Delicacy left no doubt with Adelaide racegoers that she is a top class filly when she ran away with the Group 1 Australian Oaks at Morphettville on Saturday.

It was an outstanding performance to come from where she did on the home turn with a wall of horses in front of her.

She left her home city of Perth with an imposing record, having won eight of her 12 starts, which included the Guineas, Oaks and Derby.

A spell is now the likely scenario before any spring plans are made, which you would expect the Caulfield Cup to be high on the wish list.

Her owner, Bob Peters, is no stranger to Melbourne; he has raced several horses here previously, when trained by Lee Freedman.

Falvelon came under the radar on Saturday when his son, Mr Favulous ,won the Weetwood Handicap at Toowoomba.

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since Falvelon last carried silk, he was resilient winning Stakes races in each of the five seasons he raced.

He became a frequent visitor to Hong Kong, visiting the colony three times, winning on each occasion, amassing HK$8,900,000 in stakes.

His Australian wins included the Oakleigh Plate, Doomben Ten Thousand twice; he collected prize money 28 times from his 37 starts.

He has become an important cog within the Queensland breeding industry, and an all time favourite.

Pharaoh overcame a determined rival in Firing Line to win the 141^st Kentucky Derby, before a crowd of 170,513, at Churchill Downs on Saturday.

Whilst he raced wide most of the one mile and a quarter classic, he drew away and was holding sway when the post was reached.

The event developed into a three horse race, nothing else in the field was given a ghost of a chance, with Pharaoh, Firing Line and Dortmund, in the leading role and filling the placings.

It was fourth success for trainer Bob Baffert in the Derby; he had won previously with Silver Charm, Real Quiet and War Emblem.

Highlight of the Inglis four days sales centred on the weanlings, yesterday in particular, those by All Too Hard and Pierro, both outstanding young horses.

They only met twice as three year olds with All Too Hard having the wood on his rival.

The position was reversed yesterday with three lots sold by Pierro, averaging $143,000, while 4 lots were sold by All Too Hard averaging $72,500, a filly by Animal Kingdom sold for $200.000.

Savabeel has got the New Zealand sires premiership safely in his keeping, with progeny earnings of $2,339.715, ahead of his nearest rival Darci Brahma, who is two wins ahead, however, his total is $1.552 .095.

Caulfield Guineas winner, Pins, has done a great job, he is holding down third place, but by only a narrow margin from Iffraaj, only $22,000 separates the pair.

Our Boy Malachi has become a cult figure around the Rockhampton region where he has won 15 races, starting favourite in each of his16 starts.

His excellent record has earned him the title, “Rockhampton Rocket,” he is the biggest attraction to hit the coastal city for many a long day.

Our Boy Malachi has had a change of stables; he is now being prepared by the Hawkes team in Sydney.

However, surely some eyebrows would have been raised at the suggestion of taking on the best that Royal Randwick could offer on the last day of the Championships.

His loyal support group were all there in force, they couldn’t resist the opportunity, many had been there at the beginning and were not going to miss out.

There was big money for him to win the Group 3 Hall Mark Stakes, which he duly won after being held up in the early running, he did what all good horses can do, they make their own luck.

He has since been installed as favourite for the Group1 Stradbroke Handicap over 1400 metres, to be run at Eagle Farm.

Needless to say his breeder and part owner, Jess Donavan, is on cloud 9 over it all, to have the favourite in the $1 million Stradbroke Handicap.

Our Boy Malachi is by Top Echelon, he currently stands at Oakford Farm, Haigslea, for $4.000 service fee.

There is a good balance in his pedigree, being by Umatilla, a more than useful sire, his grand dam, by the brilliant Vain, is an enormous influence in the second remove, while the third remove is Sunset Sue, a full sister to Gunsynd.

You would imagine Oakford would retain a few fillies by Top Echelon out of their better mares; there could be a future there.

There have been some great stories that have come out of sunny Queensland, Neville Sellwood, George Moore, Peter Moody, Gunsynd and the greatest of them all Bernborough.

Authoritarian made a one act affair of the St Leger, leading from barrier to box and could have easily gone around again and the result would not have altered.

Shortly after the start the heavens opened up, Flemington was hit with blinding rain but it did not deter Authoritarian, nor his rider, Daniel Moor, they revelled in the conditions, it was all mud in the eye to the opposition.

Authoritarian revelling in the going

It was surprising to see three Sydney visitors coming to Flemington at this time of the year, Colour Of Money picked up third money for Bart and James Cummings.

Lee Freedman, joint trainer with his brother Anthony, prepared the winner; he was not all that over enthused about the win, taking it all in his stride.

He has been there before, winning the race in 1990 with Frontier Boy, “I have run a few seconds but wouldn’t like to be hanging by the leg since then,” he said.

Daniel Moor didn’t receive many accolades for his ride, which he really deserved, about the only mention was the one he could done without.

Moor rode an excellent race under trying conditions, at least Freedman stuck with the young man and was more than satisfied with the ride, all you have to do is keep the boss happy.

Daniel Moor astride Authoritarian

My Poppette deserves a break after her game performance in winning the Phillip Schuler ANZAC Day Stakes at Flemington.

She has earned Black Type at her third start which was won with a lot authority; the future is looking promising for her.

Cindy Alderson, who shares the training licence with her father Colin, is now looking towards the better races in the spring for the filly, bred by her mother, Lyn, she is also a part owner.

There are a number of good fillies races in the spring, ultimately she will be heading towards   the Thousand Guineas, that would be the logical option, then possibly the Oaks would be given some consideration.

On face value her pedigree could be questioned, being by Snippetson, from a daughter of Choisir, however, pedigrees have been known to slip up, nothing is set in concrete.

My Poppette got the 1400 metres on her ear at Flemington, while 1600 metres at Caulfield should not be a hindrance.

With three months of the racing season remaining, surely it’s about time the city racing clubs commenced to stretch out the distance of two year old races.

At present all that is being done is catering for squibs, one run and you never see them again. 

My Poppette to be set for the Spring

A short break, plus a freshen up, is all that was needed for Face Forward in her return to winning form at Flemington.

After drawing an outside gate her rider, Dwayne Dunn, allowed the filly to drift out, coming down the outside rail rather than pull her about, she settled well there.

The filly is trained in partnership by Matthew Ellerton and Simon Zahra who quoted” the stable have had a lot of problems with the filly, her last start at Mornington didn’t suit her, plus the turning track didn’t suit her”.

With the sting out of the ground she was in her element, nothing was bothering her; she was simply coasting along at the head of affairs.

Word got about that there was quite some backing for the filly overnight, which was most unlikely, she only shortened from her opening quote, there were five other horses preferred to her in betting, she would have been specked at best.

Face Forward is a good type with quite a bit of quality about her, she is by Charge Forward, formerly trained by John O’Shea.

Nothing much impressed outside of the winner, she safely held the others at bay.

Face Forward winning in great style