Much has been written about Rosehill and its importance to Sydney racing in the past year, and one of those things is the way that it takes a very good horse to win there. Why does this track produce so many champions, and what do we stand to lose if it is sold?
“The TAB Golden Slipper is one of world racing’s most important events and holds its place on a pedestal as the world’s richest race for 2-year-olds,” Australian Turf Club’s Chief Executive Matt Galanos said.
“Five Group 1 races and a vibrant on-course atmosphere come together including a new precinct in the Hard Rated Home Straight all included in General Admission tickets. Our major partners in TAB will also hold a special surprise takeover event ahead of the running of the TAB Golden Slipper.”
Matt Galanos | Image courtesy of Australian Turf Club
Rosehill’s layout needs tactical speed
Jockey Tommy Berry has won the G1 Golden Slipper Stakes three times, one off the record of four held by Shane Dye and Ron Quinton, and he believes it is the unique layout of the Rosehill track which sorts out the difference between the good jockeys and the great, and the same applies to horses. The shape of the track is key in why Group 1 racing at Rosehill finds champions, especially the best juveniles who, as has been well documented, go on to have sensational stallion careers.
“Rosehill has a sharp bend at the first corner with a tight circuit. It’s unique and you need a horse with good tactical speed who makes the least mistakes,” said Berry.
“It takes a professional 2-year-old who is superior to the rest and can respond to tactics. It can be a very hard track to ride at times and only the best jockeys get the right results on the big occasions as finding the right spot at the start matters. At Randwick, you can get away with things going wrong, so you don’t need to be as tactical.
Tommy Berry | Image courtesy of Sportpix
“At Rosehill, you can’t travel too wide around the home corner and ideally need to get the right pathway there. James McDonald rides the track as good as anyone.”
Berry’s winners have been on 2021 on Stay Inside, 2015 on Vancouver, and 2013 on Overreach (Exceed And Excel). The first two stand at stud with Stay Inside’s first crop currently yearlings, while Overreach has been a good broodmare with her three foals to race all being winners led by Group 2 winner Lofty Strike, who now stands at stud himself.
“I grew up at Warwick Farm and I’ve always loved Rosehill. You get a different crowd out west, a more vocal, more casual crowd and it is very family friendly. Rosehill is not as big as Randwick, so it’s easier to get around with a family, and you always see the public stand absolutely packed. It’s nice to see the everyday person out there and it has a good feel about it.”
“I grew up at Warwick Farm and I’ve always loved Rosehill. You get a different crowd out west, a more vocal, more casual crowd and it is very family friendly.” - Tommy Berry
The Golden Slipper’s influence
It was the inception of the Golden Slipper that really put Rosehill on the map in 1957. Originally seen as a gimmick, much like the now-Group 1-rated Everest, the race grew in statue thanks to the early winners like Todman, while nine of the first 11 winners now have races named after them. In many ways, the Golden Slipper's beginnings was similar to how the first winner of the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic, Snippets, gave that race gravitas.
Todman | Image courtesy of Australian Racing Museum
“The Golden Slipper is the stallion-making race in Australasia, just look through the results, there is no other race that finds stallions like this one,” said Gai Waterhouse.
Waterhouse has won the G1 Golden Slipper a record seven times; in 2024 with Lady Of Camelot (Written Tycoon), 2020 with Farnan, 2015 with Vancouver, 2013 with Overreach, 2012 with Pierro, 2008 with Sebring, 2004 with Dance Hero (Danzero), and 2001 with Ha Ha (Danehill {USA}).
“The race was born at Rosehill, and it belongs there. George Ryder, the director of the Sydney Turf Club who ran Rosehill and Canterbury, conceived the idea, it was his brainchild, and the George Ryder Stakes is named after him.”
George Ryder | Image courtesy of Scone Vet Dynasty
Waterhouse outlined why the Golden Slipper produces so many champions who go on to influence the Australian Thoroughbred through the breeding industry. “It’s a high-pressure race and it’s quite remarkable how the young horses who get through it can cope. They are tough customers, those juveniles who have early tactical speed plus the finishing burst to end the race off well.
“Rosehill, the track, plays a part and horses who thrive need to be the ones who cope well. (If the race was moved) it would be the same pressure anywhere, but it works well at Rosehill and should continue there.
“Rosehill, the track, plays a part and horses who thrive need to be the ones who cope well. (If the race was moved) it would be the same pressure anywhere, but it works well at Rosehill and should continue there.” - Gai Waterhouse
“It’s the population base of Sydney, Liverpool, and surrounds, and what a great thing to have a track where the people live.”
Rosehill’s long and changing history
Originally a privately owned racetrack, created by John Bennett who’d made his fortune as a theatrical entertainer, the Rosehill Racing Club had their first meeting on April 18, 1885. Bennett’s track wasn’t popular to begin with, but once he added training facilities, it became popular with trainers who couldn’t afford to be near Randwick where land was harder to acquire.
“It’s been Sydney’s second racecourse for 140 years. It really had a tremendous boost when the Golden Slipper was first run in 1957 and has continued as a preeminent role in racing since then, and those of us who don’t want it to be sold, feel that a major city needs at least two world class racecourses,” said Bob Charley.
“It’s been Sydney’s second racecourse for 150 years. It really had a tremendous boost when the Golden Slipper was first run in 1957 and has continued as a preeminent role in racing since then...” - Bob Charley
“Rosehill is about more than one race, it’s not a Slipper only track. It’s a vital part in the cog of Sydney racing. There are so many important races run there, and so many champions to have won there that they are innumerable.”
Before WWII, Sydney was filled with privately owned tracks, and many held all types of racing. Canterbury was well known as a pony track, where anyone could bring their household cart pony, have it measured for height and compete against other people’s ponies. Prize money was a pool of a small entry fee and winner takes all – cheating was rife, and there were several strategies to make a horse measure smaller than its real height so the horse could compete in a shorter division. Several trainers did well on the pony circuits through cheaply purchasing small thoroughbreds from stud farms.
Victoria Park Racecourse | Image courtesy of City Of Sydney Archives
By the 1920s and 1930s, the government felt these privately owned tracks were hot beds for crime, and a move towards change was growing. In 1943, the McKell Labour Government passed legislation to create the Sydney Turf Club who would run Rosehill and Canterbury under non-privately owned rules. Moorefield, Rosebery and Victoria Park all closed during this era and many trainers moved to Rosehill.
“We think it would be a shame for Rosehill to be sold, but even more so because there is no guarantee that the money that is apparently forthcoming will be of benefit to racing. The whole affair is shrouded in a lack of information on what the members can expect from the results,” Charley said.
The first board of STC directors, hand-picked by McKell at 1943 | Image courtesy of Australian Turf Club
“The suggestion is that the club would acquire and construct a new racecourse west of Sydney, but at least Rosehill is in the centre of a strong metropolis, being Parramatta, so it seems nonsense to go further west. Why sell an asset, when we, the doubters, can’t see how the ATC would be in financial difficulty if it was receiving the correct amount from Racing NSW.”
Rosehill Guineas has a long proud history
Arrowfield Stud sires The Autumn Sun, Castelvechhio, and Dundeel (NZ) all won the G1 Rosehill Guineas – a race which was the first Group 1 in Phar Lap's (NZ) (Night Raid {GB}) career. Phar Lap’s first win and first Group 1 win both came at Rosehill. He won a juvenile maiden on April 27, 1929 at Rosehill, and returned to the track the following season to win the Rosehill Guineas - therefore it can easily be claimed that his position as a legend of Australian history began at Rosehill.
Phar Lap (NZ) | Image courtesy of National Museum Australia
“I don’t believe in stallion-making races, as such. A historically good race could have a weak field, so it’s a misnomer because that year it wouldn’t be a stallion’s race. We bought those three stallions because they were superior athletes who won a lot of good races,” said Arrowfield’s John Messara.
“I like the history and traditions of racing, and it would be a pity to pull the plug on Rosehill. It is a high quality track, one of only two world-class tracks in Sydney that has yielded champions and has many significant moments in racing history. In a major jurisdiction such as NSW, a change of venue would be deleterious to the whole industry, without a track of equal quality to move to.
“I like the history and traditions of racing...It is a high quality track, one of only two world-class tracks in Sydney that has yielded champions and has many significant moments in racing history....A change of venue would be deleterious to the whole industry...” - John Messara
“Without a coherent plan for both the sale and a replacement track, I am against a sale (of Rosehill). I see the potential for the industry if a proportion of the price could be retained for investment, but I am afraid that there is no certainty on a number of significant matters in the current plans.”
Rosehill’s aerial history
Rosehill was the location for the first aeroplane flight in Sydney in April 1910, and the second in Australia after Melbourne. Harry Houdini, best known for his lock breaking tricks, was the pilot for both flights. At Rosehill, he drove for two furlongs along the track in a rotary engine bi-plane before taking off and flying in a semi-circle around the perimeter of the track for about four minutes, then landed. Successfully landing these early planes took some skill as the engines had no gearing, so to slow them down, the pilot had to turn the engine off and on in succession, guessing on the ground speed, and then hope that they wouldn’t flip over on landing.
Houdini's aeroplane prepares to fly at Rosehill | Image courtesy of The Sydney Morning Herald
“I have conquered the four elements - fire, water, earth, and air. Fire—when I leaped handcuffed and manacled into boiling malt — be sure I did not stay there long! Water— when I leaped handcuffed and manacled into icy rivers, where it was death if I missed my dive — death if I could not get free. Earth— night after night, mastering the resistance of matter to the flesh and the will. Air — when I made the first sustained flight on an aeroplane in Australia; others invented the aeroplane, but as long as there is Australia I am the first to fly in Australia,” Houdini told the Sydney Mail and NSW Advertiser on April 20, 1910.
Harry Houdini in his French biplane | Image courtesy of Early Aviators
Several other early air races and aerial demonstrations also took place at Rosehill between 1910 and WWII.
A rich vein of history flows from Rosehill; 140 years of racing has graced the turf, and it has been a lynch pin in Sydney’s training and racing scene for 82 years since the first board of directors were appointed to look after the facilities. Four more horses will have the opportunity this weekend to irrevocably bind themselves to Rosehill’s vibrant tapestry of champions. As ATC members draw closer to casting their vote on the sale of one of Sydney’s historical and cultural centres, they should take a moment to consider if there is anywhere else that the roar of the local crowd would sound the same.
