The Morphettville crowd was full of praise for James McDonald after he broke his Adelaide maiden with two group wins in the space of 40 minutes last Saturday.
McDonald, whose only previous experience at the track saw him unplaced in three rides at the same meeting in 2024, opened his account on Tycoon Star ($4 favourite) for the Hayes brothers in the 1200-metre Tobin Bronze Stakes.
McDonald next saluted on Panova ($11) in the Australasian Oaks over 2000 metres, giving trainer Chris Waller his 199th Group 1 winner.
Waller noted the crowd’s enthusiastic reception for McDonald.
“It’s a privilege to be here … for myself and James. It’s very humbling to see the way James is received here,” he said.
McDonald was favoured to make it a hat-trick — and Waller to crack the double century — on $3.90 popular pick Generosity in the next race, the Group 1 Robert Sangster Stakes (1200m), but she could only manage sixth behind a thrilling four-horse photo finish.
The jockey to emerge victorious was Jordan Childs on expat Tasmanian mare Geegees Mistruth ($31), these days trained at Cranbourne by Mark Walker.
It was Childs’s second Group 1 win, his first having come on Written By in the 2018 Blue Diamond.
“It’s been a long time between drinks,” he said, adding that he was now only 70 Group 1 wins behind his father, former champion jockey Greg.
The win of Geegees Mistruth also completed a riding double, as Childs had earlier scored on the strong-finishing Cilacap ($5.50) in the Group 2 Queen of the South (1600m) for another Cranbourne trainer in Grahame Begg, who trained Written By and is the jockey’s most prominent patron.
Verzain looks very smart
Phillip Stokes has an impressive two-year-old on his hands in Verzain, winner of last Saturday’s Group 3 Breeders’ Stakes over 1200 metres. 
At what was her fourth start, Verzain raced in third sport before producing a strong run under Harry Coffey to surge clear and win by 1½ lengths. 
That made back-to-back stakes wins for the Zousain filly, who was a $40,000 purchase at the 2025 Magic Millions Gold Coast yearling sale and has already earned $200,320.
Grand gets the gap
Expat South Australian John Hawkes scored his first win in the race named in his honour when a brilliant Ben Melham ride saw Grand Larceny land some solid bets ($5-$4.60 favourite) in the Group 2 John Hawkes Stakes (1100m) at the Morphettville meeting.
Melham settled midfield with cover, cutting back to the inside at the 300m to send Grand Larceny through a gap to a three-quarter-length victory.
Port pairs
Murray Bridge trainer Garret Lynch and apprentice Alyssa Webb were the stars of the Port Augusta meeting last Sunday with a double apiece. 
They teamed up for the win of Ti Tree Royal (13) in 0-56 grade over 1396 metres.
Earlier, Lynch took a 1498-metre benchmark 56 with Explicable ($4.80), ridden by apprentice Tala Hutchinson, while Webb won on the Larry McMahon-trained Johnny The Jet ($1.95 favourite) in a 1498-metre maiden plate.