GOLDEN Slipper day 2026 will be remembered as one of Arrowfield Stud’s most spectacular days on the racecourse. In the space of about four hours, their stallions sired seven stakes winners, and took four of the five Group 1 races on offer at Rosehill.

It was a very special day in Australian turf history too as champion jockey James McDonald combined with champion trainer Chris Waller, and the offspring of two Arrowfield sires, to beat Damien Oliver’s Group 1 record, setting a new mark of 131. He did it with three consecutive Group 1 victories, firstly on Aeliana (Castelvecchio) in the A$1 million Ranvet Stakes, after which Autumn Boy (The Autumn Sun) added the A$750,000 Rosehill Guineas to his Group 1 Caulfield Guineas win last spring.

Then McDonald was on the superstar mare Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun) as they defeated seven Group 1 winners by almost three lengths in the A$1 million George Ryder Stakes, recording the third top-flight victory of an unbeaten 11-win career that has boosted her winnings to more than A$8.6 million. Yet, Arrowfield stallions weren’t finished with the day.

Four-time champion sire Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) added a new stakes winner at Rosehill when the three-year-old Beskar landed the A$200,000 Darby Munro Stakes over six furlongs. He was a A$600,000 yearling purchase. In New Zealand, Snitzel’s Arrowfield graduate Origin Of Love gave her half-sister at the upcoming Inglis Easter Sale a perfectly-timed update with an all-the-way win in the Group 2 Wellington Guineas.

Back at Rosehill, the homebred filly Marhoona, also from Snitzel’s 2022 crop, added the A$1 million Group 1 to her 2025 Golden Slipper Group 1 win, and she has now earned A$3.9 million with her fourth win in eight starts. A few minutes later at Ascot in Western Australia, the two-year-old filly Aurum Belle became Snitzel’s 170th career stakes winner, and his fifteenth this season, with victory in the Listed Supremacy Stakes. She is unbeaten in two starts for trainer Neville Parnham who bought her for A$725,000 last year.

40 minutes

Back to The Autumn Sun and his two Group 1 winners in about 40 minutes. Autumn Boy has now won half of his eight starts, been successful in three stakes races and placed in another three, and he has winnings now of in excess of A$2.65 million. Autumn boy is the third foal and second winner from the unraced Savabeel (Zabeel) mare Rosegarden.

A full-sister to two minor winners, Rosegarden is a daughter of O’Reilly Rose (O’Reilly), a Group 3 winner of nine races in her native New Zealand, and where she was placed multiple times in group company, finishing third in the Group 1 Second Century Stakes at Ellerslie. O’Reilly Rose’s placed half-sister Volkrose (Volksraad) bred one of the fastest sons of O’Reilly (Last Tycoon), Shamexpress.

Standing at Windsor Park Stud, Shamexpress won one of Australia’s best sprints, the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap, and if his name sounds familiar, it is likely because he is sire of one of the world’s best sprinters and runners on the turf, Ka Ying Rising. Last month, that gelding won his 18th race in a row, and recorded his eighth Group 1 success in Hong Kong, where his earnings stand at more than £13 million. Autumn Boy’s fourth dam, Geraniums Red (Brigadier Gerard), went to New Zealand in the 1970s, and there she had six winners. Her best was the Group 1 Caulfield Cup winner Affinity (Zamazaan). In addition to being the fourth dam of Autumn Boy, Geraniums Red occupies the same position in the pedigree of the 2025 Group 1 VRC Oaks winner Strictly Business (Grunt).

Brilliant mare

As impressive as Autumn Boy’s record is, it pales when put alongside the brilliant mare Autumn Glow, now undefeated in 11 starts. Among those successes are three Group 1s, three Group 2s, a pair of Group 3 races and a single listed victory. She is the third winner, and the second at Group 1 level, out of the South African champion sprinter Via Africa (Var). Autumn Glow has gone one better than her dam who had 10 wins, and is equal with Via Africa who enjoyed three Group 1 triumphs.

Via Africa’s other Group 1 winner is In The Congo (Snitzel), and the most important of his three wins was when he captured the Group 1 Golden Rose Stakes at Rosehill. Now standing at Newgate Stud, where he has been hugely supported since going to stud in 2023, In The Congo was described by his co-trainer Adrian Bott as follows: “He is the best three-year-old sprinter I’ve ever trained, consistently displaying Group 1 form and incredibly raw speed for that entire season. As a four-year-old it’s fair to say he didn’t come up as well and probably had other things on his mind! However, at three he was outstanding, beating the best and always displaying that brilliant, sustained speed.”

It has to be said that while there are winners aplenty in the family, this is a female line that has really come alive since the emergence of Via Africa.

Spectacular star

The Autumn Sun just completed his more recent season at Arrowfield at a fee of A$66,000, having been forced to miss the previous year due to incurring an injury to his pelvis. The spectacular star of his generation, the five-time Group 1 winner at two and three is arguably the best racing colt by Redoute’s Choice (Danehill), and is now the sire of five Group 1 winners; Autumn Boy, Autumn Angel, Coco Sun, Vibrant Sun and the simply sensational Autumn Glow.

The Autumn Sun is the product of an inspired merger of one of the late Aga Khan’s finest broodmare families with Australia’s best stallion. The Autumn Sun was by turns brilliant, dominant, astonishing and heroic on the racetrack. Unbeaten in three starts at two, he won the Group 1 JJ Atkins Stakes over a mile. At three he was crowned Australia’s champion colt, meeting defeat just once.

His five wins at three included four Group 1 races, namely the Golden Rose Stakes over seven furlongs, the one-mile Randwick Guineas, the 10-furlong Rosehill Guineas, and the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas over a mile. In his first five seasons at stud he covered some 700 mares. Before the start of the most recent season, Arrowfield announced that his book of mares, which reads like a who’s who, was being capped at 160.

Not misplaced

The Autumn Sun’s first crop showed that breeders faith in him was not misplaced, and included 11 stakes performers, notably Group 1 Oaks winners Autumn Angel and Vibrant Sun, and Group 1 Derby winner Coco Sun. His next two crops are headed by Easter sale-topper Autumn Glow and Autumn Boy. The sire’s 25 yearlings sold in 2025 averaged A$309,000, while four of his daughters have sold out of training for seven-figure sums: Coco Sun (A$1.2 million), Autumn Angel (A$1.225 million), Autumn Ballet (A$1.6 million) and Tutta La Vita (A$3.2 million).

The Autumn Sun’s 2026 sales season has started with a bang, a A$292,500 average at Magic Millions Gold Coast resulting from all but one of his 14 lots being sold. The best price among those yearlings was the A$650,000 paid by James Harron, Michael Freedman and Tony Fung for a filly out of Pacific Dragon, and the same buyers purchased his top-priced colt out of Bollywood, sold for A$400,000.