Stephen Autridge and Opie Bosson hit racing milestones

Still Bangon edges Stephen Autridge closer to 100 wins.Photo / Peer Rubery

Stephen Autridge had milestones on his mind on Saturday.

The Matamata trainer had a beaming smile after watching his godson Opie Bosson join the 2000 domestic wins club when he won the opener at Te Rapa on the dazzling Move To Strike.

“I reckon I might have been the first to text him,” says Autridge.

“It was very special to see and you need those goals and milestones as you get further into your career.”

Then Autridge edged closer to a milestone of his own when talented filly Still Bangon won the $100,000 Lawnmaster Eulogy Stakes at Trentham after a smart ride by Tegan Newman. “It was my 98th black type winner so you can guess what my goal is,” offers Autridge.

Plenty of those black type wins came when Autridge was training for Te Akau, whose filly My Lips Are Sealed was runner-up to Still Bangon on Saturday. Autridge only trains 15 horses these days but Still Bangon could be the filly to get him to the 100 black type wins.

She showed courage in testing conditions on Saturday and the second half of her season could be determined by how she performs in the new Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes at Pukekohe on New Year’s Day.

That 2050m, formerly known as the Royal Stakes, should give Autridge more idea of Still Bangon’s distance range and if she can handle 2050m it opens up plenty of black type opportunities right through to the New Zealand Oaks.

Her racing style would suggest she will take the step up and she is by Satono Aladdin, sire of this year’s dual Oaks winner Pennyweka.

Happy racing crowds in Australia

The Australian crowds enjoyed a golden hour on Saturday.

Damien Oliver capped one of racing’s great careers when he rode Munhamek to win his last ride in the race named in his honour, the A$1.5 million Damien Oliver Gold Rush at Ascot in Perth.

Oliver is retiring from riding and won his last three races, the final one a beautiful steer from barrier 17 that had the 8000-strong crowd going wild for the WA-born star.

Oliver retires with 3198 career victories including 129 Group 1 wins, a remarkable target for ex-pat Kiwi jockey James McDonald to chase down as he looks the only current rider capable of getting it.

Queensland racing fans saluted a local hero when Leap To Fame won the A$500,000 Inter Dominion Pacing Final.

The dynamic pacer got in front of New Zealand Cup winner Swayzee at the start of the 2680m mobile and strolled to the front before exploding away to a 10m win in a lightning quick 1:53.5 mile rate.

While there were no Kiwi-trained horses in the Inter Dominions there will be plenty of interest here in whether Leap To Fame comes to Cambridge in April for the $1m Race by Grins.

He will be at the top of the shopping list for many slot holders but Dixon is not committing to the trip yet as he still has the Miracle Mile to contest in March and the option of Perth’s slot pacing race, the A$1.25m Nullabor just a week after the Cambridge event.

Just Believe defended his Inter Dominion Trotting title with an effortless win and seems likely to be at Cambridge on April 12 for the new TAB Slot Trot.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.