SPRING CARNIVAL KICKS OFF AT EAGLE FARM

By Graham Potter | Thursday, October 8, 2026

The five-week Ladbrokes Spring Carnival kicks off at Eagle Farm this Saturday with the running of the $125 000 Queensland Cup, a Listed race which will be contested over 2400m.

The Ciaron Maher trained Amplify heads north to try and go one better than she did when finished second in the Group 3 Colin Stephen Quality over the Queensland Cup distance at Rosehill two weeks ago.

That result came on the back of her fourth place finish in the Group 3 Newcastle Cup over 2300m behind the very smart Aethelwulf, who was saluting for the fourth time in a row in the Newcastle Cup, and who would go on to finish second in the Group 2 Metropolitan behind Juja Kibo.

In the run before that, Amplify finished third in the Tatts Cup over 2400m at Randwick so, she clearly has been knocking on the door quite loudly, and she should be fully primed for Saturday’s contest.

Amplify is currently the $3.50 race favourite. She will be ridden by Angela Jones.

Tony Gollan has two entries in the Queensland Cup who are only separated by one point in the betting with Chillaxing ($5.50) edging out Felix The Scat ($6.50) in that regard, with the two being marked up as the second and third favourite respectively.

Both of these runners last raced in the Toowoomba Cup over 2000m, a race in which Felix The Scat (who finished second) beat Chillaxing (who finished fifth) home by 1.80 lengths.

Daniel Moor will return as the rider of Chillaxing, replacing apprentice Ryan Houston who had the ride in Toowoomba. Moor was aboard Chillaxing in all of his four previous starts which produced two wins and two third place finishes.

Felix The Scat was a winner over 2200m three runs back. Ben Thompson retains the ride.

The Chris and Corey Munce trained Diamond Show finished fourth in the Toowoomba Cup … 1.10 lengths behind Felix The Scat and 0.70 lengths in front of Chillaxing. She comes into Saturday’s race 0.5kg better off at the weights with Felix The Scat and meets Chillaxing on the same weight terns as their last clash.

Cejay Graham, who partnered Diamond Show in the Toowoomba Cup, will again be in the saddle on Saturday, where the Munce training partnership will be looking to land back-to-back wins in the Queensland Cup, having taken out last year’s edition of the event with Walsh Bay, who was good enough to complete the Toowoomba Cup / Queensland Cup double … which formed part of a fine, five run winning sequence.

The Kevin Kemp trained Artful Girl, a sixty-four race veteran, who finished third in the Toowoomba Cup, will be another well worth a second glance.

*Cavalry Man, the Toowoomba Cup winner, who was an original acceptor for the Queensland Cup, has been scratched from the race. He will instead lineup in the Port Macquarie Cup on Friday.