Even at a quiet part of the year, it’s still been a busy week in racing

Even at a typically quiet time of the year, there is plenty going on across the racing world at the moment. From a dominating performance at headquarters to disappointing news as well as a debut to look forward to, there is plenty to cover.

Dee has four-timer at Flemington

Michael Dee went to Flemington for five rides on Saturday afternoon. He would have expected one winner but he left with four and for a brief moment 300m out, it looked like he might sweep the entire lot!

First Settler was the one that Dee would have felt would win. Sent off the $1.95 favourite, the two-year-old colt added to his impressive debut at Caulfield. Connections have big plans for the sprinter with the Coolmore back at Flemington in November the main target.

Liberami got in as a reserve and took full advantage in race five. If that $21.00 roughie was a shock to punters then the $51.00 winner that Dee rode in race eight lived up to his name, Horrifying. Hit The Road Jack was an $8.00 winner of the Flemington Cup for Dee in race seven.

Will we see Soulcombe at all in the spring?

Runner-up in the Melbourne Cup last season, Soulcombe looks set to miss the spring. He suffered an injury which kept him out of an autumn prep. Although the recovery from that has gone well, Soulcombe is not back doing anything too strenuous yet.

The horse is back in light work but with just a week and a half until the start of the new season, it is a race that connections are losing against time. His talent means that connections are not going to want to rush him back sooner than they should.

Kennedy showed her talent in Rising Stars

It was a perfectly timed run for Jaylah Kennedy as she won the Rising Stars on Saturday on Arqana. She had been booked a long way out for the ride on the four-year-old mare. Trainer Sam Freedman said that it was five or six weeks out that they snapped up Kennedy.

She picked up two winners on the Flemington card, her other coming on Mr Exclusive at a $46 starting price. There was a sting in the tail for Kennedy with this winner, however. She picked up a suspension of seven days for her use of the whip as well as a fine of $1,000. Kennedy used her whip nine times before the 100m mark.

Winx’s sister will debut on Sunday

Hawkesbury on Sunday will see the debut of Wings Of Desire. She is a three-quarter sister to Winx and is the final offspring of the dam, Vegas Showgirl. The dam passed away last year so all eyes will be on her final filly.

Wings Of Desire has shown ability in a couple of barrier trials but how that translates into a race, we will have to find out on Sunday. Said to have plenty of size about her, she will have a barrier blanket to help her in her debut. Winx herself had a problem or two with barriers down the years so that looks just like a family trait.

The new season is rapidly approaching and we are getting there with some new horses to enjoy. The debut of one of those on Sunday is potentially the most interesting story of the week. She will have a huge weight of hope on her given her breeding.