Group One history beckons for James McDonald

[Wandering Eyes]

James McDonald once again takes Australian racing’s centre stage at Rosehill on Saturday with the world’s No. 1 rider seemingly destined to establishing a new record for career Group One winners.

If McDonald can claim two Group One wins from the five on the Rosehill program this Saturday, he will not only overtake Damien Oliver as the most successful Group One rider in Australian racing history, he will also register his 100th Group One win in Australia.

Currently, McDonald has 98 Australian Group One wins, 16 in Hong Kong, 11 in New Zealand and one each in Japan, the UK and the UAE.

Group One wins are hard to come by (certainly for most jockeys) but McDonald looks set for at least one such victory this Saturday as he rides the unbeaten Gr.1 George Ryder Stakes’ (1500m) $1.24 favourite Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun).

Also destined to start at a short quote is his Gr.1 Ranvet Stakes (2000m) mount Aeliana (NZ) (Castelvecchio), who is currently rated a $1.80 chance of scoring her first G1 weight-for-age win.

J-MAC’S GROUP ONE RIDES AT ROSEHILL THIS SATURDAY
Gr.1 George Ryder Stakes (1500m) – AUTUMN GLOW ($1.24 fav)
Gr.1 Ranvet Stakes (2000m) – AELIANA ($1.80 fav)
Gr.1 Rosehill Guineas (2000m) – AUTUMN BOY (The Autumn Sun) ($3)
Gr.1 Galaxy (1100m) – GENEROSITY (Divine Prophet) ($7)
Gr.1 Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m) – No firm booking. Likely to be one of Chris Waller’s trio of Campione D’Italia (Snitzel), Fireball (Snitzel) or Hidrix (Extreme Choice).

McDonald moved to 126 wins earlier this month with a Group One double of Autumn Glow in the Gr.1 Verry Elleegant Stakes (1600m) before 24 hours later claiming another Hong Kong feature aboard Romantic Warrior (Gr.1 Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m)).

He then won the Gr.1 Canterbury Stakes (1300m) aboard Joliestar (Zoustar) before claiming yet another Group One aboard Lazzura (Snitzel) in last Saturday’s Gr.1 Coolmore Classic (1500m). Over the past two Saturdays, he has ridden an extraordinary 10 winners in Sydney.

Following his win on Lazurra, McDonald told Channel 7 that the prospect of the record was not weighing on his mind.

“It hasn’t really come into my calculations,” he said. “If I get there, I get there.

“It’s a funny feeling as Ollie (Oliver) is so great and I don’t feel like I should be in that echelon just yet.”

Oliver, however, told Racing.com’s The Verdict program on Sunday that the speed at which McDonald has chased down his record underlines his greatness.

“To get that record at 34 – I was 51 I think when I did it – so it just shows you how quickly he’s done it,” Oliver said.

“I am sure it’s in the back of his mind but if you start thinking about that you are not actually thinking about what is in front of you and that is winning these big races.

“When I was doing it, it was not something I was setting out after either. You just want to be competing in those big races and winning those big races and that’s more what you are concentrating on what’s right ahead of you rather than what’s going to be the end result.”

“He is just a champion that people are going to talk about for generations.”

J-Mac is closing in on the G1 record, and Chris Waller couldn’t be prouder.

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— Racing.com (@Racing) March 15, 2026

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