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
The Racecourse, Northampton murdered in bushes around the basketball courts on the Racecourse after walking back at night from a nearby pub. Her killer Raymond Ellis, unemployed was later jailed. In 2006, the park regularly made front page news locally for its high levels of day and night-time robberies and assaults, leading to the Northampton Chronicle & Echo newspaper setting up The Friends of Northampton Racecourse (FONR). The partnership looked at reclaiming the Racecourse from the criminals, with its campaign eventually gaining respect from a national broadsheet The Guardian. The group continues to support the park's heritage and image. The Racecourse, Northampton The