Caulfield Guineas winner Golden Mile returns to the track after brief stint at stud
James Cummings and Godolphin would have preferred Golden Mile made it in the breeding barn, but the now-gelding remains an important member of their team.
The son of Astern will enter the second phase of his racing career in this Saturday’s $250,000 Group 3 Liverpool City Cup (1300m) at Randwick.
The 2022 Caulfield Guineas winner stood briefly for $16,500 at Sheikh Mohammed’s Northwood Park Victorian base last season but was injured after covering 14 mares and was retired from stud duty and gelded.
He is not the first Group 1 Guineas winner Godolphin has returned to work after a brief stint at stud, following Randwick Guineas winner Kementari, and Cummings is eager to see what he can do this weekend.
“We’d be thrilled to see him convert on what he’s been showing us on the track over the past couple of months,” Cummings said.
The Liverpool City Cup will be Golden Mile’s first start since a third placing in the Group 2 Victory Stakes (1200m) at Eagle Farm on May 4, the 20th start of a career that has netted five wins and more than $4.3m in earnings.
He will carry 58.5kg, the bulk of which will be made up by Adam Hyeronimus, with the pair to jump from barrier six in the Liverpool City Cup, for which he is an $11 chance with betting apps.
Golden Mile was given an easy time of things in his first trial of the preparation before scoring an impressive win over 900m at Warwick Farm on February 11.
“The horse has been flying and feeling good,” Cummings said.
“No one has got a bigger opinion of the way Golden Mile has been going at Osborne Park than Golden Mile.
“I love the way he’s been trialling from one trial to the next.”
Cummings’ other runner at Randwick is Snitzel two-year-old Comedy, who the trainer is excited about seeing out to 1200m in the Group 3 Skyline Stakes in what shapes as an audition to the March 22 Golden Slipper.
“I just love Comedy stretching out in distance, he’ll eat up the ground,” Cummings said.
“Three weeks could be important for that horse to be a runner’s chance in the Golden Slipper.”
“He’s been doing everything to me to suggest he’d be competitive most years (in a Skyline Stakes).”
Josh Parr will take the ride on Comedy, who has drawn barrier seven and is considered one of the main dangers to dominant favourite Shaggy, who has won his only three starts to date.
