• Chris Roots

Premier trainer Chris Waller might have the leading lady of the turf in Winx but the support cast was lacking for the past 12 months, a trend he would like to buck on the first day of The Championships.

• Eamonn Tiernan

There will be no excuses for Fell Swoop in the TJ Smith Stakes at Randwick Racecourse on Saturday.

• Chris Roots

Ciaron Maher has always thought Ruthven was a stayer and he gets his chance to prove in Saturday's Australian Derby at Randwick.

• Chris Roots

Gerald Ryan doesn't need to be reminded that the fillies have held swayed in the two-year-olds ranks this season but given the improving nature of the Randwick track, he thinks it might the boys' turn in the Sires on Saturday.

• Hugh Bowman

Peter V'landys is not someone who would be on top of most peoples' list as a dinner guest however it's remarkable how healthy racing in this state is at the moment on the eve of The Championships.

• Patrick Bartley

One of the features at Bendigo's huge day of racing on Saturday will be to see if the amazing winning sequence of Burning Front can continue in the $150,000 Golden Mile.

• Chris Roots

When the SOS call came from Australia for Godolphin jockey James Doyle, he knew it was an opportunity but also knew he had to make a call himself.

• Max Presnell

Few, if any racehorse trainers, have done so much with so few as Frank Lewis, and he is still hitting the line like a true stayer. Lewis, 97, comes to mind on Doncaster-Derby day on which he has left his mark.

• Chris Roots

Australian Bloodstock's Jamie Lovett might have lost a Doncaster runner in Tosen Stardom because of the predicted soft Randwick track but he could not be happier with it for Big Duke in Saturday's Chairman's Handicap.

• Chris Roots

In rodeo circles, the names Morgan and Angland are as well known as Waterhouse and Waller in racing, so it would be a win for the cowboys if Pelerin can win the Country Championships Final at Randwick on Saturday.

• Chris Roots

Outstanding sprinter Star Turn has been retired to stand at Vinery Stud after a career spent racing at the top level.

• Chris Roots

Peter Moody had Hardham marked as a stayer from the time he entered his stable, but a decision to put him "in a more rural environment" could be the catalyst for an Australian Derby win at Randwick on Saturday.

• Adam Pengilly

A couple of concreting brothers from Sydney's west are about to turn everything normal about the Doncaster Mile on its head - but when will their horse Le Romain get the respect he deserves?

• Chris Roots

Matt Dale and Bryce Heys are great racing mates. They have been since working together at John O'Shea's stable more than a decade ago, but they will best of enemies when Fell Swoop and Spieth trying to break their group 1 jinx in the TJ Smith at Randwick on Saturday.

• Adam Pengilly

The Kiwis may have one hand on the Australian Derby, but a rare two-year-old raid across the Tasman "is a different mountain to climb" for Wexford Stables.

• Chris Roots

Redkirk Warrior is a horse that break the rules on both sides of the world and as lead trainer David Hayes says "all may it continue" heading into Saturday's Doncaster Mile at Randwick.

• John Holloway

Are Australasian racegoers about to witness another Bonecrusher when Kiwi three-year-old Gingernuts shoots for his biggest success in the Australian Derby at Royal Randwick this weekend?

• Chris Roots

The $10 million dream of Racing NSW and Australian Turf Club is reality with all 12 Everest slots sold and a quarter of the slots already earmarked for horses.

• Adam Pengilly

A mid-year national stewards conference will discuss whether concussion protocols for jockeys will be tightened and made uniform across different states after it emerged NSW and Victoria had different requirements for when a rider could return to the saddle after a fall.

• Patrick Bartley

Australian jockeys, trainers and senior racing executives have come out in full support of the proposed $11 billion merger between TabCorp and Tatts.

• Chris Roots

The group 1 shadow of Winx hangs over perhaps one of the best Doncaster Mile's this century with a half-dozen runners having been consigned to runner-up status by the mighty mare during her winning streak.

• Eamonn Tiernan

Fell Swoop has secured the perfect barrier draw ahead of the TJ Smith Stakes on Saturday.

Doncaster Mile favourite Le Romain has drawn well in barrier eight for the $3 million race.

• Michael Lynch

Could Jameka succeed where globetrotting Australasian gallopers such as Balmerino, Strawberry Road and, more recently, So You Think, have failed and win Europe's most prestigious race, the Prix de l"Arc de Triomphe?

• Chris Roots

Chauatauqua hasn't won in Australia since last year's TJ Smith but such is his star quality he will be the leading act on the first day of The Championships at Randwick on Saturday.

• Chris Roots

It has certainly been advantage Melbourne since the direct focus of racing has turned to Sydney in the past couple of weeks. It has been like what happens in the spring only reversed.

• Chris Roots

Tony McEvoy is hoping the weather forecast for the rest of the week in Sydney will hold true as he sends Australian Guineas winner Hey Doc north for Saturday's Doncaster Mile.

• Chris Roots

Golden Slipper winning jockey Ben Melham will miss the final two days of the Sydney carnival after being suspended for 14 days and fined $2000 after hitting Assign 15 times before the 100 metre mark as he won Saturday's Neville Sellwood Stakes at Rosehill.

• Adam Pengilly

Trained turned television commentator Peter Moody had a hand in all three Vinery Stud placegetters as the father-and-son training partnership of Leon and Troy Corstens scored just their second group 1 win in a messy Vinery Stud Stakes.