Ladbrokes Golden Rose Stakes (Group 1)
THE Godolphin home-bred Broadsiding, resuming after his dual Group 1-winning juvenile season, stepped out first-up in the Golden Rose over 1,400 metres at Rosehill on Saturday to add a third Group 1 to his record that includes wins in all of his past five starts.
“He’s got way more (ability) than we can ever imagine, he’s just a cool dude,” said jockey James McDonald. “From the moment I sat on him in the Fernhill (April 13th), seeing his development from race to race to race is incredible. He hasn’t gone up step-by-step, he’s skipped a couple. He’s that kind of horse.”
On the rail, worse than midfield in the 10-horse race, Broadsiding gave the leading Storm Boy a five-length start on rounding the home bend.
Rolling out into the clear, McDonald got after the leaders with the race a contest in four with 50 metres remaining. Overwhelming his stablemate, the Too Darn Hot colt got the better of the Street Boss colt Traffic Warden who in-turn held out the Fastnet Rock colt Mayfair.
Barely a half-length away in fourth was the Coolmore-owned Storm Boy, who faded just slightly and will now be set for the $20 million Everest over 1,200 metres on October 19th.
Champion
“Take nothing away from Broadsiding,” said trainer James Cummings. “He’s a champion from last season, he steps right onto the turf as a three-year-old and claims a Group 1.
“It’s a pretty impressive achievement for a colt to do. I can’t remember too many champion two-year-old colts doing that in the past. We’ve got diminishing foal crops (at Godolphin), we don’t have massive numbers. You know how many runners we had in races today? These two. Two runners in this one race.
“We’re focussing on quality in a way that helps hone our attention but also in another way that helps build the pressure. So these horses have got to perform. But their performance was outstanding.
“To get over the top of class animals in the way our two colts did was a huge effort.”
NOT often do we get a feature match race but last Friday’s Group 2 Feehan Stakes at Moonee Valley delivered in spades.
Over 1,600 metres, four runners faced the starter with racegoers interested in only Mr Brightside and Pride Of Jenni, the one-two in the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes two weeks earlier and rated at $2.20 and $1.90 respectively.
As expected, Declan Bates and Pride Of Jenni rolled to the front as she eased clear by eight-lengths at the half-mile mark.
With no one to take him to the leader, Craig Williams had to hustle Mr Brightside along as he trailed by five lengths into the relatively short home straight at the Valley.
With enough in the tank, Pride Of Jenni won by a length and a half in front of a roaring crowd of 10,000 to mark the return of night racing to Moonee Valley for the new season.
Skip away
“She was just really ready for a Moonee Valley race where she could just roll along and skip away,” said Bates afterwards of the Ciaron Maher-trained Pride Of Dubai mare.
“I was really positive on her too. A lot of the time I do like to just take it easy on her through that first 200 (metres), but I really just let her stride from the word go today and probably got a little breather at about the 1,000 metres.
“I asked a lot of her today but I knew around here, on this ground, we were up against a champion in Brightside, and I had to do what I had to do to beat him. And, look, I’ve just got an absolute champion of a horse here.”
Purchased for A$100,000 from the 2019 draft of Segenhoe Stud at the Inglis Classic sale, Pride Of Jenni has just surpassed $9 million in earnings from eight wins and 11 placings in 32 starts.
Her declared targets are the $5 million King Charles III at Randwick on 19th October followed by the $5 million Cox Plate seven days later.
Ladbrokes Manikato Stakes (Group 1)
SOUTHPORT Tycoon, a surprise winner of the Australian Guineas at Flemington last March, doubled his Group 1 tally at Moonee Valley last Friday in the Manikato Stakes over 1,200 metres, again winning at the luxury price of 20/1.
In a perfectly timed run by jockey Mark Zahra, the Written Tycoon colt put in huge strides to hunt down his stablemate, the race favourite Growing Empire, a colt by Zoustar, claiming the win in the final stride. Third was the Savabeel gelding I Wish I Win.
“Geez, he gave such a good chase,” said Zahra. “Me and (trainer) Ciaron (Maher) were quietly confident, he was going really well. I didn’t even have a chance to pull the whip, I was coming through that quick.
“I went up to Sydney and rode him and then I saw him the other day with blinkers on at the jumpouts and he just looked like a new horse. He (Ciaron) knows how to get these horses ready at the right time. I’m just happy to be on the other side of a roughie winning.”
SEVENTY-two horses remain in the Melbourne Cup after first acceptances were taken on Tuesday.
Of those, just six are trained in the northern hemisphere with Willie Mullins accepting with Absurde and Vauban, while Aidan O’Brien’s sole representative is Jan Brueghel.
Brian Ellison with Onesmoothoperator, Harry Eustace with Sea King and Noboru Takagi’s Warp Speed complete the sextet of internationals.
At the top of the weights last year’s winner Without A Fight has been withdrawn, leaving the Irish-bred Fastnet Rock mare Via Sistina at 56kgs, top-weight for the time being.