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“Star of the future” sends warning to returning spring competitors
Connor Scanlon • July 26th, 2026 2:00 pm
Cosmic Crusader dominated on his Victorian debut in the Group 3 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
New trainer Andrea Leek had the WA star absolutely primed first-up and managed to win the sprint by 2.5 lengths.
Reflecting on the victory, the Noonan brothers hailed praise on the son of Maurice, even suggesting that Cosmic Crusader’s opposition should be worried in the early parts of the Spring Racing Carnival.
“He was absolutely dominate. He proved that he's a star of the future!” Trav Noonan exclaimed on RSN’s Correct Weight.
“I would think that's his career best performance there. He certainly seems to be thriving in Victoria.
“That’s a scary thought for some of his opposition heading to the weight-for-age features in the early part of spring.
“If he’s got improvement, gee, he’s going to be in for a big, big early part of the spring.”
Nick was initially not sold on the gelding first-up, prior to his Bletchingly victory.
But now, the RSN form analyst is chips in on the son Maurice, and believes he will be a short favourite for the upcoming Group 2 P.B. Lawrence Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on August 15.
“He made me look like a fool,” admitted Nick.
“I knew I was in a lot of trouble about 800m out when he travelled like he did into the race, because he's just monstered his rivals in the end.
“His dominance late just showed that he was an absolute class above these horses and probably puts a real warning down for horses looking to return in the Lawrence. Then a Memsie would be right on his agenda as well.
“You'd think going towards the Lawrence, he'd have to be a short-priced favourite off what we saw.”
Trav agreed with that sentiment, claiming that Cosmic Crusader could even be the horse to beat in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m).
“I think he's also backed up that he's probably the horse to beat in the Memsie stakes, realistically,” he said.
“Sheza Alibi is obviously heading that way; she's a real talent. But is she going to be cranked up first-up?
“He's going to have two runs under the belt heading into that Group 1 feature.”
The 2025 Memsie Stakes was won by Treasurethe Moment.
This year’s edition will take place on August 29 at Caulfield.
