Broadsiding’s value skyrockets after Rosehill Guineas win
As a triple Group 1-winning son of the not-returning shuttle sire sensation Too Darn Hot (Dubawi), Broadsiding’s future value to the Godolphin-Darley stallion barn was already enshrined.
But on Saturday at Rosehill it skyrocketed further, when the colt earned another thoroughly deserved elite victory with a desperate, fighting success in the Rosehill Guineas (Gr 1, 2000m).
In a race won since 2019 by such prominent names in stallion ranks as The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice), Castelvecchio (Dundeel) and Anamoe (Street Boss), Broadsiding had to do it the hard way.
Jumping from gate nine of 11 as an easing $2.90 favourite, he was caught three wide rounding the first bend before James McDonald made a brave move to push up, fortune eventually favouring him with the one-one seat.
McDonald pushed his charge to the front at the 280-metre mark and Broadsiding dashed for home.
Team Hawkes’s Swiftfalcon (Exceedance), well backed as usual into $3.90, threatened to make a race of it, but was firmly beaten off, but just as Broadsiding was being hailed the winner Aeliana (Castelvecchio) emerged from behind the ruck.
Chris Waller’s filly made a flashing charge out wide under Jason Collett, but the Godolphin colt had just enough in reserve for a 0.03-length win, with Swiftfalcon hanging on for third.
With Too Darn Hot – champion Australian first-season sire and on target for second season honours – benched from shuttling duties by owners Darley and Andrew Lloyd Webber, it’s often been said that anyone possessing a well-performed colt by the stallion in this country could be sitting on a gold mine.
That’s certainly not lost on Darley as they eye Broadsiding.
“He’s a really important horse for our business,” said Godolphin’s head Australian trainer James Cummings.
“He’s got a lot of his father in him and Too Darn Hot would be an incredibly popular sire if he was coming back.
“There’s a lot to be said for having a colt as classy as Broadsiding ready to take his place on the roster one day.”
Broadsiding added to his two 1600-metres two-year-old Group 1s – in Randwick’s Champagne Stakes and Eagle Farm’s JJ Atkins – and his success last September in Rosehill’s Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m).
After his meritorious third in his only prior attempt over roughly Saturday’s trip in the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m), he now has a 2000-metre Group 1 success to confirm his versatility.
Cummings said this underlined the colt’s class.
“To be honest, he’s probably not a genuine 2000-metre horse,” he said. “But he’s a brilliant horse. He’s got up and won the Rosehill Guineas. Fair play to him. He’s probably done it the hard way, and his performance is worth reflecting on.
“It’s a great credit to him that he’s got another Group 1 on the board. It’s very difficult to do on a warm day and in these conditions, but he’s just a good horse, and it’s just so pleasing to see him get up and deliver.”
Cummings said Saturday had been something of an “audition” for Broadsiding to show he still had the hunger to compete, no doubt clouded by having his colours lowered last start when second to Linebacker (Super Seth) in the Randwick Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m).
With that audition drawing rave reviews, Cummings indicated Broadsiding may have many more battles ahead.
“I’d say there’s plenty of desire there to still be on the track fighting out these finishes,” Cummings said. “He was good in the Randwick Guineas last time. He’s showed he’s been brought on by that run, to do so much work and hold on today.
“He’s a class colt, and class carries you a long way.
“From the draw he’s had to do a fair bit of work, and James just rode him with confidence and stuck to his plan, which was essentially to keep an open mind and not give away too much ground today on a track like this.
“That filly [Aeliana] has been so good. They can launch at you and it takes a very good horse to hold them off.”
McDonald was grateful to Broadsiding for vindicating his early move forward in hope of moving closer to the rail.
“It was one of those moments where you’re doomed if you do and doomed if you don’t. I rolled the dice, had a crack, and it paid off,” said McDonald after his 114th Group 1 and 11th of the season – five short of Malcolm Johnston’s record of 16.
“We had no real plan, just go with the flow. At the first bend I thought, ‘Oh no’. But it worked out when I ended up in the one-one.
“Jeez he’s a good horse. It was a good win. A really good win. The horse deserves it – he’s a really great colt.”
Broadsiding is the only runner from two live foals out of the Street Cry (Machiavellian) mare Speedway, who had 11 starts for Godolphin for two provincial wins and a further four placings.
Speedway, who died in 2022, is a half-sister to Flit (Medaglia D’Oro), winner of the Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m), Light Fingers Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), and VRC Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) during a 21-start career for Cummings.