Autumn Sun rises to the occasion
McDonald full of praise for the horse after the Guineas
Boom colt The Autumn Sun thrashed his rivals in the Caulfield Guineas to show he is the next superstar of the turf. The champ was ridden superbly by Kiwi jockey James McDonald at Caulfield on Saturday and won going away from Vassilator and Oohood.
Ex-pat Kiwi trainer Chris Waller said: “Maybe I am wrong, but I have had a bit of experience with some nice colts — he is as good as it gets.
“We never expected him to lead this race, but they are in their zone, and they are covering extra ground and it is unfamiliar, but it just shows how good he is.
“That is what we wanted to show everybody today.”
McDonald was full of praise for the horse after the race.
“I didn’t want to take up the lead, so I let him just sit there, and he breathed beautifully and was explosive on the turf.”
Asked if he could take on Winx in Cox Plate: “She is too good but he is, in his own right, look at him. He’s just a champion. A very good horse.”
The TAB slashed The Autumn Sun’s Cox Plate odds from $26 to $13 and Waller left the door slightly ajar for a clash with Winx in a fortnight.
But Waller is already thinking about taking on the world’s best overseas with The Autumn Sun.
“We didn’t get the chance [to travel overseas] with Winx, we left it too late, I doubt we will miss out with this bloke,” Waller said.
“I know everyone is dying to hear will he run in a Cox Plate? That will ultimately be up to the owners.
“If he is going to be a world champion, he would have to be to beat Winx.”
● Global racing giant Godolphin stands between Winx and a record fourth Cox Plate after international star Benbatl pushed the course record at Caulfield when claiming the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes in spectacular style on Saturday.
But the challenge not only comes from trainer Saeed bin Suroor's galloper Benbatl, who made it three G1 wins in a row following two such successes in Germany, as he held a narrow margin on the line over another Godolphin galloper, Blair House, who is prepared by Charlie Appleby.
Benbatl's time of 2:00.84 recorded for the 2000-metre trip was just half a second outside the course record.
Starting at $9 after opening at $6, Benbatl won by a half-head from the fast-finishing Blair House ($12), with two-and-a-quarter lengths to Humidor ($6) in third place.
● It’s not often that a galloper who has won 14 of his 31 starts can be described as flying under the radar.
That description is particularly apt though for six-year-old gelding Moss ‘N’ Dale who claimed the biggest win of his career on Saturday when he relished the rain-affected track at Randwick to take out the Gr.3 Craven Plate (2000m).
Bred at Te Runga Stud by Wayne Larsen, who shares in the ownership of the Castledale gelding with Australian based bloodstock agent Lenny Russo and a host of his enthusiastic friends and associates, Moss ‘N’ Dale has never attracted the attention that others with less impressive career records have generated.
But Larsen’s real sense of satisfaction comes from providing young apprentice Jack Martin with the opportunity to open some big doors in his riding future. “His ride on him at Flemington when he won over 1400m in May was as good as you will see.
“He did a great job on him again on Saturday.
“We might be able to look back in a few years and say that was the moment when it all changed for him which would be pretty special.”