An outstanding afternoon of action at Caulfield

The autumn is really starting to heat up with the Group 1 action arriving en masse. Caulfield has returned their mounting yard to its original spot and the crowd were treated, not only to easy viewing but great action on the track.

There are not many more popular horses in Australia than Mr Brightside. The horse racing bookmakers will have been cursing him with all of the money from punters piling onto the Hayes brothers' runner.

Back-to-back Futurity wins for Brightside

The betting market told the story of the Futurity Stakes before it even started. Mr Brightside was always the favourite but there was not much of a difference in the odds between himself and I Wish I Win in the week. By the time the race jumped, they were $1.70 and $7.50! A massive change.

It is a big weekend for Peter Moody with his daughter getting married but I Wish I Win, for all that he ran a huge race, he was never going to be able to get to grips with Mr Brightside once Craig Williams kicked for him at the perfect time.

One of the qualities that makes Mr Brightside a star is his sheer tenacity. He has now had 42 races, winning 19 of those, with nine Group 1 victories to his name. With a hair under $17 million in prize money won, he looks set to get into double figures in wins at the top table later on in the autumn, a remarkable milestone.

Yulong roughie lands the Blue Diamond

Group 1 races for the two-year-old generation can throw up some interesting results and the Blue Diamond was one of them. Devil Night had run a huge race when second to Field Of Play when runner-up in the Blue Diamond Prelude on his debut.

Sent off at $16, that was more than half the price he was on that debut when a $41 chance. Always close up with the pace, the race panned out well for him to hold off the closers late on once he had taken the measure of The Playwright who was always on the front end.

$21 and $17 runners followers Devil Night home. Godolphin had the runner-up in Tentyris while Yulong also had the third past the post in Tycoon Star. The trifecta paid just under $3,500.

Jimmysstar wins his first Group 1

Last autumn, punters were left frustrated by Jimmysstar on a regular basis. He was beaten at odds of $1.26, $1.85 and $1.75. A big reputation and clearly an engine to match but he was failing to get the job done when he needed to.

Much of that will be forgotten now, by connections at least, as Ethan Brown got the best out of him to salute in the Oakleigh Plate. That makes it five wins from six starts when he has run first-up so keeping him fresh would look the way forward for Ciaron Maher.

Winning Group 2 return from Broadsiding

It was a relatively easy return on paper for Broadsiding, connections bringing him back in the Group 2 Hobartville Stakes. Somehow, despite being a three-time Group 1 winner, he was sent off at odds of $2.90 which looks crazy in hindsight.

Zac Lloyd never had to get serious with him to run out a very comfortable winner by a touch under a length. That was all that Broadsiding needed to do to brush off any ring rust before he heads back into Group 1 company.

We move into March next Saturday and the action continues to come thick and fast. Randwick and Flemington will dominate the betting sites over the next two weeks with seven Group 1 races between them, four of those at Randwick.