The $1million Group I ATC Champagne Stakes (1600m) this afternoon will have a big bearing on the Australian First Season Sires List with five stallions vying for the title of Champion First Season Sire.

A week after his remarkable front-running heroics on Pride Of Jenni in the Gr.1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m), in-form jockey Declan Bates pulled off another wire-to-wire performance with New Zealand-bred mare Disturbia in Saturday’s Evergreen Turf Handicap (1600m) at Mornington.