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The punters are rallying around the Chris Waller-trained Militarize to break a lengthy winning drought with the five-year-old sitting top of the 2026 Ajax Stakes betting markets at Rosehill on Saturday.

It has been a long time between drinks for the son of Dundeel whose last turf triumph was right back in the 2023 Golden Rose as a three-year-old.

Despite the gap between then and now, there’s heavy early money coming for him to return to winning form with Militarize the firming $3.60 favourite through Ladbrokes.com.au to take out the Group 2 $300,000 Ajax Stakes (1500m) and the accompanying Doncaster Mile ballot exemption.

Waller has prepared three Ajax Stakes winners since 2017, the latest being Democracy Manifest in 2024, and he’ll saddle-up the best in betting in 2026.

Militarize runs in the event second-up after crossing under two lengths back fourth fresh behind King Of Roseau at Randwick on February 28 in the Group 3 Liverpool City Cup (1300m).

The step-up to 1500m now looks to suit, he’s drawn the inside alley and the ultra-consistent James McDonald sticks aboard this weekend.

The biggest threat stopping Militarize from getting his confidence back with a win is his last start winning stablemate Lord Penman ($4.80).

The airborne Zac Lloyd partners the four-year-old Contributer gelding from wider out in gate 10 but there remains plenty to like about the Kiwi expat.

He got his latest prep underway here at Rosehill in a BM100 handicap over 1400m on February 21 and, while he rises notably in grade now second-up chasing successive victories, he could prove hard to deny coming right back weight-wise from 57kg to 53kg on the weekend.

It’s a wide-open affair with a further three single-figure fancies in the markets including the resuming Globe ($5) carrying the 59kg topweight but deservingly so.

Hailing from the Mick Price & Michael Kent Jnr yard, the seven-year-old son of Charm Spirit races for the first time since taking out the Group 1 Might And Power (2000m) over Treasurethe Moment at Caulfield last October.

Huge in that putting three lengths on a cracking field of rivals, he gets a chance now down in grade off two excellent lead-up trial wins.

His latest hit out at Randwick on March 5 saw him beat Vivy Air by over four lengths and he looks ready to go drawn the outside alley (11) in the Ajax with his trial winning jockey Tommy Berry coming aboard for his first race day ride on the gun galloper.

The Robbie Griffiths-trained Enxuto ($6.50) enjoying a purple patch of form and the Annabel & Rob Archibald-trained Cristal Clear ($8.50) complete the Ajax Stakes hopes under $10 for the win.

Saturday sees Enxuto run at Rosehill for the first time with the in-form five-year-old heading north on the back of two eye-catching runs at Flemington including his second behind Birdman in last month’s Group 2 Blamey Stakes.

Cristal Clear meanwhile races first-up with the Exceedance four-year-old chasing his third win from five starts at the Rosehill track.

He was far from disgraced in the spring with his latest two runs both producing close sixth place efforts in the $10 million Golden Eagle behind super mare Autumn Glow and Gringotts in the $3 million The Big Dance.

Having held his own against some of the best in the business, he’s out to go to another level this campaign and put the writing on the wall with his latest trial win earlier this month.

The 2026 Ajax Stakes is set to run as Rosehill Race 9 at 5:15pm (AEDT) as the penultimate event on the Coolmore Classic Day card.

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