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The Championships at Randwick are done and dusted for 2016, and the 20 races across the two Saturday afternoons were simply high class and would challenge any Carnival in the world.
So who stoop up, and perhaps more importantly, who turned it up? Here are my five key moments and highlights from the showpiece of Sydney racing.
1. Winx confirms her champion status
She was a great horse prior to the Doncaster Mile (1600m), but there were a things going against her.
She had to set a weight carrying record for a mare, she met several rivals so worse off at the weights, drawn wide and she was taking on a crack field. But even bad luck in the straight couldn’t stop this champion mare, who bustled her way into the clear and what separates great horses from champions is that they have another gear when required and Winx showed that once again.
2. Chautauqua rises, Exosphere falls
It was built up as the match race of the entire Autumn Carnival, with most experts going with the new kid on the block, Exosphere.
But the bloke with the credits in the bank, Chautauqua, produced an unbelievable finish from last at the 250m mark to not only win but spank his rivals.
He confirmed his status as the best sprinter in the world and will take a power of beating in Hong Kong and then England hopefully.
Exosphere did pull up with excuses post race, but that is two starts now against the big boys and he has failed on both occasions. I doubt we will see him next season, so his final race could well be the All Aged (1400m) on Saturday.
3. Novocastrian is the Queen of Randwick
A four-month plan panned out perfectly for Kris Lees and his star mare Lucia Valentina, who absolutely spanked her rivals in the showpiece of Sydney racing, the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m).
She sat last in the run and was pulling hard early on, but in the end relaxed beautifully and trucked up beautifully before getting into some trouble on the turn.
She eventually got clear and just showed an amazing turn of foot. She is a credit to Kris Lees and what a gun horseman he is, and she could do something like Mahogany in 1995 with a first up run before a six week or so freshen up into the Cox Plate second up.
4. Ollie closes in on Cotton Fingers
Prior to Day Two of the Championships, Oliver was alongside Roy Higgins on 108 Group l wins, but there were question marks as to whether or not he would better that tally given his recent record on Sydney tracks was not to the level he has produced in Melbourne.
But he produced a couple of pearls on Azkadellia in the Coolmore Legacy (1600m) and then on Lucia Valentina in the Queen Elizabeth (2000m) to go to 110 majors and is now only nine off George ‘Cotton Fingers’ Moore.
5. Clearly Innocent is a clearly a star
You have to keep in mind that what he beat in the Country Championship Final (1400m) were Class 4/5 horses, but given the setbacks he had during the week and the fact he raced in the inferior ground, to do what he did could have nearly challenged Chautauqua for the run of the Championships.
Greg Bennett is a beauty at placing horses, but I hope he dares to dream and sends this horse to Melbourne for the Spring, because he just looks a potential Group 1 horse if he puts it together.
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