Superstar mare Autumn Glow pulled up lame after winning the Group 1 Champions Mile at Flemington on Saturday and will need a veterinary clearance before she can race again, although trainer Chris Waller says scans found no abnormality.
Stewards reported that a post-race veterinary examination found the mare “to be lame in the left fore”, Betsy reported, citing the stewards’ report.
Waller later told stewards that X-rays and scans of Autumn Glow on her return to the stable revealed no abnormality, and that she was showing signs of bruising to the left fore hoof.
Under the stewards’ ruling, she needs a veterinary clearance before she can race or officially trial again. No timeline or next target has been given.
Made to work in the Champions Mile
Autumn Glow started the $1.18 favourite for her first run at Flemington and her first start outside Sydney. She ran down stablemate Lindermann ($16) to win by a length and a quarter, with Buckaroo ($15) third to give Waller the trifecta in the $3 million race, according to the VRC.
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The win took her record to 15 wins from 16 starts.
Jockey James McDonald said she got a little “lost at sea” running the Melbourne way for the first time. “Even when I straightened and gave her a click, she took about 50m to get going,” he said, as reported by 7NEWS. “But boy once she opened the shoulders up, she was never going to get rolled.”
Waller had compared her with his champion mare Winx before the lameness was revealed. “She is as good as any horse I’ve trained … it’s just (about longevity) as Winx kept going and going and going for four or five years. That’s the only difference,” he said, according to 7NEWS.
Tempted bled in the Champions Sprint
Stewards also revealed that Everest winner Tempted, who started the $1.70 favourite in the Champions Sprint and missed the placings, was found to have bled.
“A post-race endoscopic examination identified a degree of internal exercise induced pulmonary haemorrhage that may have affected the horse’s racing performance,” the stewards’ report said, according to Betsy. Tempted also needs a veterinary clearance, and trainer Ciaron Maher said the mare will now be sent for a spell.
Point Barrow won the Champions Sprint, while Waller added the Champions Stakes with Birdman. That gave him four of the eight Group 1 races across the carnival and 27 Group 1 wins in 2026, one short of Aidan O’Brien’s calendar-year world record of 28, AAP reported.
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