Melbourne Cup week signed off at Flemington with Autumn Glow holding firm in the Champions Mile, a Chris Waller trifecta and a first for James McDonald. Off the track, the carnival's crowd figures, a seven-figure Keeneland broodmare and the end of Al Kazeem's stallion career round out the day.
Racingnine.com.auAustralia
Autumn Glow won the $3 million VRC Champions Mile at her first Flemington start, the $1.18 favourite charging home late to beat stablemate Lindermann with Buckaroo third, giving Chris Waller the trifecta. The five-year-old mare has now won 15 of 16 starts, seven at Group 1 level, and Waller said she could beat Winx on her day while noting Winx's longevity set her apart. The result made James McDonald the first jockey to ride a winner in every Group 1 across the four Cup week meetings. Birdman, part-owned by Carlton's Patrick Cripps and teammates, won the TAB Champions Stakes from Cox Plate winner Cosmic Crusader and Sir Delius, while $16 outsider Point Barrow upset the VRC Sprint after $1.70 favourite Tempted failed to run top four.
Pedigrees: Autumn Glow, Lindermann, Buckaroo, Winx, Verry Elleegant, Nature Strip, Birdman, Cosmic Crusader, Sir Delius, Tempted, Point Barrow, Joliestar, Plaintiff, Skybird
IndustryRacenetAustralia
Racenet reports the 2026 Melbourne Cup carnival drew 307,889 people across its four days at Flemington. The figure returns Cup week to its position as the world's best attended race carnival. Fuller detail was not available from the publisher at the time of writing.
SalesBloodHorseInternational
Spangled Banner, the 15-year-old Tiz Wonderful mare who produced Champagne Stakes (G1) winner U. S. S. Valor, sold for $1 million late in the fifth session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale on 7 November. Bertie Butler bought her for Saleh Al Otaibi's Al Ruwais Stables from the Bluewater Sales draft, with the mare in foal to Tiz the Law. She topped the session and was the highest-priced horse to sell in Book 3, having last changed hands for $225,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton August Digital Sale to Barry and Kathleen Irwin. Al Ruwais also bought Eve of War, the dam of The Puma, for $2.4 million on day one of the sale.
Pedigrees: Spangled Banner, U. S. S. Valor, Expressman, Tiz the Law, Fully Subscribed, Eve of War, The Puma, Ladyecho, Curalina
BreedingRacing PostInternational
Oakgrove Stud has called time on the stallion career of Al Kazeem, the subfertile Group 1 winner the operation both owned and bred. "We're incredibly lucky to know what it's like to own and breed a champion," his connections told the Racing Post. Fuller detail was not available from the publisher at the time of writing.
Pedigrees: Al Kazeem
IndustryRacenetAustralia
Racing NSW's 2025/26 Annual Report shows the NSW Racing Industry Future Fund has passed the quarter-of-a-billion mark at $260 million. Chief executive Peter V'landys will formally depart Racing NSW at the end of the month. Fuller detail was not available from the publisher at the time of writing.
Wageringbreederscup.comInternational
Godolphin LLC's Whitney Stakes (G1) winner Sovereignty closed as the 3-1 favourite when betting finished in Pool 1 of the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Future Wager. It was the first of two future wagering pools on North America's richest race. The release was issued from Lexington, Kentucky.
Pedigrees: Sovereignty
