Winning Horse: Golden Mile (Aus)
Winning Trainer: James Cummings
“He was huge and the ride was just a pure ride and it makes a difference when you can get a top jockey on.
“Big shout out to my staff at Crown Lodge. They’ve been with this horse all the way through as a young horse. We were confident he was a better horse and he was showing us at Warwick Farm.
“We slipped him down the highway and got him into Carbine Lodge. The horse emerged to win his debut. We brought him back to Sydney, gave him a good break and he hasn’t stopped running slashing races in Sydney with the Caulfield Guineas written all over him.
“And in the background of all that, Crown Lodge sent down Aft Cabin – beautiful horse. Took the small fish, did everything right, and Carbine Lodge just kept improving the horse when they got him and with a week to go it was heartache.
“Bart and Chin Nam used to laugh amongst each other about going from the zenith of hope to the abyss of despair and that’s how I felt walking off the track last week.
“But to have turned it around seven days later and still emerged with the winner, you can’t imagine what a sense of satisfaction and the fatalism for us is pretty important (and) pretty special to us.
“This is a big race. The son of Astern. Hasn’t that been a story this season. The emergence of Astern as a powerhouse stallion and we’re very lucky to have him in the barn and if he keeps producing horses like Aft Cabin and Golden Mile then we’re well and truly there with a big advantage and we’ve got that to look forward to.”
Personally to win this race with Bart’s successes: “I suppose I’ve got time to reflect on that. I haven’t thought much about it. You come to these big days and there’s pressure on.
“I get to trackwork and there’s horse trainers that get to trackwork and their eyes are bulging, they’re yelling at their staff and they’re pouring pressure on at this time of the year.
“I got my riders together in Melbourne a couple of days ago and reminded them. It is so important all the little details, it all comes together.
“But Golden Mile, he’s been through all my stables. He started at Crown and won on debut from Carbine. But at Osborne Park, the guy there, these are seriously talented people behind me and they deserve the accolades they get because they can produce colts like Golden Mile and Anamoe.
“They saddle up perfect, present perfect and they savage the line like they’re the underdogs and that’s the way they should.”
Winning Jockey: James McDonald
On the horse: “He was great. He had a great turn of foot the horse and that’s what won him the race today. He worked into a nice enough spot. It was quite messy to the first bend. He actually went to go right instead of going left and was just off kilt a little bit, but once he gathered up momentum he idled into the race and had a great turn of foot.”
Important to let him balanced up: “James was very strict on that instruction. He would have rathered me being held up and flashing late than going too soon and getting run down. I got lucky there. He’s a good horse and he won well.”
Balancing for different stables: “You just keep turning up and doing your job. I get on lovely horses and it makes your job easy. You ride for terrific people that are so understanding. Obviously you have days where it doesn’t all go well, but you have to get over them. The trainers that we work with they understand that, it’s racing, and we were on two superstars today.”
Support behind the scenes: “I hope it hasn’t brought the baby on as she’ll be jumping for joy. She’s a massive part. Mum’s at home with Katelyn. Her parents are a great support as is brother Tod, Mark Guest who does my rides and helps me with my form. There’s a group of us. I swing my leg over and they’re all very proud of what we do. It’s not without them being in my corner.”
Beaten jockeys:
Mark Zahra (Tijuana): “He was game in defeat. Every chance.”
Craig Williams (Berkeley Square): “The start was costly, absolutely, but I followed the winner and he never really got a smooth flow in transition throughout. We needed to be really sharp from where we were and we just never got a good smooth run, but he really stayed on well.”
Luke Nolen (Millane): “Didn’t run it out.”
Jye McNeil (Bank Maur): “He ran fantastic from an awkward draw but I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Damien Thornton (Foujita San): “Ok for further.’
Damian Lane (Meridius): “Really good run. He just ended up in the worst spot in the race in the run and sprinted home well without any luck.”
Harry Coffey (Skyphios): “Good run. Just needs a bit further. I was happy though.”
Tim Clark (Osipenko): “Terrific run. I only having his fourth career start. Still a little bit new but he’s got a bright future.”
Damien Oliver (Amenable): “He ran pretty well. He had a nice run from a wide-ish gate. There were no excuses for him but he’s run sixth beaten about a length. I think he’s going to be a nicer horse next preparation, too. He’ll be a bit stronger.”
Jamie Mott (Elkington Road): “Super run. He’s a really nice horse in the making and he’s still quite new at the moment but he’s got good talent.”
Ethan Brown (Sir Bailey): “He was slow to muster speed. Landed in an awkward spot throughout but they were a bit sharp for him over a mile. I think getting out will really suit him.”
Blake Shinn (Elliptical): “Super run. Got beaten by an outstanding colt but a great run, no excuses.”
Michael Dee (Lethal Thoughts): “Not sure he’s breathing that well. Jumped OK, travelled good outside the leader and I thought we were going to come into it but he just blew out late.”
Jamie Kah (The Fortune Teller): “Good effort. The horse just needs to mature a lot, but I was pretty impressed with that. I think he’s going to be a really nice horse in the autumn.”
Linda Meech (Dashing): “I thought he ran terrific. It probably wasn’t ideal leading, but I got across pretty easily.”
