Saturday preview: A fork in the road for Broadsiding

Cover image courtesy of Sportpix

Broadsiding: the next Anamoe?

“It’s no mean feat, this All Aged Stakes, it’s quite an assembly of very good horses.”

James Cummings would be right on the money with that description of the task ahead of the classy Broadsiding (Too Darn Hot {GB}), the only 3-year-old in a 14-horse field for the G1 All Aged Stakes at Royal Randwick on Saturday.

Cummings has plenty of faith in Godolphin’s talented colt as he drops back to 1400 metres after his narrow but tough victory over 2000 metres in the G1 Rosehill Guineas.

“I do suspect he’s ready to run the best race of his campaign,” he told RSN on Thursday. “I can see the horse enjoying a good run in the race, and he’s got an enviable record at 1400 metres.”

From four starts at the distance, the colt has won on three occasions and was third just once, in the G3 Baillieu Handicap as a juvenile. If Broadsiding can bring his best, it starts to look a bit shaky for the rest of the field.

Regardless of the outcome, Saturday’s run begs one question above all others; with the return of his super sire Too Darn Hot (GB) to shuttle duties in the 2025 breeding season, and with other stallion prospects retiring left and right, will Broadsiding race on for another season?

On the one hand, Broadsiding has certainly earned more than enough accolades to take his place at stud. The seven-time winner has four Group 1's to his name - two as a 2-year-old - as well as a highly commendable third in the G1 Cox Plate, and has consistently performed with the best since making his debut last February. He’s proven himself a versatile performer across three states. What’s left to prove?

On the other - where is his ceiling?

While he would inevitably stand for a much more accessible fee than his sire, there is the opportunity - and precedent - to enhance his record further. To pose another question, is it time to actually compare him to Godolphin's nine-time Group 1-winning champion Anamoe?

Also the winner of the G1 Rosehill Guineas, Anamoe had one less Group 1 to his name at the same point in his career. He was comfortably stretched out to 2000 metres at this stage, thus he headed to the G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes instead, where he finished further back from third for only the second time in his career. While Anamoe showed far more precocity as a juvenile, placing in both the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes and the G1 Golden Slipper Stakes, his real brilliance came at four.

Perhaps Broadsiding could follow the same path and remain a force to be reckoned with in open company next year?

Cummings was giving nothing away on Thursday as to what the future holds for the colt. His comments only stretch as far as Saturday afternoon.

“It’s been a beautiful April in Sydney and it will be a beautiful day for Godolphin if Broadsiding can win the All Aged,” he said.

Could a maiden win the Champagne Stakes?

A new juvenile Group 1 winner will be crowned on Saturday in the G1 Champagne Stakes at Royal Randwick; the absence of the winners of the Blue Diamond, Golden Slipper, and Sires’ Produce Stakes leaves it all to play for amongst the 12-strong field. In an interesting turn of events, there are four maidens in the race, who will attempt to defy almost four decades of precedent in their bids for Group 1 glory.

The last Champagne victor that was a mawinneriden before the race was Sky Chase (NZ) in 1987, whose eight career victories were all at stakes level. Retiring to stud with almost $1 million in earnings, in a time before multi-million dollar stakes racing, he produced eight stakeswinners, crowned by the 1996 G1 Melbourne Cup winner Saintly.

In a racing year that has seen several unusual and historic victories - a Melbourne Cup and a Blue Diamond for Extreme Choice, Vinrock’s (I Am Invincible) historic Sires' double, Marhoona (Snitzel) defying the odds to become Michael Freedman’s second Slipper winner that had no previous stakes win - maybe the odds will be in these four’s favour.

Lady Pankhurst (Capitalist) and Tupakara (Trapeze Artist) enter the fray with strong performances at stakes level, filling the placings in the Listed Fernhill Stakes over the same 1600 metres behind Spicy Lu (Tagaloa). They will have to go toe to toe with the winner again on Saturday, as well as bumping into fifth-placed Michelangelo (Trapeze Artist), who also opts for the one-week backup.

Unplaced Michelangelo and the other maiden runner, Federalist (I Am Invincible), are both yet to place in any of their starts, but their runs haven’t been devoid of merit; Federalist was beaten just 2.33l in the G1 Sires’ Produce a fortnight ago by an explosive talent in Vinrock, and Michelangelo was far from disgraced in the Fernhill, where he made ground to finish four lengths back from the winner.

Gallery: Maiden runners in the G1 Champagne Stakes

The seven-day back-up is also a query - as it is for G2 Percy Sykes Stakes placegetter Within The Law (Lucky Vega {Ire}) - but if Broadsiding could pull it off last year, that can’t be too much of a barrier. History was also against Aeliana (NZ) (Castelvecchio) in the G1 Australian Derby a fortnight ago, and she became the 10th filly to ever win the race - who's turn will it be to change history in the Champagne?

Championship launchpad for New Zealand’s finest

Looking at the recent history of the G3 Championship Stakes at Ellerslie - a 2100 metre contest for 3-year-olds, it might be fair to call the event one of Australasian racing’s crystal balls. Star filly Silent Achiever (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}) conquered the event before going on to win four Group 1s, including the G1 New Zealand Derby (when the Championship was held earlier in the year), Hong Kong champion Werther (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) struck here early in his career, and Pinarello (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) launched here before claiming the G1 Queensland Derby.

A winner very familiar to Australian racing, who heads to the G3 JRA Plate on Saturday, is Hezashocka (NZ) (Shocking), who broke his maiden in this race.

Who will launch their career into the stratosphere in this year’s edition? Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh has two of the top seeds for the race; Bourbon Proof (Justify {USA}), twice placed at Group 2 level in February, and Kiwi Skyhawk (NZ) (Contributer {Ire}), last-start winner of the G3 Manawatu Classic. Marsh tips the latter’s chances, since the gelding has landed barrier one.

“I’m happy with them both, but Kiwi Skyhawk was great last time, so the draws very much favour him,” he told Loveracing.nz.

The promising Zormella (NZ) (Almanzor {Fr}) looks a big chance, the Roger James and Robert Wellwood trained filly has won two of her four starts, and she is bred to appreciate the step up to 2100 metres.

Cody Cole’s Atmospheric (NZ) (El Roca {NZ}) could be a threat; unproven beyond a mile or at stakes level, the gelding has never finished further back than third in six starts, and draws well with barrier three to get his opportunity to strike.

Gallery: New Zealand horses that are running in the G3 Championship Stakes at Ellerslie, images courtesy of Kenton Wright (Race Images)

Proboy (NZ) (Proisir) profiles similar - he also hasn’t finished outside the placings - and may have been running around in slightly softer races, but he has placed over the 2100-metre distance. Crucially, drawing wide doesn’t seem to bother the Ben and Ryan Foote-trained gelding; he won his last start from the widest gate, carrying 5.5kg more than second place. He could be on the cusp of a breakthrough.

Who’s most represented this weekend?

A total of 119 stallions have offspring (after Friday scratchings) accepted for the 15 Australasian stakes races this Saturday. Zoustar leads the pack with six acceptors, spread across six stakes races in three states and New Zealand. His daughter Joliestar bids to add another top flight win to her record in the G1 All Aged Stakes.

Table: Sires with four or more Australasian stakes runners on Saturday

Barnmates Capitalist and Russian Revolution tie next with the former Kiwi-based sire Vadamos (Fr); each has five individual stakes runners. Capitalist’s daughter Lady Pankhurst bids to break her maiden in the Champagne Stakes.

Interesting is the popularity of shuttler Vadamos, who has three runners - one each from his first three Southern Hemisphere-bred crops - in the G3 Easter Handicap. While it’s clear his offspring prefer stretching out in distance, Vadamos also sneaks a 3-year-old into the Listed Daybreak Lover Plate at Brisbane over 1400 metres.

Champion Sire I Am Invincible and former shuttler Almanzor (Fr), who know calls Cambridge Stud permanently his home, tie with four each; while I Am Invincible’s son Zarastro has dual accepted for the Eagle Farm and Randwick, it looks like he will bypass Randwick in favour of a home state assault for Tony Gollan.

Williams Racing shooting for 10th Derby crown

Over at Ascot, a field of seven will line up for the G2 WATC Derby on Saturday, and Grant and Alana Williams will prepare two chances to bring home their fifth Derby as a training partnership - with another five Derbies won by Grant training alone. Since the 2010/2011 racing season, the Williams have collectively won nine WATC Derbies and run second in two others. Remarkably, all but one victory have been with William Pike in the saddle.

Pike takes the reins on one of the Williams’ two chances, Funchal (Playing God), who was second in the G3 West Australian Oaks earlier this month. The 3-year-old filly only debuted at the races in December of last year, where she was a winner over 1400 metres, but the distance is hardly a query when dam Khutulun (Soldier’s Tale {USA}) was an eight-time winner out to 2000 metres, from the close family of G1 Victoria Derby winner and sire Blackfriars.

She is joined by the Oaks’ fourth placegetter Summer’s Legacy (Bondi), whom the Williams also train. With an ownership group led by Lynward Park Stud, the filly broke her maiden over 2000 metres last year. The Williams know the family well, having trained her half-sister Fontainebleau (Alfred Nobel {Ire}) to victory in the Listed Belmont Oaks.

Both will have to contend with the presence of top-rated Machine Gun Gracie (Maschino), who had gone from maiden win to Oaks victory in her last four starts. The Justine Erkelens-trained filly looms large as the main threat in the field; if the Williams want to snare a 10th Derby victory this year, their fillies are going to need some sharp improvement from their Oaks runs.