Who's under the spotlight this week?

The beginning: a dairy farm at Himatangi, near Palmerston North, and a boy who watched Kiwi win a Melbourne Cup and decided that was the job. He went to Foxton trainer Paddy Busuttin — the man behind the top stayer Castletown — worked his way to stable foreman, and when Busuttin left for Singapore, took the licence himself. First winner: Go Morgan, Trentham, 1997.

The first Group race: the Dunedin Gold Cup (G3, 2400m) at Wingatui on 12 February 2000, with Ripon By. Five seasons of training in New Zealand had produced 60 winners and under half a million dollars in stakes — that was the whole ledger to that point.

The move: 2000, twenty boxes at Rosehill, and not much else. He built it one horse at a time; his first Australian Group 1 didn't arrive until April 2008 — the Doncaster Handicap, with Triple Honour. Eight years between arriving and mattering.

The mare: Winx. Four Cox Plates in a row (2015–2018), four Australian Horse of the Year titles, and the reason a stable's name stopped meaning "big" and started meaning "unbeatable". By the time Kolding won the All Aged Stakes in April 2021 Waller was at 125 Group 1s — the mare was the middle of the story, not the end of it.

The Cup: 2 November 2021, Verry Elleegant — the race he had spent twenty years being told a Sydney stable couldn't win. He is now in the Hall of Fame in both countries, with Group 1 winners trained on both sides of the Tasman.

Where he is now: 207 Group 1 winners on the published record, and a 2026 that has already produced Autumn Glow in the Chipping Norton, the George Ryder and the Winx Stakes, Joliestar in the TJ Smith, and Aeliana in the Ranvet and the Tancred. On Tuesday the stable has two live chances in the race that defines the spring.

• 1997 — first winner (Go Morgan, Trentham) · 60 NZ winners across five seasons
• 2000 — 20 boxes at Rosehill · first Group race (Ripon By, Dunedin Gold Cup)
• 2008 — first Australian Group 1 (Triple Honour, Doncaster Handicap)
• 2014 — Victoria Derby (Preferment)
• 2015 — first Cox Plate (Winx)
• 2016–2019 — Winx: four Cox Plates, three Queen Elizabeths, four Chipping Nortons, four George Ryders
• 2020 — Caulfield Cup & Tancred (Verry Elleegant)
• 2021 — Melbourne Cup (Verry Elleegant) · 125th Group 1 (Kolding, All Aged) · Sydney Cup (Selino)
• 2022 — Caulfield Cup (Durston) · Victoria Derby (Manzoice)
• 2023 — Golden Slipper (Shinzo) · Victoria Derby (Riff Rocket)
• 2024 — Cox Plate & Champions Stakes (Via Sistina) · Australian Derby (Riff Rocket)
• 2025 — Cox Plate & Champions again (Via Sistina) · Australian Derby (Aeliana) · Coolmore Classic (Lady Shenandoah) · Kingsford-Smith (Joliestar)
• 2026 — Chipping Norton, George Ryder & Winx Stakes (Autumn Glow) · TJ Smith & Canterbury (Joliestar) · Epsom (God's Window) · Ranvet & Tancred (Aeliana) · Doomben Cup & Underwood (Birdman)

The beginning: the daughter of John Kah and Karen Gardiner-Kah, both speed skaters who rode for Australia at the Winter Olympics. She started at a friend's stables at 13, left school at 15, and began her apprenticeship in 2011. First race ride: Streaky Bay, March 2012. First winner: fourteen days later, at Clare, on Easter Saturday.

The climb: Adelaide Jockeys' Premiership in her first full season (2012/13), and again in 2017/18. Melbourne in January 2019; her first Group 1 came three months later — the Australian Cup on Harlem at Flemington. By October 2020 she was the world's top-ranked female jockey; by February 2021 she was the only woman inside the world's top 100 riders.

The records: 12 May 2021, her 1,000th winner at Pakenham — the third woman ever to the mark in Australia, after Clare Lindop (2008) and Linda Meech (2013). Then 10 July 2021: the first jockey, male or female, to ride 100 winners in a Melbourne metropolitan season. She finished it on 105.

The hard chapters — two of them. September 2021: a five-month suspension for a COVID breach and for giving misleading evidence about it, cut on appeal that November. Then 11 March 2023, a fall at Flemington — days in an induced coma, brain injuries, broken bones, months of rehabilitation. She was back race-riding at Randwick on 19 August that year. Both are on the public record, and both are on this page.

The Cup: she won this race last year — the second woman ever to do it, after Michelle Payne rode the first in 2015. On Tuesday she rides Future History (GB) (#17, in after a scratching) and Zahrann (IRE) (#15) for Ciaron Maher from barrier 11.

• 2012 — first ride (Streaky Bay, March) · first winner 14 days later (Clare)
• 2013 — Adelaide Jockeys' Premiership, first full season (again 2017/18)
• 2019 — moved to Melbourne · first Group 1 (Harlem, Australian Cup)
• 2020 — world's leading female jockey (77th overall) · Toorak Handicap (Mr Quickie)
• 2021 — 1,000th winner (Pakenham) · first to 100 metro winners in a season (105) · Doncaster (Cascadian) · Black Caviar Lightning (Nature Strip) · Kingsford-Smith (Vega One)
• 2022 — Champions Stakes (Zaaki) · Moir Stakes (Coolangatta)
• 2023 — Hong Kong Classic Mile (Voyage Bubble) · back riding in August after the Flemington fall
• 2025 — Melbourne Cup — the second woman to win it
• 2026 — Tuesday's Cup: #17 Future History (GB) · #15 Zahrann (IRE)