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Nick and Trav Noonan's top five racing moments of 2025
RSN • December 29th, 2025 10:36 am
Nick and Trav Noonan have both named their top five moments in Horse Racing for 2025.
It has certainly been an interesting year for the sport with many incredible results from horses young and old.
And on RSN's Correct Weight, the two brothers would both list of their best moments of the year with some explanation behind their picks.
NICK NOONAN'S TOP 5
5. Pride of Jenni’s win in the Feehan Stakes
Trav: “It was a shock to many that she was able to beat Treasurethe Moment in the style that she did.”
“It really signalled her comeback, I suppose, in 2025. Of course, (she) retired in 2024 and came back and won the four races during 2025, and I would say that was her standout moment.
“Even though the Empire Rose (win) did drop some jaws on what happened on Derby Day, but that for me (the Feehan) was her defining moment.”
Nick: “Listening back to that call, you get goosebumps again.”
“That Valley crowd just roaring her home, it sounds like a Cox Plate for Feehan night.
“And that was one thing you took from Jenni winning, the whole crowd and the roar for her into the home straight.
“She was taking on a $1.50 favourite, Treasurethe Moment was $1.50, and it seemed no one on the course was cheering her.
“That was a moment I probably won’t forget, just the roar coming into the home straight.”
4. Treasurethe Moment wins the Memsie Stakes
Trav: “It was definitely her best performance of 2025.”
“It was probably disappointing how it all unveiled with the Spring Carnival. Obviously had the colic and probably not at her best off the back of that run.
“But gee, didn't it signal that she is a genuine star.”
Nick: “And watching that race, everyone just thought, ‘Wow, like how good is this filly?’”
“She was pretty much nearly unbeaten going into that, and this was her first test at weight-for-age, and she absolutely annihilated Fangirl and Mr Brightside.
“And the commentary post-race, even from some of the connections, was that we bumped into a potential superstar."
3. Tentyris' win in the Coolmore Stud Stakes
Trav: “That was probably the win of the year from a three-year-old perspective during the spring.”
Nick: “We didn’t mention much, but talking about him before, he really could be one of the springers that could be the next superstar.”
“It seemed like the entire crowd backed Tentyris. The roar when he hit the front was just deafening on Derby Day.
“And the bookies on the lawn, they were absolutely slaughtered there.”
2. Ceolwulf’s win in the Champions Mile
Trav: “It’s a great race, the Champions Mile, and I am assuming that’s why it made second spot because of the field and the finish.”
Nick: “The finish, those two (Ceolwulf and Pericles) going from pretty much 400m out.”
“(For) Ceolwulf to pick himself up off the canvas when many thought Pericles was probably going to get past him at the 200m, and maybe Pericles just doesn’t have that toothless tiger from a couple of seasons ago.
“But I think Ceolwulf showed how good a horse he is on that occasion.
“When you compare that race to some of the great races we’ve had across the last 20 years, I think that race would measure up against any of them.
“Just the battle they had down the Flemington straight. You don’t see that all that often.”
1. Via Sistina’s win in the Cox Plate
Trav: “It won’t go down as her best win in 2025, probably won’t go down as her best win in her career, but a defining moment for her legacy.”
“Because (she won) back-to-back Cox Plates and (she) stood up when it counted.”
Nick: “And it was the Hollywood ending that I think everyone wanted to see her winning.”
“The punters were behind her, she goes back-to-back in a Cox Plate, defines her legacy a little bit and puts her in that champion echelon of horses that have won two Cox Plates.
“And then you have the theatre and the romance of the last race at Moonee Valley.”
TRAV NOONAN'S TOP 5
5. Aeliana winning the Australian Derby
Trav: “I think it was the way she won for me that had to put that into the 2025 (best moments).”
“Individually, one of the best performances of the year, just absolutely smashed the boys (at the) first time (of asking) at 2400m.
“And whilst she didn’t go on with it in the spring, it was a moment that stood out for me for 2025.”
4. Baraqiel in the Moir Stakes
Trav: “This makes the list for me because of so many reasons.”
“A) First Group 1 win for Will Larkin.
"B) It’s the race that put Ben Allen back on the map. He had been in the wilderness for a little bit.
"C) The patience the owners had to go through with Baraqiel. He didn’t get to the races until he was four, (and) he had injury after injury throughout his career.
“He went through that unbeaten stretch; they got him to win a McEwen (Stakes) last year.
“And he comes back this season and gets ruled out of racing at his return to the races, the vets say that he is not suitable to race.
“So all the anxiety with that in the preparation, he goes bang first-up in the Carlyon and then wins a Group 1 Moir (Stakes).”
3. Giga Kick's win in the Champions Sprint
Trav: “The roar of the crowd tells everything there with Giga Kick.”
“He didn’t even jump favourite in that Champions Sprint, but I think he is possibly the most popular horse in the country when he’s on.
“Those two wins this spring, where he has been in the wilderness for so long, he disappointed in the Goodwood. There were a lot of questions, ‘Were they ever going to get him back?’
“Clayton Douglas, a small trainer who has only really had one banner horse through his career in Giga Kick.
“But in terms of the whole story to getting him back, and he goes bang at Caulfield and it's like, ‘Oh, it was Group 2 level, it was very exciting, is he back?’
“And then he scrapped it out with Magic Time on a heavy rack and won the Group 1 Champions Sprint.
“Sometimes you fall in love with horses, and I fell in love with this horse through his career.”
Nick: “It was absolute scenes there at Champions Day with him and Via Sistina winning.”
2. Strictly Business winning the Oaks
Trav: “(It was) great for so many reasons.”
“John Allen, Tom Carberry. She’s by Grunt, which is good. A Victorian stallion.
“And her fourth career start, (she) puts in one of the best performances in a Victorian Oaks in recent memory.”
Nick: “It had to be seen to be believed that in (her fourth) start that you could be winning as well as she did in a VRC Oaks.”
1. Half Yours in the Melbourne Cup
Trav: “It was pretty special when you go back and think about what he was able to achieve in the campaign through the campaign.”
“From winning a Caloundra Cup to the spring, where he has won the Naturalism, the Caulfield Cup and going again to win a Melbourne Cup for two of the nicest people in racing, too, in Tony and Calvin McEvoy, the father-son duo based out of Ballarat.
“They put their head on the block when they bought this horse in an Inglis digital sale. He’s bred in Victoria, and he beats the waves of internationals.
“It’s the best story for the Melbourne Cup in recent time, isn’t it?”
Nick: “Doesn’t get much better.”
