The Rosehill Report – September 24
Bren O’Brien picks out the key factors ahead of Saturday’s Golden Rose meeting at Rosehill.

Rail: True
Track: Soft 5 (Friday)
Weather: Possible rainfall, 2 to 4 mm. 60% chance of rain. Max temperature 21.
A Golden Rose with a difference
Since being upgraded to Group 1 status 13 years ago, the Golden Rose has become one of the most important three-year-old races in Australia, coronating future kings of the track and stars of the breeding barn. Three of the past five Australian Champion Three Year Old Colts have won this race but this year’s renewal looks a bit different.
Forensics was the last filly to win the Golden Rose in 2008, when it was held in the autumn due to equine influenza, but this year looks as good a chance as any of the girls upsetting the boys.
Fillies occupy three of the top five spots on the market, which is headed by the James Cummings-trained In Secret, who upset the colts in the G2 Run To The Rose last time out.
Fireburn and She’s Extreme are Group 1-winning fillies as two-year-olds and both look capable of improving in their second-up runs and spoiling the long-term stallion value of a few of the colts. Paris Dior is the fourth filly in the field, meaning there are more fillies in this year’s Golden Rose than the previous four editions combined.
Where do you need to be?
The last meeting at Rosehill saw three leaders and three other ‘on pace’ horses win from 10 races, while there were two races where horses came from midfield or worse to win. However, the rail was out 5 metres that day.
The previous meeting where the rail was true was August 27, where five of the 10 winners were on pace, on what looked a fair surface. This rail was also in the True at this meeting last year and on a Good 3 played in favour of leaders, with on-pace horses winning seven races.
Race of the day
Clearly the Golden Rose, with so many questions to be answered, is the main attraction on Saturday. On current form, it looks a battle between the two James Cummings’ chances, the filly In Secret and the colt, Golden Mile.
Both won by clear margins on this track two weeks ago, with In Secret especially impressive coming from just behind the leaders and powering away in the Run To The Rose. Four of the past eight winners of that race have gone on to win this one.