March 24, 2025Star filly glows in autumn return
Newhaven Park bred, raised and sold Autumn Glow didn’t disappoint on her return to racing with a performance which arguably only enhanced her substantial reputation.
Assigned the $200,000, Listed, Hyland Race Colours Darby Munro Stakes (1200m) — on Golden Slipper at Rosehill — as her first start since the spring, the celebrated daughter of The Autumn Sun was put to task at the start of the contest, during mid-race and then again in the straight, but delivered every step of the way before posting an impressive two-length success.
Autumn Glow took her record to four wins from four starts after widely being regarded as the best 3-year-old filly of the current crop earlier in the season. If anything, her return to competition could hardly have been more encouraging and augured exceptionally well for the remainder of 2024/25 and beyond.
Champion jockey James McDonald probably best summed up everyone’s feelings after the win when stating in his post-race interview: “She’s all class, she’s very good. I don’t know who was more nervous, me, [co-owner] John [Messara], or Chris [Waller], so we all had nerves coming in today, and it was good to get it out of the way.”
Autumn Glow took her earnings to over $500,000 from just four unbeaten starts. Trainer Chris Waller indicated that her next outing will be in the Group 2 Arrowfield 3YO Sprint (1200m) on Day 2 of The Championships.
Autumn Glow’s latest Pattern Race success came on the same afternoon as fellow Newhaven Park foaled and raised Phenom minor placed in the Group 3 MVRC Alexandra Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley. The 3-year-old daughter of Zoustar has won three of her eight career starts to date and is now twice stakes-placed, having also finished third in the Listed Twilight Glow Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield in November.