• Tom Hackett

The Turnbull Stakes meeting at Flemington on Sunday should reveal plenty of contenders for spring riches as the Melbourne carnival gets into full swing.

• Chris Roots

Winx had the perfect season in 2015-16. Being unbeaten in seven starts earned her the Australian horse of the year title on Thursday night, but she couldn't poll all 60 top votes for the award.

• Tom Hackett

There is group 1 racing but the highlight of the Randwick meeting on Saturday may well be the clash between superstar colts Astern and Capitalist in the Roman Consul Stakes.

• Michael Lynch

Robert Heathcote, the Queensland-based trainer of sprint sensation Buffering, jokes that if he didn't look at the old galloper's ID card he would think he was only a four-year-old.

• Chris Roots

Glyn Schofield likes what Skylight Glow has shown him leading into a wide-open Flight Stakes on Saturday at Randwick.

• Adam Pengilly

Gerald Ryan is known to keep sales books for years, curiously glancing back at his notes when one emerges as a budding superstar on the track. He didn't take long to glance at his scribbling for the boom colt heading into the two-year-old season when Sun Bloodstock were seeking a trainer.

• John Holloway

The crowd at the prestigious Goffs Orby Sales in Ireland this week had to wait until one of the last lots for the seven-figure mark to be smashed.

• Chris Roots

Chris Waller and Antonio Giuseppe's owner Tony Muollo are mates, first of all, but they share dreams. But sometimes it takes one a little longer to catch up to other's dream.

• Chris Roots

Godolphin jockey James McDonald still rues the Golden Slipper that might have got away with Golden Rose winner Astern, but that is in the past.

• Chris Roots

Trainer Kris Lees had to make an uncomfortable call for the Epsom but hopes it can result in victory for Le Romain.

• Chris Roots

Chris Waller has designed four separate programs to get Saturday's Epsom, each with its own merits and each has worked before, but he leans towards Mackintosh, which has had the Winx preparation.

• Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker

A shock move by investigators is set to rock Victoria's spring racing carnival, with champion jockey Mark Zahra summoned to publicly testify about a notorious race fixing scandal.

• Chris Roots

Barriers aren't really going to make or break your chances over the mile at Randwick but jockeys and trainers always have preferences.

• Chris Roots

Trainer Tim Martin was airlifted out of Heritage Park, near Picton, on Monday after a horse flipped over on him.

• Michael Lynch

Western Bulldogs team doctor Gary Zimmerman has plenty on his mind this week - and its not all about football.

• James Hall

Chelsea Macfarlane topped the honours at the Queanbeyan Race Club on Monday with two winners.

• James Buckley

Astern clashes with Capitalist on Saturday at Randwick before heading south for the spring carnival.

• Michael Lynch

The weather in Europe over the next few days will have a key bearing on the participation – or otherwise – of two of Coolmore's flagship horses in Australia's major races this spring.

• Patrick Bartley

Kalgoorlie builder Kim Renner is lately a little less indignant at how his small group of life-long friends shunned him at their regular drinking session at a hotel back in 2012.

• Michael Lynch

To win big races, horses not only have to be good they have to be lucky in running. But more than anything, they have to be sound.

• Chris Roots

Sydney trainers would rather keep their horses at home for longer in the spring but the lack of group 1 options is forcing them south.

• Chris Roots

John Thompson only took over the training of Sir John Hawkwood for Waratah Thoroughbreds this spring but all the signs are he might have a group 1 winner after Saturday's Metropolitan at Randwick.

• Chris Roots

Hauraki, Dibayani, Happy Clapper and Sons Of John have finished in the shadow of Winx over the Randwick mile in the past year and will look for their time in the sun in Saturday's Epsom Handicap.

• Patrick Bartley

Former Western Australian Black Heart Bart has added another vital dimension to this year's group one Cox Plate.

• Michael Lynch

Black Heart Bart's jockey Brad Rawiller rode through the pain barrier to pilot his partner to another group 1 win in the Underwood Stakes and then declared that he could not wait to take on the country's top rated horse, Winx, next month.

• Chris Roots

Tim Martin has Moral Victory in career best form and he made two wins from as many starts this campaign as he took out the Shannon Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday. But instead of backing-up in the Epsom, Martin will wait for next month's Toorak Handicap at Caulfield to chase a group 1. "He has never gone better, his target is the Toorak and his win last start and today he is well and truly on song," Martin said. "I just want to thank Mark Warlters he and I bred the horse and it has been a tough road with the breeding and it's nice to get a good win. He have had that plan with him and there is no reasn to change it."

• Michael Lynch

At 36 Caulfield based Ciaron Maher has long since gone beyond the "promising young trainer stage".

• Chris Roots

Peter Snowden has always been there for Josh Parr and once again the winning combination struck with Tycoon Tara in the Golden Pendant at Rosehill on Saturday.

• Chris Roots

James McDonald never wanted to be where he was on Impending in Saturday's Stan Fox Stakes, but sometimes things turn out surprisingly good.