With the 2024/25 season all but finished, we look ahead to the Spring for future Talking Points.

With a relatively quiet week on home soil, we're going to have a look back at some of the key performances from the season, with an eye to the Spring and the potential talking points to emerge.

Via Sistina's Domination to Continue?

There's no doubting who the best horse in the country is, but with Via Sistina entering her eight-year-old season, it'll be interesting to see if she can hold her ratings or if anything else can close the gap.

Her win in the Cox Plate was one of the highest rating performances in modern times, coming in at 132 on the Racing & Sports scale.

That is only bettered by Winx in two of her four Cox Plate's, who went 133 and 134 in 2015/16, and Kingston Town in his first Cox Plate win, who also went 133.

While she didn't get back to such lofty heights in the Autumn, she still hit a peak of 127 in her Queen Elizabeth Stakes win, and that is a better rating than anything in Australia hit this season.

The horse that emerged as the main challenger is Antino, who now boasts a peak rating of 126 when winning the Doomben Cup.

With another three performances assessed at 124 this season, he's the #2 seed in the weight for age ranks in the Spring, and if Via Sistina isn't quite getting back to her best, there's every chance he's the horse to beat in a Cox Plate.

Progression of three-year-old fillies

The three-year-old filly ranks this season were outstanding, and the strongest I can remember in some time.

I will say, I think some in the media have overhyped a few horses and performances to an extent, but there's no escaping that the quarter of Aeliana, Treasurethe Moment, Lady Shenandoah and Autumn Glow are all very exciting.

In terms of a peak rating, Aeliana at 119 in her ATC Derby romp comes out on top. She's made for a Caulfield Cup and I also think she should be looking at a Melbourne Cup.

Compared to other four-year-old mares who have performed well in a Caulfield Cup, she's rated higher than the likes of Jameka (116) at the end of her three-year-old season and any further progression has her firmly in the Cups picture.

Treasurethe Moment is the interesting one for me, with plenty suggesting she's the best filly in the country. A peak of 115 at Racing & Sports actually has her the lowest of the four fillies mentioned, but her winning record is to be commended.

Some horribly slow tempos contributed to that but the one time we saw her in a strongly run race she did run a new peak over 1600m. I'm not sold on her being a Cox Plate contender yet, with at least another 10 pounds of improvement needed.

Lady Shenandoah & Autumn Glow both end the season rated 117, the former reaching that mark twice.

Autumn Glow is the one I'd be taking home, and the Spring plans with her are perfect. The lure of the mountain has been ignored and instead she's likely to go to the Epsom & Golden Eagle.

She may not have beaten a whole lot but the time figures she's been running and the strength at the backend has been very impressive. Can't wait to see what she can do at a mile.

Lady Shenandoah did very well to beat the older mares in a Coolmore Classic with 54.5kg. It appears she may be sprinting in the Spring and while I'd prefer her to do so over Autumn Glow, I'm not quite sure what her best trip will be.

Sprinters- where are they?

Lady Shenandoah brings us to our next talking point for the season with the lack of top-end sprinters in our speed-driven industry going on for a few years now.

Not that we should expect a horse like the 131 rated Nature Strip or the 136 rated Black Caviar every season, but there's no denying our sprinters have been well below historical standards in recent years.

We can look to the lightly raced Briasa and Private Harry, the big closer Jimmysstar, or even at the unexposed juveniles for something that may put their hand up.

Who the best sprinter in Australia is up for debate, with the trio mentioned and Joliestar all laying some claim.

If I were to take one into the Spring I'd possibly lean to Private Harry as the one with the least racing, but the jump from a peak of 119 to a 'proper' Group One horse is still a fair jump.

With all likely to go headfirst into Ka Ying Rising in The Everest, the jump is huge. He's rated 132 at Racing & Sports, which is around 3 lengths over 1200m, and that's assuming horses run up to their best.

The two-year-old that is interesting and unknown and very noisy, which gives plenty of optimism, is Beadman.

It was very heavy at the Gold Coast but he destroyed them in fast time, running to 113. While that's below the Golden Slipper winner Marhoona at 117, Beadman ran a faster time figure by one pound which, for me, is just as (if not more) important in two-year-old racing.

Tipped straight out and possibly aiming right up at open class in the Spring, Beadman may give a bit of hope that he can shake up the sprinting scene.