The 2017 Golden Rose Stakes is the early Sydney Spring Racing Carnival target for the Tulloch Lodge-trained Siege Of Quebec following the youngster’s impressive Rosehill win over the weekend.

Siege Of Quebec targets the 2017 Golden Rose Stakes this Sydney Spring Racing Carnival at Rosehill Gardens. Photo: Steve Hart.

Prepared by Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott, the Fastnet Rock colt came off a debut win at Newcastle over 1250m when stepping up in distance on Saturday in the $100,000 #TheRaces Handicap (1400m).

It was a fighting finish by the two best two-year-olds in the race, but jockey Tommy Berry was able to hold off the Chris Waller-trained Calculated for the win on Siege Of Quebec who was a $1.2 million buy from last year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

“He looked under pressure at the top of the straight but that’s just the colt,” Bott told Racing NSW post-win on Saturday.

“He has certainly got a lot of fighting qualities about him and just does what he has to.

“He is such a naturally talented horse and there is a lot of raw ability there at the moment.

“He’s still working out what it is all about. When to quicken and when to let down but when he is challenged he knows exactly what to do and its important at the moment that he knows where the line is.”

“Once he gets a little bit more seasoned, and we saw his inexperience there today when he was challenged he came off the bit early, but when the pressure came on he really knuckled down the task.

“Once he puts it all together and learns what is it all about he’ll be a serious horse.”

Fellow co-trainer Waterhouse is keen to break her maiden status in the ATC Golden Rose Stakes and has Siege Of Quebec on the hunt heading towards the $1 million feature held over 1400m at Rosehill Gardens on September 23.

In the past 30 years Waterhouse has saddled-up 18 Golden Rose horses for a trio of seconds and three further third place finishes.

Back in 2010 Waterhouse ran second with Squamosa in the Golden Rose Stakes results behind Toorak Toff after her Not A Single Doubt colt won that year’s Run To The Rose.

She put Bull Point in 2013 along a similar campaign with a Listed The Rosebud (1200m) run two starts before his third to Zoustar (1^st) and Dissident (3^rd) in the Golden Rose four years ago.

Siege Of Quebec, a full brother to Bull Point, will be set on a similar program with a lead-up into the Group 1 via the traditional $200,000 Group 2 The Run To The Rose (1200m) on September 9 scheduled.

That will follow on from a resuming run at Rosehill on August 26 in the $150,000 Group 3 Ming Dynasty Quality (1400m).

“The immediate plans will be to head towards the Golden Rose so we’ve got a plan mapped out for him going through the Ming Dynasty,” Bott confirmed.

“We’ll freshen him up, keep him ticking over and head him towards the feature races.

“He showed plenty of promise early on and we took him down to Melbourne for an early spring campaign and he even had a jump out down there but we thought he’d benefit from more time so we put him out and we’re reaping the benefits now.”

All-in Golden Rose Stakes odds currently have James Cummings’ Lonhro colt Kementari as the $7 favourite after the Godolphin-raced galloper won over 1400m at Royal Randwick in late May by an easy four lengths.

To back your early Golden Rose 2017 selections at the right price visit Ladbrokes.com.au this spring.