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Autumn Glow remains undefeated with stunning return

23rd Aug 2025

Spring preparations for some of Australia’s most exciting horses kicked off at Randwick today and none were as hyped – or impressive – than undefeated star Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun).

The 4YO mare today made it five wins from five starts with a typically breathtaking performance in taking out the G3 Toy Show Quality at headquarters.

Trained by Chris Waller, Autumn Glow is one of the most exhilarating horses in training and while the G2 Theo Marks Stakes at Rosehill in three weeks is a likely next target, races like the G1 $20m The Everest, G1 Epsom Hcp and G1 $10m Golden Eagle are all viable options for the freakish talent.

Bred by Newhaven Park, Autumn Glow (pictured) is an Easter Yearling Sale top lot, purchased by Arrowfield and Hermitage for $1.8m from the Silverdale Farm draft in 2023.

She led in a trifecta of Inglis graduates today when defeating Gangsta Granny and Hi Dubai.

“She’s just a beautiful specimen,’’ Waller said.

“She’s still a lightly raced horse and over the 1100m she was in a bit of trouble from the 500m to the 300m but as you saw, when she came back to the inside and saw some fresh air, it was good to see her finish off like that.

“My gut tells me 1600m will be perfect for her, she’s a laid back mare so I want to let her find her way.’’

Earlier on the Randwick program untapped filly Savvy Hallie (Hellbent) progressed from a maiden victory to being a G2 winner in the space of nine days when successful in the Silver Shadow Stakes.

The Brad Widdup-trained 3YO was having just her sixth career start and remains unbeaten at three from two runs, defeating Within The Law today in an Inglis graduates quinella.

Savvy Hallie is a $320,000 Classic Yearling Sale purchase for B K Racing And Breeding’s Ben Vassallo, from the Riverstone Lodge draft and races for Vassallo and Brad Hunt.

“We knew the pedigree well having raced a close relative (Maddi Rocks) with good success and she was a stand-out physically at Classic for us,’’ Vassallo said.

“She was just a lovely type at the sale, looking forward enough to run as a 2YO but similarly looking like she would improve as she got older.

“Honestly, I was very confident today, as I felt her form was better than anything else in the race.

“There are a lot of options, but we’ll just take our time with her and hopefully she’ll be a good race filly for Mr Hunt for a number of seasons.

“He puts a lot in and it’s fantastic to see him have a really nice horse like this and hopefully she will give us a lot of fun for the next few seasons.’’

Trainer Widdup added: “She’s just brilliant, isn’t she?.

“It’s great when they handle a track like this. It’s very exciting. To see her do that, Brad [Hunt] really deserves a filly like this.’’

The G2 Silver Shadow was the first leg of the Princess Series and Savvy Hallie will continue on to the next race in the series, the G2 Furious Stakes at Randwick in a fortnight.