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Hall of Famer Chris Waller can claim another Australian training record at Morphettville on Saturday.

Waller has prepared 18 Group 1 winners already this season and needs just one to equal the all-time record he set last season.

Sydney's champion trainer is represented in both Adelaide Group 1 races with Panova in the $1 million Australasian Oaks (1600m) and Generosity in the Robert Sangster Stakes (1200m).

If Waller can win with Panova and Generosity then he will not only break his own record for most Group 1 wins in a season, he will also pass another significant training milestone.

Waller has 198 career Group 1 wins going into the Adelaide meeting and only two trainers in Australian racing history have prepared 200 or more Group 1 winners – the legends Tommy Smith and Bart Cummings who both finished their careers on 246 majors.

What makes Waller's record even more remarkable is that he trained his first Group 1 winner with Triple Honour in the Doncaster Handicap only 18 years ago.

Of course, there are more Group 1 races in the modern era than there were when Smith and Cummings were in their heyday but this should not detract from Waller's sustained levels of excellence in recent years.

Waller is also trying to extend his extraordinary sequence of Saturday Group 1 wins to nine successive weeks after his phenomenal Sydney autumn carnival where he netted 12 Group 1 wins.

Champion jockey James McDonald is in Adelaide riding both Panova and Generosity for the Waller stable.

McDonald is also on a record chase of his own as he has ridden 13 Group 1 winners so far this season and is within touching distance of "Miracle" Mal Johnston's all-time record of 16 Group 1 winners in a season set in 1979-80.

After McDonald rides at Morphettville, McDonald takes an overnight flight to Hong Kong where he rides superstar Romantic Warrior in the Group 1 HK$30 million QEII Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Generosity is also in line for an overseas trip if she runs well in the Robert Sangster Stakes.

Waller is looking for a top three finish and a favourable report from McDonald after the race to confirm Generosity will join stablemate Joliestar at England's prestigious Royal Ascot carnival in June.

Charm Stone, trained by Mick Price and Michael Kent Junior, also contests the Robert Sangster Stakes where she is attempting to lock in a Royal Ascot campaign.

TEAM HAWKES CHASING ANOTHER HAWKES

Training maestro John Hawkes can win the race named in his honour at Morphettville on Saturday.

Grand Larceny, who Hawkes trains in partnership with his sons, Wayne and Michael, contests the Group 3 $150,000 John Hawkes Stakes (1100m).

The South Australian Jockey Club renamed the race after Hawkes two years ago with the feature sprint run on the track where the champion trainer began his hugely successful career in 1971.

Hawkes is now recognised as one of the greatest trainers in Australian racing history, preparing 119 Group 1 winners, with 24 of those wins coming since he formed the training partnership with his sons. 

The Hawkes team won the Group 3 sprint under its former name, the D.C. McKay Stakes, with Sprightly Lass in 2018.

Hawkes, a member of the elite Australian Racing Hall of Fame, also has Terrestar and Maisy in the Group Two $250,000 Queen of the South Stakes (1600m).

MASSIVE ANZAC DAY

Anzac Day is one of the busiest racedays around the nation every year.

There are 24 race meetings across Australia on Saturday including nine in NSW featuring the Royal Randwick meeting.

Victoria has two meetings highlighted by the VRC St Leger at Flemington, while Queensland has nine including the unofficial start of the Brisbane winter carnival with four stakes races on the nine-race Eagle Farm program

Morphettville, which boasts two Group 1 $1 million races, is the only meeting in South Australia, Northern Territory is racing at Alice Springs, Ascot and Kalgoorlie are racing in Western Australia.

Unusually, there isn't a 10-race program anywhere across the country on Saturday with race clubs wanting to celebrate and acknowledge Anzac Day.

There are only eight races at Royal Randwick including the Anzac Day Cup. The Midway and TAB Highway have been added to Monday's 10-race Kensington meeting.

WINX MEMORIES

Winx's close relation, Whitehall, makes his debut in the HMAS Sydney Handicap (1100m) at Royal Randwick.

Whitehall was a $1.8 million yearling purchase when sold to Coolmore's Tom Magnier and a high profile syndicate of owners at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale last year.

The Chris Waller-trained Whitehall is by super sire I Am Invincible and is the first foal to race out of Covent Gardens, a Pakenham maiden winner from seven starts.

Covent Gardens is a half-sister to all-time great Winx, winner of 37 of her 43 races including her last 33 races in succession, and holder of a world record 25 Group 1 wins.

Lady Catalina, trained by Ciaron Maher, was also bought for $1.8 million at the Magic Millions yearling Sale last year.

She is by champion sire Written Tycoon out of Maher's former Magic Millions 2yo Classic winner Away Game.

Lady Catalina won impressively on debut at Newcastle over 900m in fast time and joins Extremely Tempted and Shalash who are trying to protect their unbeaten records in the juvenile opener.

RANDWICK RAIL

Royal Randwick's rail has been shifted out 10m as the course proper copes with its fourth successive Saturday race meeting.

The rail is 10m out from the 1000m to the winning post and 8m out the remainder of the course.

This has necessitated some field size limits including for the Anzac Day Cup which is restricted to just 11 starters (plus three emergencies) from the 1800m start.

JETTING JASON COLLETT

Jason Collett, who rode Changingoftheguard to an all-the-way win in the Sydney Cup earlier this month, has a full book of eight rides at the Royal Randwick meeting before he also gets an overnight flight to Hong Kong for the Champions Day meeting on Sunday.

Collett is riding in Hong Kong for the first time and has picked up on the ride on Japanese galloper Giovanni in the Group 1 HK$24 million Champions Mile (1600m).

There are no Australian-trained horses at the Champions Day meeting but there will still be a significant presence from down under at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Collett and McDonald will join Australian jockeys Zac Purton, Hugh Bowman, Brenton Avdulla, Mark Zahra, Ethan Brown, Craig Wlliams and James Orman with rides at Sha Tin are Mark Newnham, David Hayes, John Size and David Hall.