We look back at some of the key races and ratings over the Perth Autumn carnival.

Two-Year-Olds

One of the highlights of the season in Western Australia was two-year-old Bustling, who excelled over the Autumn, putting together potentially the best season by a Perth two-year-old ever.

He ran a strong time on debut over 1200m, sitting on a too-fast tempo that suited those further back, still winning easily and running to 92+ with Timeform.

A slight blip at his second outing when wide throughout, he won the Listed Perth Stakes (1100m) with a rating of 100 before exploding to win the feature two-year-old event in Western Australia, the Group 2 Karakatta Plate (1200m).

A 4.2 length win in a Group 2 over a sprint trip is a pretty big indicator of talent, but what helps further solidify that is the comparison in time to The Quokka.

Only Overpass, who won The Quokka, ran a faster overall 1200m time than Bustling did on the same day, meaning Bustling ran a quicker time than Amelia's Jewel, Oscar's Fortune and Bella Nipotina, to name a few.

He's run to 112 which is the best Karakatta Plate winner this century. For reference, Amelia's Jewel ran to 107 winning the race two years ago and even considering her four-pound sex allowance, Bustling is clearly the better winner.

He then ran to 112p, indicating there's further improvement to come when stepping out to 1400m of the Group 3 WA Sires Produce Stakes (1400m), again winning comfortably, and has been locked in for The Everest with Mick Price & Michael Kent Jnr.

It may seem like a big jump to make as an Everest horse, but we think Bustling is (narrowly) better than Amelia's Jewel at the same stage of their careers, and we know the hype that followed her.

With a lack of our usual top of the line sprinters, I don't think it's unreasonable to think Bustling is very capable of making that next step. If I were to plan a campaign for him, it'd include all three of the Golden Rose, The Everest, and the Coolmore.

Three-Year-Olds

The three-year-olds were a bit of a mixed bag in Perth, with the sprinters proving to be of above average quality quite quickly, but perhaps not quite going on with it.

They were headlined by Oscar's Fortune, who holds a peak Timeform rating of 118, which has him inside the top ten three-year-olds in the country.

He achieved that rating twice, both as a winner of the Group 3 Roma Cup (1100m) and when third in The Quokka behind Overpass and Amelia's Jewel.

Unfortunately, outside of the Perth bubble to some extent, he struggled with every chance in The Goodwood, regressing to a rating of 109.

I think the perfect target race for him, if coming to Melbourne, would be the Group 1 Manikato Stakes (1200m) where he'd likely dodge the top-line sprinters and be in with a genuine chance.