Giante will begin her spring chase, for further Group honours, at Caulfield tomorrow.

Dwayne Dunn said he never moved on her and she was strong, that was the message to trainer, David Brideoake, who races the mare with New Zealand owners, Brendan and Jo Lindsay.

Giante is a dual Group 3 winner and she also finished third in the Group 1 William Reid Stakes, at Moonee Valley during her last preparation.

Decision time for star filly

Petits Filous faces up to her severest test tomorrow, when she faces a stronger field than she has met previously, she contests the Lister Quezette Stakes at Caulfield.

There is no question she is a good filly, she has been untroubled twice at Moonee Valley and remains unbeaten to this stage.

The distance is not a problem, the pressure could be that she may be taken out of her comfort zone; her second win at the Valley was more impressive than her first, she came off the pace and ran away from her opposition.

Ciaron Maher has spaced her races perfectly, and she is nicely drawn in barrier six.

Petits Filous winning at Moonee Valley

Sydneysider, Shiraz, having his first Melbourne start, had no difficulty with the straight track, or the inside draw, in winning the Aurie’s Star Handicap, at Flemington.

The straight six can prove a graveyard for horses coming from Sydney, they have to cope with the reverse way of going, and the straight track can be the down fall for a first time visitor.

Shiraz handled it like a veteran, with the ideal barrier, and the aid of Damian Oliver at his best, punters had no concern, they sent the gelding out a pronounced favourite.

Since he became a resident of the Tony McEvoy stable, Shiraz has the complete score sheet, three wins from three starts.

Shiraz winning the Aurie's Star

The next assignment is the Bobby Lewis Handicap, also at Flemington down the straight six, named in honour of a great jockey who rode four Melbourne Cup winners.

Shiraz was bred out in the west of New South Wales, at Dubbo, where he was trained by Peter Nestor, it didn’t take him long to realise the gelding had a lot of potential and would be better being off being trained closer to Sydney.

Nestor suggested that Tony McEvoy could give the horse a better opportunity than he could, because of the travelling factor, hence the reason he is now trained by Tony and not Peter.

Aurie’s Star, by Star Drift from Aurie Anton, held the 6 furlong record at Flemington, (before the introduction of metrics), he won the Newmarket Handicap, Oakleigh Plate twice, and the Goodwood Handicap.

Winning rider Damian Oliver

John Sadler arrived at Flemington with a confident attitude believing he had a couple of good live chances, as was proved.

First starter, Most Wanted, opened his winning account impressively, in the Elizabeth Dunkley and Jason Lee Handicap.

There was quite some hype about him after he performed well in a jump out at Caulfield, where he is trained.

Whilst he didn’t actually start favourite, bookmakers were not prepared to risk him; he was kept well under the radar.

It was a good win, there was a lot of merit in the win, he did it all on raw ability, he will be better for the experience.

Sadler was satisfied with the win saying,” Damian had to hunt him along after drawing the rails; he never really got onto the bit at any stage of the race to hold a position.”

H e is a promising horse, with quite some future development he could be a bit new in the spring, the best of him may be seen in the autumn.

There was interest shown in him to race Hong Kong that would have suited as he had been gelded, however, he failed the veterinary test.

The win came at the right time for his sire, Wanted, who is a promising entire, with his three year olds beginning to show quite some form.

Wanted was quite a useful sprinter by Fastnet Rock, from a daughter of Snippets, which has proved a very useful cross.

Most Wanted - A bonus for his sire- Wanted

Charmed Harmony wins as he likes

The second leg of the Sadler double was a breeze compared to first leg, with Charmed Harmony winning as he liked, leading all the way with still plenty in reserve when the judge called a halt.

He has now won ten of his 24 starts, he has never had it any easier than Saturday, he was set alight when the gates opened and nothing got any closer to him, only when the runners were being pulled up.

The big league is next for Charmed Harmony, he is stepping up to weight for age, the Group1 Memsie Stakes and Tom Sadler gets the opportunity to ride the chestnut gelding, after they combined so well on Saturday.

While the horse is in form and winning so well he has earned the chance.

Charmed Harmony under Tom Sadler leads all the way.

In case you didn’t know, the Grand National Steeplechase will be run at Ballarat on Sunday,   it was not listed in the industry publication, ‘Inside Racing’, due to a late decision it missed the dead line for printing.

The only alternative for any publicity is the form guides in the Sunday newspapers, and by the time the papers are delivered, the majority of people have already planned their weekend activities.

Racing Victoria has to have a hard look at jumping races; it’s a bit like yesterday’s bread, stale! There is no interest any more, a lot of bandaids have been used but they have not covered the wound.

Jumps racing is mortally wounded, it can never be revived, it has lost its major facility, it is tethering on a thin thread.

When Flemington closed its doors to jumps racing, in July 2006, to make way for on course stabling and additional training tracks, there was no room for jumping any longer.

Sandown was not the answer, a poor substitute in fact; all the fences were placed at the back of the course, with only one fence at the top of the straight, butted up against the outside rail.

Flemington was the most spectacular course for jumping in Australia, if not the world, a more than worthy rival for the famous Cheltenham course in the U K.

With its six fences in the straight, known as the lane, four fences up the river side of the course, the abattoirs treble, jumbo, the formidable jump on the far side of the course, with the last fence a growing hedge.

The Nationals had a carnival atmosphere about it, even in the middle of July three jumping races on the first day and three on the final day drew an average crowd of around 45,000.

Sadly, that era has long gone, weights used to be declared at least a month before the Nationals, bookmakers ran doubles on both races, it created a lot of interest and discussion, is it time to call jumps racing a day?

Irish jumps jockey, Rudy Walsh, will be stepping out of an Irish summer into a Ballarat winter within a few days.

Walsh was summoned to ride Bashboy, in the Grand National Steeplechase, after regular rider, Steve Pateman, failed on appeal to have one day shaved off a suspention.

Walsh is the current champion jumps rider in Ireland, he is quite excited about the opportunity, besides riding Bashboy for Ciaron Maher, he also has the mount on Archfire for Robert Smerdon, in the J J Houlahan Memorial Hurdle.