lay down the challenge to the front running Group 1 winner Manaal with 300m to go.
The two went stride-for-stride briefly before Autumn Glow showed off her beautiful action bounding away over the final 100m to easily hold out the fast-finishing Snow In May by 1.16 lengths while Manaal was far from disgraced holding for third.
“We rode her a little bit closer today. There were no instructions,” winning trainer Waller told the media post-win.
“We just said to James (McDonald), ‘Make sure she’s happy and comfortable,’ and James said, ‘She’s got a beautiful action (and) I’m not going to take it away from her. So just have her comfortable, and that’s what he did.”
McDonald was full of post-race praise for the filly having ridden her on race day for the first time in the Tea Rose.
“She’s very good. She’s just so economical in her action,” he said.
“She’s got a great constitution, good strength about her (and a) really good mind.
“She’ll keep improving, too.”
The Tea Rose Stakes is the traditional final lead-up for fillies targeting the Group 1 $750,000 Flight Stakes (1600) over the mile back at Randwick on Epsom Handicap Day.
The Waller-trained Zougotcha (2022) was the last to complete the Tea Rose Stakes – Flight Stakes double.
Autumn Glow has firmed into $1.80 favouritism in the all-in Flight Stakes markets at Ladbrokes.com.au available in full by clicking here.
Waller is confident that with a good draw she’ll be very hard to beat in the Flight Stakes.
“She’s probably a little bit foreign in that territory, but she’s all class,” he said.
“And, if we get a perfect draw in the Flight Stakes, we can go back to riding her where we need to if she’s comfortable.”
2024 Tea Rose Stakes Results & Finishing Order
| Finish | No. | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Bar. | Weight | Penalty | Starting Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | AUTUMN GLOW | Chris Waller | James McDonald | 8 | 56kg | $2.05F | |||
| 2 | 10 | SNOW IN MAY | John O’Shea & Tom Charlton | Kerrin McEvoy | 1.16L | 1 | 56kg | $14 | ||
| 3 | 1 | MANAAL | Michael Freedman | Jason Collett | 1.17L | 6 | 56kg | $3.90 | ||
| 4 | 5 | LAZZURA | Chris Waller | Tommy Berry | 1.71L | 3 | 56kg | $13 | ||
| 5 | 3 | ERNO’S CUBE | Ciaron Maher | Dylan Gibbons | 1.84L | 2 | 56kg | $13 | ||
| 6 | 7 | MORE TERRITORIES | John O’Shea & Tom Charlton | Zac Lloyd (a) | 2.28L | 4 | 56kg | $26 | ||
| 7 | 2 | AMEENA | Anthony & Sam Freedman | Chad Schofield | 2.99L | 9 | 56kg | $10 | ||
| 8 | 4 | EL MORZILLO | Kelly Schweida | Ms Cejay Graham | 3.91L | 7 | 56kg | $18 | ||
| 9 | 8 | BELLA KHADIJAH | Brad Widdup | Adam Hyeronimus | 9.98L | 5 | 56kg | $101 | ||
| 9 | DECLICHY BOULEVARD | Chris Waller | Tim Clark | 0 |
Table Credit: Racing Australia.
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