'You can drive yourself mad': Unbeaten mare isn't Arrowfield's best ever - yet...

Cover image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography

Eight unbeaten wins and over $7.3 million in earnings are big numbers. And that’s not all.

Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun) is one of many Group 1 winners to have raced in Arrowfield’s colours, but one of few who were not born or raised there. She’s a sale topping weanling and then again made sales headlines when she was a yearling purchased by Arrowfield and Hermitage for $1.8 million.

When she won the G1 Epsom Handicap at her last start, she became the 54th Group 1 winner bred by Newhaven Park Stud.

In short, she has it all, but the real question is: Is she the best Group 1 winner to don the famous Arrowfield silks?

“No. Or at least, not yet,” said Arrowfield’s John Messara.

One mare stands clear above all the rest

It might seem staggering, but an unbeaten, eight-from-eight, Group 1-winning mare is not the best horse to wear Arrowfield’s yellow and black colours.

Over the last 40 years, the farm has produced 88 individual Group 1 winners, including two Australian Horses of the Year – Lankan Rupee (Redoute’s Choice) and Weekend Hussler (Hussonet {USA}). But those two went through the auction ring and were raced by others, like many of the Group 1 winners who were born and raised at Arrowfield Stud.

Arrowfield have also bought yearlings from others to race in their own colours, and Autumn Glow fits into that category.

So we asked the obvious-but-impossible question: of all of them, who’s the best? Who’s the favourite child?

Messara doesn’t blink.

And for anyone who knows him, the answer won’t raise an eyebrow. Even his biological children would probably concede she’s ahead of them on his list.

“Miss Finland.”

“It’s something that is very difficult to do, (to go from) 1200 metres to 2500 metres in the space of seven or eight months,” said Messara.

“She won five Group 1 races, the Golden Slipper, and an Oaks. We’ve raced quite a few Oaks winners over time. They are all important in our history, but Miss Finland towers above everything. (Her record is) eye-popping stuff. It’ll take a lot to go past her for me. And won at Weight-For-Age. She’s very special.”

Miss Finland (Redoute's Choice) won on debut as a January 2-year-old, then won the Listed Talindert Stakes at her next start. Second in the G1 Blue Diamond, two starts later she won the G1 Golden Slipper. Miss Finland concluded her juvenile season with a second in the G1 Champagne Stakes. She was crowned the Australian Champion 2-Year-Old for 2005/06.

At the same point in her career, Autumn Glow was unraced, a trial winner only.

At three, Miss Finland opened her account with two Group 3 victories, was second in the G2 Edward Manifold Stakes before winning the G1 MRC Thousand Guineas. She ran sixth in the G1 Cox Plate, and then won the G1 Victoria Oaks.

Autumn Glow debuted as an August 3-year-old with a win. She added the G3 Up & Coming Stakes and G2 Tea Rose Stakes that spring, and that was it for her spring.

Miss Finland came back in the autumn at three, winning three of her five starts including the G1 Australian Guineas and the G1 Arrowfield Stud Stakes (now the Vinery Stud Stakes). She was crowned Australia’s Champion 3-Year-Old. In the autumn, Autumn Glow won the Listed Darby Munro Stakes at her only start.

Both mares raced at four. Miss Finland resumed with a win in the G2 Memsie Stakes (upgraded to Group 1 six years later in 2013), then had two Group 1 seconds before running fourth in the G1 Cox Plate. Her career earnings of $4.6 million came before the sharp rise in prizemoney in the past few seasons.

Autumn Glow is unbeaten in four starts this spring. She resumed in the G3 Toy Show Handicap, then won the G2 Theo Marks Stakes before her first top level win in the Epsom, and now collected the Golden Eagle too.

“Autumn Glow is working her way up the scale with her unbeaten record,” said Messara.

A queen producer

Miss Finland is also officially retired as a broodmare.

“Last year, she turned 20 and I decided that she’s done enough. She did enough on the racetrack, she did enough as a broodmare, so I thought let’s give her a rest, so she is looking after younger animals now,” said Messara.

Miss Finland had 12 live foals, for nine runners and seven winners, led by G1 MRC Thousand Guineas winner Stay With Me (Street Cry {Ire}).

Stay With Me is the dam of Listed winner Waltz On By (I Am Invincible). Miss Finland also produced stakes-placed winners G1 Spring Champion Stakes-placed Bucharest (Deep Impact {Jpn}), G1 JJ Atkins Plate-placed Miracle Of Love (Dundeel {NZ}), Woodbine (Hussonet {USA}), and Earth Angel (Animal Kingdom {USA}).

“She’s very special to us. It’ll take something very special to knock her off the pedestal. Not that I don’t think that Autumn Glow isn’t going to turn into something special. She’s very distinctive having won her first eight races, which is bloody difficult to do.”

Being unbeaten is a massive achievement

Autumn Glow, with one Group 1 victory, has a way to go to match Miss Finland’s five top flight wins, but she's giving it a huge nudge.

“The odds of winning eight consecutive races - and not being beaten at all - is very long. She’s special in that regard, and she’s special because we don’t know where the bottom is. We don’t know how much deeper we can go with her, particularly in terms of distance,” said Messara.

“If she can run just as effectively over 2000 metres, it opens up a whole new world for her, like the Cox Plate and the Queen Elizabeth. It’ll make a big difference, but she may or may not be comfortable getting that distance. She’ll certainly try hard because she’s that sort of an animal.

“At the moment we haven’t sought that level of versatility off this mare, we’ve restricted her to 1200 to 1600-metre distances. It wouldn’t surprise me if she could be trained to get more ground than that. Class often gets them there.

“She’s out of a fast sprinting mare, and The Autumn Sun himself was versatile.”

And it’s that fast sprinting mare, Via Africa (Saf) (Var {USA}) that brings in another part of the discussion around Autumn Glow.

Trained by Duncan Howells, Via Africa was crowned Champion Sprinter in South Africa for 2013/14 and won 10 of her 18 starts including three at Group 1 level.

On maintaining the unbeaten streak

Across all of racing history, there have been only 23 horses who have been unbeaten in more than 10 starts. Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) is the only Australian-bred horse on that list and is second with 25 unbeaten starts.

The leader of that list is Kinscem, a Hungarian born mare who won across Europe including the time-honoured Goodwood Cup, with 54 victories from as many starts.

Table: Best unbeaten horses in global racing history

Many of the true greats of the turf, such as Winx (Street Cry {Ire}), Sunline (Desert Sun {GB}), and Octagonal (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), did not have an unblemished record and Messara agrees that he’d rather see her properly tested at Group 1 level.

“I think you can write yourself silly if you try and protect the unbeaten record,” said Messara.

“We have to go for the races that we think will suit her and if she can continue in her picket fence, so be it. You’ve got to wait for the races she’s good enough to win and keep raising the bar if you can.

“I’m not allowing the picket fence to overtake our lives at this stage of the game. It is tempting. But it’s more tempting to win Group 1 races.”

Messara would rather place in several Group 1 races while attempting to add more top level wins to Autumn Glow’s record than plan a campaign around staying unbeaten.

“This picket fence business can overtake you. They’re all saying, is she another Winx, will she win more in a row, and all that sort of thing, and at the end of the day, you can drive yourself - and the horse - mad. Just go for the races that will improve her standing.

“If we can have a Group 1 calendar, that’s it for me. I want to try a win a few more of those if we can.

“We don’t want to do anything to hurt her. She’s been wonderful to us, and we just want to go with her and stay in the bracket that she’s comfortable with. That’s the discussion we’ll have with Chris over the next few months. She’s still lightly raced.”

Hitting the road

To date, Autumn Glow has only raced in Sydney. “I would love to race her in Melbourne if the opportunity arose. We have to talk to the trainer about that. I favour having a go in Melbourne. I think, for her, there’s value in winning a proper race at Flemington. There’s a mystique about Flemington,” said Messara.

“I’ll be guided by Chris (Waller). He’s done a great job with her and so has the jockey (James McDonald). I don’t ignore the input of Kerrin McEvoy either, who has ridden her when James hasn’t been available, Kerrin’s done a magnificent job on her. They both understand her and work well with her.”

And when asked if there were any plans to think globally with Autumn Glow?

“I’m one that loves to go and show off the Australian product elsewhere, so if an opportunity arose, I’ll certainly consider it. There’s a lot of logistics involved and the trainer has to be very involved in all that. It’s not an easy job, particularly with major trainers who have a lot of obligations locally.

“You always like to go and beat those ones if you can. We’ve done it once or twice in the past and got a huge thrill from that. It’s possible it could come on the agenda. And at the end of the day, she’ll tell us if she’s up to that.

“You’d think she’d be a good traveller, because she’s so laid back. Her demeanour is so good, you’d think she’d handle new things more than other horses would.

“(She has a) fantastic attitude. She doesn’t burn any energy, before the race or during the race for that matter. She does what she’s asked to do and that’s it. Very laid back.”

The workman-like attitude likely comes from Danehill (USA), the sire of Redoute’s Choice, sire of The Autumn Sun. “They would go through a brick wall if you ask them, and they won’t get overly excited. That’s the strength of the breed, right there.”

Arrowfield’s faith in The Autumn Sun is being repaid

The Autumn Sun retired to Arrowfield Stud in 2019 and his oldest crop are 5-year-olds. He has 10 stakes winners, and five of them are at Group 1 level.

“The impact on us, is not only the filly who deserves all the credit and also the trainer and jockey who are a fantastic combination, but also the impact it has on The Autumn Sun as a stallion, who now has gone to the top of the stallion table,” said Messara.

“I’m thrilled because she’s by a stallion that we have a huge amount of faith in. Redoute’s Choice was the best son of Danehill, and I think The Autumn Sun is going to be the best son of Redoute’s Choice when it’s all said and done.”

It’s a huge call when Arrowfield Stud stood Snitzel, a four-time Australian Champion Sire with 162 stakes winners who is currently the best son of Redoute’s Choice.

“It is a big call,” Messara acknowledged. “Snitzel has been wonderful, but at the same time in their career, Snitzel had one Group 1 winner and this bloke has five.”

Messara sent a list of stallions who’ve made the top 10 on the Sires’ table in recent years, and who had one Group 1 winner by the time their oldest progeny were spring 5-year-olds. TTR added their career Group 1 winners to the table for full career context.

Table: Top 10 stallions with number of Group 1 winners when oldest were spring 5YOs

“The Autumn Sun was a great racehorse himself, five times a Group 1 winner, and retired perfectly healthy and could’ve gone on to win more. But Redoute’s Choice had died and he took his place.

“Interestingly, people don’t realise, The Autumn Sun ran at the time, the fastest ever 1200 metres at Randwick for a 2-year-old. And in his last race he was able to win the Rosehill Guineas over 2000 metres. He had tremendous versatility.”

And it’s that versatility that might just mean Autumn Glow gives Messara his wish for more Group 1 wins over a bigger range of distances.

Newhaven’s 54th Group 1 winner

When Autumn Glow won the G1 Epsom Handicap at her seventh start, she added to the incredible history at Newhaven Park Stud.

“She’s Newhaven’s 54th Group 1 winner and our second this year with Cool Archie,” said John Kelly. Cool Archie (Cool Aza Beel {NZ}) won the 2025 G1 JJ Atkins Plate.

“She’s a very special mare, Via Africa, with two Group 1 winners from four foals. She was a very good racehorse in South Africa and is now a very good broodmare.” Via Africa’s other Group 1 winner is In The Congo who stands at Newgate Farm.

“She’s been a difficult breeder and hasn’t had a foal since Autumn Glow. Her owners have moved her permanently to Widden and she’ll go to Zoustar this year,” said Kelly.

After Autumn Glow was born, Via Africa had two still-born foals in succession, both by Snitzel. She was given a season off, then she missed to both Snitzel and I Am Invincible last spring, so came into the spring empty. Via Africa is sixteen now, and hopefully her luck turns around this spring as racing enjoys the thrill of her unbeaten champion.

“Autumn Glow was always a lovely foal. She’s a fairly handy horse, isn’t she? We will sit back and watch and try to remain calm as we hope she can continue to put the picket fence together.

“Autumn Glow sold well, and then she made an amazing price as a yearling. Chris Waller has done a great job with her and managed her though a few little issues. They’ve always had a huge opinion of her.”