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Saturday was a day to remember for the Oxlade family with the South Australian father and daughter training combination of Shane and Cassie claiming Group 1 success in Melbourne with Queman.
Jockey Harry Coffey gave the one time bad boy of their Strathalbyn stable a perfect ride before he nailed Hypothetical in the last stride to give SA their first Group 1 winner in three and half years.
Shane Oxlade said everything fell perfectly into place.
"I thought he was drawn to run the race of his life,'' Oxlade said.
"His form was really good going in, the form around him was good.
"He was lucky enough to pull it off,'' he said.
The Oxlade's took two runners into the feature, but everything went wrong for stablemate Sghirripa, the more fancied of the pair, who jumped poorly and gave rivals a tidy start before he flashed late to be beaten just 2.2 lengths in seventh position.
Queman's Group 1 success came a tick over thirty minutes after exciting three-year-old Kuroyanagi was brave running third behind Hayasugi in the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes for Will Clarken and Niki O'Shea.
At Morphettville, Victorian horseman Patrick Kearney has himself a genuine Adelaide Cup contender after Yellowbrick Road defied rivals to give the young trainer the biggest win of his career in the Group 3 Lord Reims Stakes.
Yellowbrick Road, a bargain Inglis Digital buy, made it successive wins defying locals The Map and Hasta La War at the end of a gruelling 2600m feature.
"I paid eight grand online for this horse,'' Kearney said.
"I was sitting on the couch having a couple of beers when I bought him, I thought stuff it, I got a heap of really good people in him, my first Group runner.
"I love this horse, he was so tough.
"We'll be back here for the Adelaide Cup. Dreams are free and if he wins that we might have a crack at the Melbourne Cup,'' he said.
Paul Gatt had a welcome return home winning the Listed Cinderella Stakes (1050m) aboard Herastar, 23 years after winning his first aboard Russian Caravan for Tony McEvoy.
The Dean Kongronld filly was beaten for speed early before Gatt weaved a passage through the field and they raced to an impressive win, while the heavily backed favourite Campari Twist folded up to be well beaten.
"We went to plan B, got a nice run through and she did a good job to pick them up,'' Gatt said.
"They were going quite quick, I could feel her picking up but the last 100m she launched late,'' he said.
The Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained Snapped continued her affinity with Morphettville when she powered over the top of Grinzinger Prince to claim the Listed City Of Marion Stakes.
The winner of the Group 3 Proud Miss Stakes at Morphettville back in May made it two wins from two Morphettville starts with Todd Pannell in the saddle.
Apprentice Tala Hutchinson's brilliant first week of race riding became even bigger when she claimed Sunday's Lock Cup aboard the Garret Lynch-trained Shiny Rock before Adelaide's Diamond made it a race to race double for the combination.
