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The battle of two great mares that all punters were expecting didn’t exactly take place at Royal Randwick on Saturday with Chris Waller‘s resuming odds-on favourite, Autumn Glow, returning to winning form with a decisive first-up victory over Sheza Alibi in the Winx Stakes 2026 results to put her firmly in The Everest calculations.

The opening elite level of the spring was spruiked as a two-mare race, but in the end this year’s Group 1 $1 million Winx Stakes (1400m) was always Autumn Glow’s for the taking.

After suffering her first loss in 12 career starts when stretched up to 2000m for a third in the autumn’s Queen Elizabeth, Waller’s brilliant daughter of The Autumn Sun bounced back fresh at her pet track to retain a flawless 1400m strike-rate at Randwick in a dominant display.

“It was great that Peter Moody (Sheza Alibi’s co-trainer) and the owners brought the mare up to Sydney,” Waller told Sky Thoroughbred Central.

“This was the first round of competition running these headline horses.

“People come to the races because they want to see these great horses racing each other. We don’t always want the clashes, but it is important for the sport.

“We have come out of round one pretty well but I’m pretty sure there will be round two or round three.

“We know how good she is, so nothing has changed. We just needed her to come back and show where she is.”

Given a perfectly timed ride by record-breaking hoop James McDonald, Autumn Glow ($1.70F) settled just off the speed before chiming in on the straight and winding up inside the final furlong to run down the leading Midnight Dynamite to hit the lead.

From there, she broke clear of the field and never looked in doubt, going on to beat the brave Peter Moody & Katherine Coleman-trained Doncaster Mile winning filly Sheza Alibi by 1.39 lengths with Gringotts a surprise third at 20/1 three lengths off the powerhouse Winx Stakes champion.

“Peter said Sheza Alibi was 82.7 percent so we might be 83.1 percent,” Waller said speaking to his mare’s first-up level of fitness.

“It is hard to quantify. She was ready to go because I didn’t want her to have a tough time first-up.

“If he had to reach beyond what she was fit enough to do then that is tough. She was forward enough for sure.”

Waller celebrated his incredible 10th Winx Stakes success and fourth on the trot, happy to see his golden girl back where she deserves – in the Group 1 winner’s stall with J-Mac aboard.

“She’s so special, just her gate speed and tractability,” McDonald said post-win.

“She knows when she’s in a race because from the 500m to the 400m, it’s like she just powers into herself and just builds herself, she just knows.

“It’s an incredible feeling and even though she puts herself in good spots, for her to have that audacity to fill her lungs up and know it’s go time, just let rip, it’s just incredible.”

In a terrific welcome back to Group 1 racing for the season, Sheza Alibi in her four-year-old debut lost few admirers with her game run for second which she’s only set to improve on getting back up to her pet mile trip as the carnival progresses.

“Terrific,” was second-placed hoop Luke Nolen’s assessment.

“We are in for a really good prep. She kept closing.

“The other mare has had a few more pre-seasons than we have.

“She (Autumn Glow) was a bit sharp for us today.

“She (Sheza Alibi) deserves to be in this company.”

The sky looks the limit now for Autumn Glow whose record starts at 12 wins from 13 starts and four Group 1s in the bag.

Big talks are now on her next-up options through the carnival, with plenty of chatter about her potential to drop back to 1200m for the world’s richest turf race – the $20 million The Everest back at Randwick on October 17.

“We might be wishing we were racing Sheza Alibi,” Waller said when asked about Autumn Glow’s The Everest credentials.

“But, we won’t worry about that today. There are so many things to analyse – the horse’s health first of all, sectional times, the likely competition.”

Following her slashing return, Autumn Glow has firmed from $13 to $6 to sit on the second line of futures The Everest 2026 betting at Ladbrokes.com.au behind the defending Hong Kong hero Ka Ying Rising.

2026 Winx Stakes Results

Latest 2026 The Everest Odds