Waller Whispered Don’t Miss It, Pittsburgh Phil Defined It — Now Autumn Glow Must Prove It

“Class enables one horse to beat another no matter what physical odds imposed may be, what the conditions or what the distance. You may say it is what enables a light bull terrier to whip a dog of another breed. It enables one fighter to whip another. It is hard to define but everybody discerns it when it is there. In trying to define class the best I can do … it is heart nerve and ability combined which ignores all the ordinary rules and obstacles,” – the original Pittsburgh Phil, a Yank and not the local version.

Substitute “champion” for “class”. The subject arises with Autumn Glow, out to take another step to the pinnacle in Saturday’s $5 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick.

Definitions for “champion”? The “great” are exceptionals but champion transit a unique experience. The label cannot be earned in one race, otherwise Sheza Alibi would be a titleholder after last week’s Doncaster, nor one elite season.

A period of excellence is necessary and Autumn Glow is on the cusp with a tally of an unbeaten 11.

The former jockey Arthur Ward, who rode Redcraze and Tulloch, maintained a champion not only beat other top horses but donkey licked them.

Again Autumn Glow will be out to adhere to the theory in the Queen Elizabeth, a 2000 metre event that often challenges the Moonee Valley’s Cox Plate as the “weight for age championship of Australasia.”

Despite the four-year-old listed at $1.50 on Friday and only eight acceptors, four for Chris Waller, it is not an easy assignment for the favourite.

With his knack for getting the best out of fillies and mares, Waller has changed the face of the Queen Elizabeth, before him more of a battle ground for colts and geldings.

Waller won three in a row with Winx, a champion, and last year Via Sistina. After acquiring the Royal tag in 1954 when Blue Ocean, a sire of polo ponies led all the way, a mare did not score in the Queen Elizabeth until Lowland in 1969.

Before Waller only a smattering of the weaker gender came to the fore. Apart from Autumn Glow, he has the outstanding mare Aeliana engaged in the feature. Waller’s geldings Lindermann will be the pacemaker but never to be taken lightly while Wootton Verdi is promising but not weight-for-age quality.

Aeliana has been a worthy rival against Autumn Glow previously. Others, too, are strong. With a previous Queen Elizabeth to his credit, Dubai Honour, from Newmarket, made Aeliana work hard last start in a demanding Tancred at Rosehill.

Under Tom Marquand, the best visiting saddle European here since Lester Piggott, will make the 2000 metres a staying test.

My enthusiasm about Marquand is due to Australian efforts not success abroad like Frankie Dettori. Outstanding at Royal Ascot. Common at Flemington and Australian circuits. Dubai Honour also gets blinkers for the first time after running wild last start, adding to an intriguing contest.

Ciaron Maher’s Light Infantry Man is a $41 outsider despite notching his second Australian Cup at Flemington recently, lipping the trainer’s Pride Of Jenni, who took the Queen Elizabeth two years back. She is going for the easier Saturday option, the Queen Of The Turf.

Consider, too, Sir Delius tuned under the eye of Gai Waterhouse and labour of Adian Bott. The gelding was no match for Aeliana and Dubai Honour in the Ranvet but it reeked “next time”. Sir Delius has the navigation of Craig Williams, a superb tactician.

Outstanding horses with the guidance of brilliant jockeys will make Randwick on Saturday and the Queen Elizabeth a meeting to savour.

Nothing compares with backing a winner but being in the company of champions, be she budding or on the pedestal, run a close second. Autumn Glow radiates the feeling. On handicaps, what the candidates have achieved to date, Autumn Glow (121) doesn’t have much on Dubai Honour (122).

Decades ago my colleague “Shiner” Schell at the Sydney Morning Herald introduced a youthful New Zealander, just kicking off as a trainer, at Rosehill races. Since Waller has been transmitting a special brand of enthusiasm, hardly the blast of the master Tommy Smith, but last Saturday at Randwick he mentioned quietly but firmly – “don’t miss the Queen Elizabeth”. It’s never been that emphatic.

While I go back further to John Messara, if not as close as to the trainer, the breeder and owner has experienced the trials and tribulations of the turf, but Autumn Glow is taking him to a new level at “nearly 80”, a vintage he stressed last Saturday.

Waller, though, continues on Saturday as a major contributor to the modern prominence of fillies and mares: the favourite in the Australian Oaks, Ohope Wins, under James McDonald, as well as Lady Shenandoah and Lazzura (Group One Queen Of The Turf). The Irish bred mare River Of Stars is one of his four acceptors in the Sydney Cup and another J-Mac ride.

With the dominance of the once weaker equine gender, the glory of Rachel King, a Pom, has been diluted. King came to Tulloch Lodge as an office girl, her ability energised by Gai Waterhouse, and is now a world class hoop.

Japan triumphs were followed by her being the first female to win an ATC Australian Derby on Green Spaces last Saturday. On the same program she scored on the French-bred Newlook in the Group Two Chairmans.

Only a five-year-old with 51kg, Newlook appeals with only one query – three runs on a good surface for duck eggs. Is he an import that does not like it too firm?

Just ordinary rules and obstacles.