The Group 1 targets are being announced

Now we are heading to the halfway mark in February, the action on the track is really starting to hot up. The betting sites are going to be busy over the next couple of months with all the Group 1 races upcoming.

It is the Lightning Stakes at Flemington on Saturday. The quality of the weekend action is really starting to ramp up now as we head deeper into the year. Some of the top Group 1 performers have had their early targets named over the last couple of days. There should be some very exciting contests in the upcoming months.

The 2025 All-Star Mile looks like a great race

There could be a superb clash to look forward to in the All-Star Mile at Flemington on March 8. Pride Of Jenni and Via Sistina are both set to head to Melbourne for the Group 1 contest, two of the best fillies in the world, let alone in Australia.

It will be interesting if connections manage to get a run into Pride Of Jenni before she heads to the race. She is well known for not having a good record when she has been fresh in the past so if she heads there without having blown away the cobwebs, it would be far from ideal for her.

Via Sistina found a Heavy 9 track a little too tough for her in the Makybe Diva but she was the winner on all of her other four starts. Each of those was in a Group 1 race, ticking off the Winx Stakes, Turnbull Stakes, Cox Plate and MacKinnon.

Four Group 1 wins in a single prep was an exceptional effort. It will be interesting to see if she is able to continue in that same form. In contrast to Pride Of Jenni, Via Sistina is 4/7 when she is first-up as she will be on Saturday in the Apollo at Randwick.

I Wish I Win could return in the Futurity

There has not been a firm target set yet for I Wish I Win but the plan written in pencil as it stands is for the Peter Moody-trained sprinter to make his reappearance in the Futurity Stakes at Caulfield.

Moody announced that I Wish I Win had been nominated for the T J Smith, the Doncaster and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. That is a wide range of distances across those races from 1200m up to 2000m so it will be interesting to see where he ends up.

Moody also went on record to say that he would be careful with the horse when it came to the ground that he is run on. Good 3 is out given the horse has had well-documented issues with his legs since the time he was born.

Guineas targets upcoming for Broadsiding

It will be a start at a slightly lower level for the Godolphin star. The James Cummings-trained colt is heading to Rosehill on February 22 for a crack at the Group 2 Hobartville Stakes to get his autumn prep underway.

The plan is then going to involve the Guineas at both Randwick and Rosehill as he will step back up into Group 1 company. He picked up a pair of Group 1 races as a two-year-old last season after making his debut last February.

They were the Champagne and J J Atkins before he added to that when he saluted in the Golden Rose at the end of September. Third in the Cox Plate, he should appreciate being back in his own age group again.

The entries are starting to take shape for the autumn Group 1 races with the odds at the horse racing bookmakers available now. The races in question should be some of the top contests over the next couple of months.