Northerly had had an outstanding campaign, and the Cox Plate was his fourth win in-a-row. Northerly returned to Perth, and his trainer Fred Kersley chose to run him in the Railway Stakes, which had been moved forward on the calendar. Unfortunately for the "home" crowd, the Cox Plate winner wilted badly in the home straight under 61.5 kilograms, and he finished an uncharacteristic 11th of 16 behind the Lindsey Smith trained Old Comrade, who again defeated Northerly in the Australian Cup in March. Northerly had shown strong lead-up form to the Australian Cup, including a close second in the C F
Beverley Racecourse Beverley Bullet Sprint over 5 furlongs in August for three-year-olds and up. The racecourse is a right-handed flat course, that is just over 1 mile 3 furlongs. It is predominantly flat but with a stiff, uphill finish and tight turns. Beverley has the most pronounced "draw bias" on a UK racecourse on its 5 furlong course. The sharp right hand bend and the fact that the ground runs away to the left make a low draw (i.e. on the inside rail) much more advantageous than a high draw (i.e. on the wide outside and on ground sloping right to left).