A field of 11 colts will face the starter in Saturday’s $1million ATC Golden Rose (1400m) at Rosehill with an intriguing clash between Godolphin glamour colts Broadsiding and Traffic Warden vs Coolmore contender Storm Boy or could there be an upset?
Traffic Warden defeated Anode and Storm Boy when winning the Group II ATC Run to the Rose two weeks ago, while Broadsiding comes into the race first up from a spell with recent trials suggesting he will be ready to rise to the challenge.
There is a lot more at stake in this race than just the $580,000 first prize cheque as victory is a passport to a career at stud with every single colt that has won since the race was elevated to Group I level in 2009 achieving varying degrees of success with the benchmark set high by the 2013 winner Zoustar, who now stands at Widden Stud at a fee of $275,000.
His trainer Chris Waller has also won the Golden Rose with The Autumn Sun and last year’s winner Militarize and will saddle just the one colt in lightly raced Emirate, a $1million Magic Millions purchase raced by Aramco Racing and Yulong.
The son of Extreme Choice won both of his starts at two in easier grade and acquitted himself well when thrown into the deep end to finish fifth in the Group II ATC Run to the Rose, so with barrier three and Nash Rawiller on board is not to be underestimated.
The field and barrier draw for the Golden Rose is;
No. – Horse (Sire) – Trainer – Jockey – Barrier – Weight
1 – Broadsiding (Too Darn Hot (GB) – James Cummings – James McDonald – 1 – 56.5kg
2 – Traffic Warden (Street Boss (USA) - – James Cummings – Ben Melham – 9 – 56.5kg
3 – Storm Boy (Justify (USA) – Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott – Adam Hyeronimus – 11 – 56.5kg
4 – Linebacker (NZ) (Super Seth) – John O'Shea & Tom Charlton – Kerrin McEvoy – 7 – 56.5kg
5 –Anode (I Am Invincible) – Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott – Tim Clark – 10 – 56.5kg
6 – Fearless (Pierata)– Peter Snowden – Tommy Berry – 2 – 56.5kg
7 – Mayfair (Fastnet Rock) – Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott – Blake Shinn – 5 – 56.5kg
8 – Emirate (Extreme Choice) – Chris Waller – Nash Rawiller – 3 – 56.5kg
9 – Tropicus (Too Darn Hot (GB) – Anthony & Sam Freedman – Mark Zahra – 6 – 56.5kg
10 – Clear Proof (Justify (USA) – John Thompson – TBA – 8 – 56.5kg
11 – Daggers (I Am Invincible) – Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young – Chad Schofield – 4 – 56.5kg