Circumstance did not work out for Broadsiding in the Caulfield Guineas, but Godolphin trainer James Cummings has not lost faith in the colt heading towards the Cox Plate.
It is 40 years since Red Anchor completed the Caulfield Guineas – Cox Plate double while more recent three-year-old Cox Plate winners had been beaten in the Caulfield feature two weeks earlier.
Shamus Award finished third in the 2013 Guineas before shining on Cox Plate Day while in 2010, So You Think finished fifth at Caulfield before winning the weight-for-age championship at The Valley.
Broadsiding finished fourth in the Caulfield Guineas last week after bad luck struck early in the race, forcing jockey James McDonald to ride for luck.
“He was the victim of interference out of the barriers, so he landed where he landed and James presented the horses at the 225 metres, approximately four lengths off,” Cummings said.
“He made up some ground to finish just a tad over a length away. There is no doubt on paper the horse rates down and can he bounce back from that and win a Cox Plate?
“Losers of the Caulfield Guineas have a better record going into the Cox Plate than winners in the last 40 years, so he’s going into the Cox Plate with stored energy that he didn’t use at Caulfield.
“We would have loved to have seen a really solidly run Guineas that would have allowed a backmarker to get into the race, but it didn’t work out that way.”
That pace is expected to be different over the 2040m at Moonee Valley on Saturday with Pride Of Jenni engaged.
Cummings also said the weather leading up to the Cox Plate 2024 could make for a different track condition to the one that was presented on Caulfield Guineas Day.
“There’s been some serious weather in Melbourne and who knows what we might see next week,” Cummings said.
“We saw the Caulfield track upgraded quite quickly to a Good3 on Guineas Day, and it might be quite different next week, but the bottom line is, it is a tough weight-for-age middle distance event and what more could we expect from a Cox Plate than that.
“With Pride Of Jenni in there, you would expect the Cox Plate will be run a little more strongly than last year.”
Broadsiding had his first look at The Valley last Thursday with Jamie Kah aboard. The colt adapted well to the track and Cummings does not expect anything different under race conditions on Saturday.
“Given it’s a unique circuit, we place importance on taking a horse like Broadsiding to The Valley quite highly,” Cummings said.
“The thing is though, good horses can run good races anywhere and I’ve got a sense this race will bring out big performances in a lot of those horses.”