Saturday’s Rosehill meeting may have produced one of the budding stars of the Sydney spring in the form of dominant debut winner Autumn Glow.
Purchased for a sale-topping AU$1.8m at the 2023 Easter Yearling Sale, the three-year-old carried the famous black and yellow diamonds of Arrowfield Stud for her racetrack debut, the same Hunter Valley operation that stands the filly’s sire The Autumn Sun, a son of champion stallion Redoute’s Choice and a five-time Group 1 winner between 1400m and 2000m.
Autumn Glow is out of the three-time Group 1 winning mare Via Africa, South Africa’s Champion Sprinter of 2013-14, making her a three-quarter sister to Golden Rose winner In The Congo.
Trainer Chris Waller sent Autumn Glow out for her 1300m assignment with the benefit of two lead-up trials – the latest a stylish win over 900m under James McDonald that hinted at the filly’s potential – having also scratched the filly from a mid-week meeting the preceding Wednesday.
Racecaller Darren Flindell called it an “auspicious debut” and it was easy to see why.
Tyler Schiller took over riding duties at Rosehill in the small field of six, electing to settle off the speed in fourth. Autumn Glow travelled within herself during the run before being asked for an effort by Schiller in the straight: the response was immediate. Accelerating clear to win by two-and-a-half lengths, Autumn Glow had plenty in reserve in accounting for Saturday’s rivals despite racing greenly and changing legs, and is destined for the richer fillies’ stakes races this spring at 1400m and beyond.
The 1600m G1 Flight Stakes, to be run at Randwick on October 5, looms as the logical spring target for Autumn Glow, confirmed by Waller in the immediate aftermath of his filly’s victory.
Waller – who also prepared Autumn Glow’s sire The Autumn Sun – labelled the filly as “something special” in his post-race interview.
“She’s on her way to bigger and better things,” said Waller.
“We’d love to be able to get her to the Flight Stakes if we can.”
Schiller echoed Waller’s sentiments in his assessment of the first-starter.
“She’s pretty special… I was never worried, I was just cruising along, getting through her gears, and when I really asked her at the 200 she put them away very sharply… She showed her talent today. I didn’t have to do too much on her at all.”
