Read what the Jockeys and & Trainers said in the Caulfield Guineas 2025.
Winning Trainer: Chris Waller
By The Autumn Sun: “We’re proud of all the horses that come through the stable. But when we’ve got champions like The Autumn Sun and we’ve got sons and daughters, it’s pretty special.”
“Last week, Autumn Glow, now it’s a super colt with Autumn Boy; it’s pretty special.”
Long range target: “That looked his race. We like to just identify talent and then try and get them to that big ticket item. Today’s such an important race in the horse’s career, a colt who announces them on the big stage. Glenn Ritchie and his wife, they’ve been so supportive of us, Charlie and myself. They’ve become good friends of ours and kept investing, kept investing, and we’ve managed to buy them a really nice horse.”
Worry out of Golden Rose?: “Not really, no. It was a track record time. Full credit to the winner, he led them up and won. The backmarkers just didn’t quite get us the race because we were just running so quick. We didn’t lose faith, the ratings people and our form guys said he’s the one, and sure enough, they were right.”
“The sectional timings suggested he actually ran quite well. It was his first time in the big dance or the big-time races. He’s come through the run well; he’s come down here with plenty of time. The team down here have done a great job. We brought him to Caulfield; we ticked all the boxes, everything suggested he was ready to run a big race.”
Always shown ability: “I think you just consistently get feedback from your team. As a young horse before he even trialed, we were getting positive feedback. When he trialed, it was positive. When he had his first run, he beat a short-price favourite from the stable at a big price. Everything’s been positive, we took him to Queensland and gave him a trip away. I think we did that with his dad as well, maybe all of our Caulfield Guineas winners. It’s just about experience, we know they’ve got talent and harnessing that.”
On Damian Lane: “He’s a world-class sportsman. That’s a big thing that we underestimate— how good these jockeys are. What makes them so good is they’re exceptional athletes. He’s so good to work with. Again, he’s just an ultimate professional. To be able to align with someone like that makes my job so much easier.”
Cox Plate?: “Not sure. I don’t normally because they’re still babies. He’s only had four or five starts, I think. So, it’ll be unlikely for us, but we’ll see what comes out next week, you’ve got the luxury of just sitting tight. He’s not overly raced so you can do it but we’ll have to see how good Via Sistina’s going.”
Winning Jockey: Damian Lane
On the horse: “Beautiful colt just takes everything in his stride, very easy to deal with and a great turn of foot when needed. So you need that to win these big races, and when he joined in, he really joined in.”
How it unfolded: “I had a great run. I was able to use my barrier speed, was good, and just found myself in a bit of a tricky spot in the corner. But once I navigated that, he put the race away pretty quick. Very easy horse to handle, and as a result, had a nice run.”
Beaten Jockeys:
Craig Williams (Rivellino): “It was a great gear change move to take the blinkers off. Got into a lovely positon, the winner was inside me, but all of a sudden when the pressure came on I didn’t have a horse to really pick up and go. At the end he really stayed on well. Kris Lees and the trainer of the horse has many options going forward.”
James McDonald (Wodeton): “He just found Caulfield a bit tough.”
Mark Zahra (Vinrock): “He tried his best, ran fourth, had every chance.”
Blake Shinn (Nepotism): “He ran really good. Just never got the luck from the turn onwards, but beautiful animal and if he had a bit more luck he would have run OK.”
Ben Melham (West Of Swindon): “I thought he felt the ground a little bit, he’s probably looking for a bit more forgiving surface.”
Declan Bates (Highvol): “He’s run OK. Obviously we got back a bit from the gate but he’s ready to 2000 plus now so I think we get him out over further he’ll be running really well.”
Jamie Melham (Navy Pilot): “He ran well. It was a messy-run race for him, we got shortened early and overraced after that. A lot of things went wrong and I just said to the team, I think he’s probably better at 1400.”
Beau Mertens (Space Rider): “We got into the right spot, obviously we were a bit far back but we followed the favourite, unfortunately that horse didn’t take us where we needed to be. He sprinted at the top of the straight and he probably just peaked on his run late, so he’s probably just looking to drop back to 14 (hundred).”
Harry Coffey (Prestige Ole): “He didn’t have a crack so I just advised them maybe come back a little bit in grade and put a set of blinkers on him.”
Luke Currie (Hillier): “We ran well, he was quite quick from the side draw, he just doesn’t give himself a rest through the run. He’s just got to learn to settle a bit better.”
Thomas Stockdale (Stay Cosmic): “I just couldn’t get into the race from the gate. I was happy with his work after the line, which suggests he’sll get further.”
Jordan Childs (Planet Red): “He went super. The race worked out well for him. We got a good track into it, he presented, but the winner was too good. He ran as well as he could.”
Daniel Stackhouse (Romantic Encounter): “He ran well, I just thought the run that I did have he should have finished off a little bit better.”
Ethan Brown (Observer): “Huge run. The run presented and shut, it cost him a lot of momentum, but he still picked himself up and ran third. He would have gone very close. They’re taking the right steps forward with him, he will stay.”
