BROWNIE'S BLOG: A THRILLING CLIMAX, BUT A SAD FAREWELL AS THE 'OLD' MOONEE VALLEY BOWS OUT

By Damian Browne | Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Multiple Group 1 winning jockey Damian Browne might be retired from race riding, but his passion for racing still remains and he now gives back to the industry, offering invaluable mentorship to young apprentices wise enough to take on board his advice. Beyond that, Browne is as insightful as ever when offering his opinion on racing matters, with his knowledge gained from so many years in the saddle leaving him ideally placed to give an informed commentary on many aspects of the game. This is Brownie’s Blog, a blog which is exclusive to HRO.

It’s a great time of the year for racing enthusiasts and the final running of the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley, before major renovations are undertaken there, lived up to the fitting finale we were all hoping for with Via Sistina just getting the better of Buckaroo in a stride for stride battle to the line.

To be honest, I thought the Cox Plate was lacking a bit of depth this year, but what it might have been lacking in depth, it made up for in excitement with the horses who they thought would step up, stepping up.

To me, it was a little bit of a shame what happened to the course with the scenes I saw after the last race with the crowd pulling things down and just wrecking everything.
I know they were given permission to do that, but you would have thought the running rail, for example, would be reusable somewhere … and some smaller club maybe could have benefitted from that … because it is not cheap stuff.

Anyway they were enjoying themselves, and maybe my reaction was linked to my sadness that the Moonee Valley track, as we knew it, had come to an end.

During my time in the saddle, I had success at Moonee Valley … both with the likes of Buffering (in the Moir, the Manikato and the McKinnon) and Woorim … and before that, when I was based down there.

As a track it was a beauty and that is why, to me, it is sad to see it go. It created its own atmosphere and was unique in its layout.

It is probably one of the only tracks … Happy Valley would be another example … where it is like a velodrome where the cyclists ride, but obviously on a bigger scale.

You can feel the crowd underneath you.

I’ve got that memory in the bank and It was a privilege to have ridden there.
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At the time of writing Antino’s ‘no show’ in the Cox Plate, where he never got into the race, is still mystifying to his connections.

The disappointment was felt not only by the Tony Gollan stable and the horse’s connections, but by every Queensland racing enthusiast.

We should remember though, the bottom line is that as long as Antino comes back, pulls up and ends up ok … that, at the end of the day, is the most important thing of all.
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The two big race winners at Randwick on Saturday … and their trainers … deserve special mention.

The Joe pride trained Attica won the $2 million, Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes in only his fourth start (he has won three out of four).

Joe probably doesn’t go to the sales with the same bank book that some of the big trainers have, but he has done a marvellous job over a long period of time, particularly as the horses get older.

A lot of trainers these days are all about the two and three-year-olds, but Joe is also a master at getting those old horses back and firing when you might have thought they have had enough.

He is clearly as good at bringing the younger horses through though … Attica, a three-year-old … being very much a case in point.

The other outstanding performance came from the Bjorn Baker trained Stefi Magnetica in the $2 million, Group 2, The Invitation.

She has always been a horse who has had a lot of ability but, because of her racing pattern she does need luck most of the time. She was unlucky in the Golden Eagle last year when the winning rider got time and there have been a couple of occasions where she was storming home but things haven’t gone well for her.

You just can’t argue against a horse’s ability when she has a Stradbroke and a Doncaster victory on her record, and she showed just how good she is again on Saturday.
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Just a quick look back …

Ka Ying Rising, David Hayes and Zac Purton all reigned supreme in their respective roles in The Everest.

As I said in my previous blog, you want to see the best horse do what he does best … and it was great to see Ka Ying Rising live up to his billing, in spite of several false alarms in the days leading up to the race.

That didn’t mean that Purton got a free pass on the day.

As we now all know, Zac copped a real spray for his ride on Lake Forest, but I don’t think he is going to lose a lot of sleep over the criticism he received from Maureen Haggas.

Our style of riding in the southern hemisphere is different to that in the Northern Hemisphere but there is certainly not the kind of gap in ability that Haggas implied in her comments.

That said, perceived bad rides happen everywhere and, being the wife of a trainer, she would have seen bad rides on their horses back home, no doubt.

And just a quick look forward …

The Haggas stable will be bringing their jockeys from England to ride their horses at Flemington and Randwick on Saturday week … and it will be interesting if things don’t go quite so well for them either if the comments are similar, or not.

Only time will tell for that one.

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