RACING editor Ray Thomas takes a look at the top five talking points and storylines to follow this weekend.

1: THE DOMINATORS
HALL of Fame trainers Gai Waterhouse and Chris Waller have dominated the feature Epsom Day meeting over the last two decades – and they might do so again at Royal Randwick on Saturday.

Waterhouse is chasing a record eighth $1 million TAB Epsom Handicap (1600m) with Arbeitsman and Siege of Quebec.

She won her first Epsom with Iron Horse in 1997 and has since won the race again with Excellerator (2002), Desert War (2004-05), Theseo (2008), Rock Kingdom (2009) and Fat Al (2012). She holds the race training record with her late father, Tommy Smith.

Waller has won three Epsoms with Boban (2013), He’s Your Man (2014) and Winx (2015) - meaning the two trainers have won 10 of the last 20 runnings of the famous Randwick mile.

Racing’s first lady, who now trains in partnership with Adrian Bott, has prepared a record eight winners of The Metropolitan (2400m) and has Sedanzer lining up in Saturday’s staying feature.

Waterhouse has also won nine Group 1 $500,000 Flight Stakes (1600m). She doesn’t have a runner in Saturday’s classic and remains three wins behind her father’s race record.

Waller hasn’t won a Flight Stakes yet – not even his great champion Winx could win the race. She ran second to First Seal in 2014. But Sydney’s premier trainer has the consistent Fiesta among the main chances in the Flight Stakes.

Waller, who only trained his first Group 1 winner with Triple Honour in the 2008 Doncaster and now has a career tally of 87 after The Autumn Sun’s win in the Golden Rose last week, is saddling up an extraordinary eight runners in the Epsom and eight in The Metropolitan.

He is chasing his fourth Epsom and third The Metropolitan and has the favourite in both races – D’Argento ($4.20) in the Epsom and Brimham Rocks ($5) in The Metropolitan.

2: EVEREST ESCAPE
WILL a slot-holder be forced to exercise an Everest escape clause this weekend?

The Group 2 $500,000 Premiere Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday is a mini-Everest showdown with six Everest runners in the eight-horse field – Redzel, Trapeze Artist, In Her Time, Invincible Star, Shoals and Santa Ana Lane.

Obviously, some will place, others will finish down the track. Just how far an Everest sprinter is beaten in the Premiere may force a slot-holder to reconsider their position ahead of the $13m The Everest at Royal Randwick on October 13.

At Moonee Valley tonight, the runs of Everest hopefuls Nature Strip and Brave Smash will also be heavily scrutinised in the Group 1 $500,000 Moir Stakes (1000m).

It is understood some slot-holders have negotiated an escape clause if their sprinter suddenly loses form.

Of course, there is still one slot left to fill with slot-holders Max Whitby and Neil Werrett watching champion sprinter Chautauqua’s crucial barrier trial held during the Moir meeting.

If Chautauqua jumps away with the field in the trial, stewards are expected to lift the racing ban on the “Grey “Flash”, opening the door for him to line-up in The Everest.

There are other sprinters on the Everest fringe including Graff and Le Romain, who are not racing this weekend, and Moir Stakes hopefuls Houtzen, Viddora and Ball Of Muscle.

3: LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER
MISS Fabulass is set to emulate her dam, Samantha Miss, by winning the Group 1 Flight Stakes on Saturday.

Samantha Miss was an outstanding winner of the fillies classic a decade ago, completing a clean sweep of the Princess Series after her earlier successes in the Silver Shadow Stakes, Furious Stakes and Tea Rose Stakes.

Owner-breeder John Singleton sent Samantha Miss to England to be mated with superhorse Frankel and Miss Fabulass was the resultant foal.

The Kris Lees-trained Miss Fabulass has only had four starts, winning twice including the Tea Rose Stakes last start.

Miss Fabulass is a dominant $2 favourite on TAB Fixed Odds for the Flight Stakes, a race that has been kind to favourites over the last decade.

Samantha Miss began the sequence when she scored at $1.55, then was followed by another Singleton-owned filly More Joyous at $2.30 in 2009.

Favourites Streama ($2.80, 2011), Guelph 9$1.30, 2013), First Seal ($2.30, 2014), Speak Fondly ($2.30, 2015) and Alizee ($2.90, 2017) also won the Flight Stakes.

Singleton, who celebrated a winning double at Rosehill midweek from the superbly-bred duo, unbeaten Girl Tuesday (Street Cry-Tuesday Joy) and Merovee (Frankel-More Strawberries), also has promising filly Diddles (Snitzel-Mimi Lebrock) making her debut in the Group 3 $160,000 Gimcrack Stakes (1000m).

#It’s rare for a dam to produce a filly or colt to win the same Group 1 race.

Miss Finland (2006) and her daughter Stay With Me (2015) managed the feat with both winning the Thousand Guineas at Caulfield.

Urban Sea, one of the greatest broodmares of them all, won the 1993 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and produced champion Sea The Stars to win the Arc in 2009.

4: THE HISTORY MAKER
WALL Of Fire, the former English stayer, is attempting something quite unique trying first-up to win the Group 1 $750,000 The Metropolitan (2400m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday.

The Metropolitan was first held in 1866 and it is doubtful any horse has won Sydney’s spring staying feature without a lead-up run.

The Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Wall Of Fire hasn’t raced since finishing 16th to Rekindling in the Melbourne Cup last November.

Wall Of Fire is among 12 northern hemisphere-bred stayers lining up in The Metropolitan. They are opposed to four New Zealand-bred horses and just three home-brews – the mares Sedanzer, Miss Admiration and Nettoyer.

5: THE PUNTERS’ PAL
CHAMPION jockey Kerrin McEvoy has a book of rides to envy at the Epsom Handicap meeting.

McEvoy has rides in all nine races including Unforgotten, the $4.40 second favourite for the Group 1 $1 million TAB Epsom (1600m).

He is riding the favourites in the other two Group 1 races, Miss Fabulass ($2) in the $500,000 Flight Stakes (1600m) and Brimham Rocks ($5) in the $750,00 The Metropolitan (2400m)..

McEvoy also ride Redzel ($2.60f) for the Group 2 $500,000 Premiere Stakes (1200m) and Egg Tart ($2.30f) for the Group 2 $500,000 Hill Stakes (2000m).

FAREWELL TO THREE FINE RACING MEN
AT 5pm on Friday, nearly 100 years of racing journalism experience will walk out the doors at News Limited’s Sydney offices for the last time.

My colleagues on The Daily Telegraph racing desk, Steve “Zippy” Zammit and John “JD” Davis and Sportsman editor Paul Micallef are finishing up after exemplary careers spanning more than three decades each.

Perhaps their retirements were forced upon them sooner than each would have liked, but it is a reflection of them as men that they took the news with good grace.

I’ve had the honour and privilege of working alongside all three since joining The Telegraph in 1994. They have always been thorough, dedicated professionals and were always willing to work extra hours to ensure the racing pages and form guides were as accurate as possible. They leave a massive void in the racing desk that is impossible to fill. More importantly, I regard Zippy, JD and Pauly as close friends and I’m sure I will feel a little sadness and regret when I walk back into the office on Monday and notice their empty desks. Nothing stays the same forever, but sometimes you wish it could.

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BLACK Caviar’s son Prince Of Caviar broke through for his first win at his fourth start at Bendigo on Thursday.

Prince Of Caviar was fourth on debut as a two-year-old at Sandown in May and then finished close seconds at Sandown and Bendigo before his breakthrough maiden win.

Prince Of Caviar, who is by Sebring, is the second foal of the undefeated Black Caviar to race. Her first foal, an Exceed And Excel filly named Oscietra, was retired earlier this year after winning two of her five starts

Prince Of Caviar’s co-trainer Wayne Hawkes is adamant the colt will be better again next autumn, an opinion shared by jockey Luke Nolen, who rode Black Caviar in 22 of 25 wins.

“It was a tradesman-like performance today,” Nolen told broadcaster Racing.com. “He’s going in the right direction and I think he’ll be a nice horse come the autumn.

“He seems like a horse that will probably appreciate a mile (1600m) in time. There’s a nice race in the autumn for him. We’ll digest this one first and see if there’s anything beyond this (preparation). But most importantly, he’s a winner.”

Hawkes believed the form around Prince Of Caviar would ultimately prove strong.