Waller's 500 to 1 Sweep Dies at Flemington: Tempted Fifth, Aeliana Fourth, Autumn Glow 15 From 16

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The 500 to 1 clean sweep is dead, and it died in the space of two races at Flemington. Chris Waller saddled the favourite in five feature races across Flemington and Rosehill on Saturday, and bookmakers priced all five winning at close to 500 to 1. By the end of the day, he had won two of them.

Tempted, the $1.70 favourite in the Champions Sprint, finished fifth. Aeliana, the $2.80 favourite in the Champions Stakes, finished fourth. Declichy Boulevard, the favourite in the Five Diamonds at Rosehill, finished fourth as well. The sweep was over before the last race had even started.

But this was not a bad day for Waller. It was a strange one. Autumn Glow won the Champions Mile, her 15th win from 16 starts, and Birdman won the Champions Stakes, reversing the Cox Plate result. Waller took two of the three Group 1 races at Flemington, and both of his winners were outstanding. The sweep failed, but the carnival ended with Waller still the dominant trainer in the country.

What happened to Tempted in the Sprint?

Tempted went into the Champions Sprint chasing a seventh straight win, and her third win at the top level, after her victory in The Everest at Randwick on 17 October, when she beat Ka Ying Rising by a head. She was sent out the $1.70 favourite, and she had never raced down the Flemington straight before.

She travelled sixth for Chad Schofield, racing closest to the outside rail, and she hit the front at the 100 metre mark. Then she died on her run. She finished fifth, 1.56 lengths behind the winner, and the straight course had claimed another victim.

The winner was Point Barrow, a $19 chance trained by Anthony and Sam Freedman and ridden by Mark Zahra. She settled eighth, Zahra waited for a gap on the inside, and she burst through late to beat the $101 outsider Plaintiff by a neck. Skybird was third. Joliestar, Waller's second runner, was sixth.

It was Point Barrow's first Group 1 win, and it was a long range spring plan coming off. Zahra has now won this race three times, after Giga Kick in 2025 and Santa Ana Lane in 2018. He said after the race that he did not like the ground out wide, so he went back to the inside after following Tempted, and the move won him the race.

For Tempted, there was a medical explanation. A post race veterinary investigation found she had suffered exercise induced pulmonary haemorrhage, which is diagnosed after blood is found in the airways of the lung. Her trainer Ciaron Maher said: "She's obviously had a long, successful preparation but it has come to an end." She is expected to be back fit and firing again next autumn.

Tempted's spring was still a great one. She won the Group 2 Concorde Stakes, the Group 2 Premiere Stakes and the Group 1 Everest, beating a horse who had won 21 races in a row. The Flemington straight is a test in itself, because straight track sprinting is different from bend racing. There are no turns to help a horse balance, no rail to guide it, and the field spreads across the full width of the track. Some sprinters love it. Some do not. Tempted found out on Saturday that she does not, at least not yet.

How good was Autumn Glow in the Mile?

Very good, and the numbers now put her in rare company. Autumn Glow won the Champions Mile by 1.25 lengths from her stablemate Lindermann, with another stablemate, Buckaroo, a further length away in third. It was a Waller trained trifecta, and it was Autumn Glow's sixth Group 1 win, her first at Flemington, and her 15th win from 16 starts.

She started at $1.18, the shortest priced favourite of the day, and she did what short priced favourites are supposed to do. James McDonald sat her second behind Lindermann, who led, and she took over at the top of the straight. The winning margin of 1.25 lengths barely showed how easy it was.

The win capped an unbeaten spring campaign that also included the Group 1 Winx Stakes, the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes and the Group 2 Seven Stakes. She has now earned A$14.6 million in prizemoney, and her trainer has put her in the same company as the legendary Winx after a hard fought win in the $3 million Champions Mile.

But there was a sting in the tail. Racing Victoria stewards confirmed after the race that Autumn Glow has been diagnosed with lameness in her near fore leg. She is bound for the spelling paddock, and she is expected to resume next autumn. Like Tempted, she will not race again this year. The two best horses of the carnival both came out of Champions Day with veterinary concerns, which is a reminder that even a perfect day at the races has a cost.

How did Birdman reverse the Cox Plate?

Birdman won the Champions Stakes by three quarters of a length from Cosmic Crusader, with Sir Delius third and Aeliana fourth. It was an exact reversal of the Cox Plate, two weeks earlier, when Cosmic Crusader beat Birdman by three quarters of a length.

Ben Melham rode a brave race. Birdman jumped from barrier 1, and Melham let him drop out and settle last of the 10 runners. He was still last at the 800 metre mark, while Cosmic Crusader travelled seventh for William Pike. Melham pulled Birdman out three wide on the turn, and he came with one long run to beat the Cox Plate winner by exactly the same margin he had lost by.

It was Birdman's third Group 1 win.

The Stakes was the most open of the three Group 1 races, because it was a genuine Cox Plate rematch over 2000 metres, a proper staying test. Cosmic Crusader, Birdman and Aeliana had already met at the top level, and the Cox Plate form held up, just in a different order.

How did the 500 to 1 sweep actually end?

The sweep was Chris Waller saddling the favourite in five feature races across two states on Saturday. Bookmakers priced all five winning in one all-up at close to 500 to 1. Here is how it went.

Joliestar was not a sweep leg. She was second favourite in the Sprint behind Tempted, and she finished sixth. The sweep was the five favourites above, and Waller won two of them, Autumn Glow and Lazzura.

Tempted was not a Waller runner, but she was the headline horse of the day, and her defeat in the Sprint was the first blow. The sweep needed everything to go right, and on a day when two of the best horses in the country came out of their races with veterinary issues, everything did not go right.

Waller still won two of the five, and he won two of the three Flemington Group 1 races. The 500 to 1 figure was a bookmaker's price for a clean sweep, not a prediction, and nobody should have bet on it as if it were likely. But the fact that it was being priced at all, for one trainer on one day, tells fans how far ahead of the field Waller's team is right now.

At Rosehill, the Five Diamonds went to Evaporate, a $10 chance trained by Ben, Will and JD Hayes and ridden by Nash Rawiller. Evaporate beat Zambardo by a long neck, with Plymouth third and Declichy Boulevard fourth. It was a feature double for Lindsay Park at Rosehill, after Act Up won the $1 million Golden Gift earlier in the day.

What happens next in racing?

The Melbourne Cup carnival is over. The focus now moves north, to the Cheltenham November Meeting, which runs from 13 to 15 November, with the Paddy Power Gold Cup on Saturday 14 November at 2:20pm, a prize fund of 160,000 pounds, and 41 entries. Early leaders in the betting are Meetmebythesea at 4 to 1, Blueking D'Oroux at 6 to 1, Madara at 8 to 1, and Regent's Stroll and Vincenzo at 10 to 1. Weights were due on Wednesday 4 November, and declarations are on Thursday 12 November.

There is no new development in the Nick Ryan case. The trainer had his licence suspended after stewards found two syringes of darbepoetin alfa, a banned substance, in the glove box of his car at Flemington on 31 October. He was charged under AR 250 (a), which covers possession of a Prohibited List A substance. The inquiry was adjourned for 28 days, and no new development has been reported.

That distinction still matters. The charge is possession only. No horse has tested positive, no horse is named as having been given the substance, and no finding or penalty has been announced. Ryan's horses are being transferred to other licensed trainers while the inquiry continues.

The other carnival punishments, Chris Waller fined $50,000 after Asterix was scratched from the Melbourne Cup on race morning over a Penetrene treatment, and Ben Allen's 16 meeting ban for a whip breach in the Cup, are separate cases and should not be confused with the Ryan possession charge.

Champions Day asked three questions. Can the best sprinter handle the straight? The answer was no, and she bled for it. Can the best miler keep winning? The answer was yes, and she did it easily, but she came out of it lame. And does the Cox Plate form hold up over 2000 metres? The answer was yes, but in reverse. That is a carnival with a sting in the tail, and it is why Flemington is still the hardest place in Australian racing to win.

Related live posts: Waller's 500 to 1 Clean Sweep, Tempted at $1.80 and Autumn Glow at $1.20: Champions Day Final Fields and Times (https://www.ofthepitch.com/champions-day-waller-500-1-tempted-autumn-glow-final-fields-times), and Point Of Law Wins Melbourne Cup as Maher Trains Historic Trifecta: Full Results, Dividends and What Happens Next (https://www.ofthepitch.com/point-of-law-wins-melbourne-cup-maher-trifecta-full-results-dividends).

Sources: Racing.com, Maher explains Tempted's Champions Sprint defeat, 7 November 2026; The Straight, Autumn Glow leads Group 1 winners, 7 November 2026; Just Horse Racing, Champions Stakes results and Champions Mile results, 7 November 2026; Sporting Post, Sixth Grade 1 victory for Autumn Glow, 7 November 2026; QTR Blog, Stakes Day 2026 review, 7 November 2026; AAP via The Observer, High praise as Autumn Glow claims Champions Mile win, 7 November 2026.