The final day of the Australian Jockey Club’s three day Autumn Racing Carnival on Saturday saw a grand farewell and a return to the winners circle for two racing greats, and another win well with modesty and humour.

The Gai Waterhouse trained Desert War was number one in the field for the Group I Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and rightly so, as while it was some time ago that the seven-year-old last won, the same race back in April 2007, he has given such pleasure that the ranking was almost automatic.

Owner, and breeder, Eduardo Cojuangco’s Gooree Pastorial Company had declared that Saturday was to be Desert War’s final race day appearance, with time and 45 race starts taking their toll. The massive galloper was having a go on his home turf for the last time.

And have a go he did, with jockey Blake Shinn setting the tempo, and making sure that the rest of the field knew what it was like to compete at this level against the toughest around. They were still leading coming into the straight, but it was too much to ask that he could keep the effort going, and an honourable fourth was the result.

The members had generously applauded when Shinn and Desert War cantered past with the Clerk of the Course on their way to the start, and the Australian Jockey Club presented Desert War with his own special rug after the race.

Desert War, by Desert King out of the Canny Lad mare High Heels, won six Group I races, and first commenced racing in January 2004. Thanks for the terrific memories.

Randwick trainer Kevin Moses won the Sydney Cup as a jockey and on Saturday claimed his first Group I race as a trainer when No Wine No Song, under Damien Oliver, won the Schweppes Sydney Cup by 1L.

It was a classic ride by Oliver, but also classic training of the stayer by Moses, masked by his trade mark humour.

Moses described No Wine No Song as the perfect gentleman and able to be taken to dinner displaying better table manners than many a dinner companion. He also said that No Wine No Song knew his way around Randwick and that Oliver was just steering. All said with a chuckle, but also an appreciation of both horse and rider.

Then it was the return to the winners circle for the dashing grey Racing To Win, quite rightly putting a step of satisfaction into trainer John O’Shea.

It was a masterly win, under the guidance of Hugh Bowman, with Racing To Win stalking the upstart three-year-old Murtajill, and Glyn Schofield, as they marked out a strong tempo up front.  The sight of the grey Encosta de Lago claiming Murtajill with 150m to run, and then making his point by going away to win by 1L was tremendous.

It had taken O’Shea the autumn to bring Racing To Win back to fighting fitness after his long layoff with injury and through the equine influenza shutdown, and through his races the horse never slackened, he had just needed the time to get up to full Group I racing level.

Racing To Win likes Sydney, and O’Shea will keep him here for the spring, with perhaps the thought of travel to Hong Kong for the international races in December. He is class and this was his fifth Group I win.

Damien Oliver is also top class. There had been talk about his failure to ride a winner on the new turf at Flemington since it was first raced on in the spring, rectified by a deadhead in the VRC St Leger, and that he come second in a number of Group I races from the spring and into the autumn.

What a remarkable thought that there should somehow be doubt cast because of mere seconds in Group I races. That we should all be so lucky in our individual endeavours.

But Oliver has a remarkable capacity to reach that elite level.

This is a senior sportsman who came back from a very serious race injury after his mount clipped heels and he fell to the Moonee Valley turf. After much work, and pain, he returned to riding and worked his way up again, losing the number one position with Lee Freedman in the process, and that access to top ranked horses.

On Saturday he was sublime with a cracker win on Mike Moroney’s Sarrera to win the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and then backing up on No Wine No Song to complete his first back-to-back Group I wins, and wins in every metropolitan Cup, from his home town Perth, to Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and now Sydney.

Then, if that was not enough, his ride on the good mare Kosi Bay in the Group II Emancipation Stakes was a gift to every young jockey to watch for evermore. He settled the Spinning World mare last from barrier seven.

After leaving the barriers he checked who was inside and immediately took the mare across to the rails. There they stayed, the mare tucked up under him, while the field headed for the turn into the main straight. It was the final race of the city carnival, and the jockeys up front went wide.

Oliver eased Kosi Bay forward and the gap on the rails, which was in good order like the rail position over the past three days no matter what position it was in, was nearly a freight train wide. Kosi Bay motored through and then Oliver settled down to extract every available piece of strength from her and she claimed the head win on the line.

As he unsaddled he turned to connections, and trainer Bart Cumming, with a huge grin and said: “How did you like the ride, I did not go around another horse!”

Quite so, and Cummings declared that it was suddenly much warmer after the win, instead of the late afternoon autumn chill in the mounting yard. It seemed a totally satisfactory manner to finish the day, and carnival.