Golden Mile provided James Cummings with his second Royal Randwick winner for the day with a hard-fought victory in the Group 2 Callander-Presnell (1600m).
The three-year-old son of Astern, who won his first start in a Ballarat maiden just six months ago, has now amassed over $2.5 million in earnings.
Winner of the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas last start on October 8, Golden Mile jumped as $2.30 favourite with online bookmakers with Hugh Bowman onboard.
2022 Callander-Presnell Replay
Drifting back to third last on settling from barrier 10, Bowman started to make his move on the colt around the outside of the field from the 800m.
He honed in quickly on the leaders down the straight before going head for head with the Michael Freedman-trained Communist ($5.50) who wouldn’t give in without a fight.
But Golden Mile fought hard to claim the lead with 50m to go and take the victory by a neck.
Darren Beadman was on hand with Cummings being in Melbourne and said that Golden Mile’s class got him home today.
“He has really got that fighting spirit to win and he was just able to work into the race nicely.
“He is a quality colt and certainly going places.
“I left it open for Hughie to back his judgement with the horse and have confidence in the horse. The horse has got a great turn of foot. He is a very fit, seasoned horse and he has come out of that Caulfield Guineas win in superb order.”
“He is out of a very fast mare, Calaverite, there is a lot of speed on the dam’s side. Astern, he won a Golden Rose (for Godolphin). You would swear blind you were saddling up Astern in the stalls. He’s got his dad’s head all over, a lovely temperament and he’s a quality colt.”
Bowman timed his run perfectly and said the colt has been a model of consistency all prep.
“He showed what he’s capable of with a dominant win in what would appear to be a pretty strong Caulfield Guineas this year.
“With the invention of this wonderful race, this Callander-Presnell race, it’s given James Cummings and the Godolphin team an option to come up here and race for huge prizemoney with what is already a very valuable colt. To get the opportunity to ride him is an honour and he didn’t let anybody down.”
Golden Mile copped a slight bump on the corner, but Bowman said it wasn’t of concern,
“I was full of running. I just felt Basquiat stepped into my line slightly but because my horse had plenty of gas left and because I hadn’t asked him for any effort at that stage, he was able to cope with that slight bit of bumping and balance up and win with some authority.”
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