Queensland horseman Kelly Schweida is looking to score an upset 2017 Golden Rose result this weekend in Sydney with his improving gelding Shogun Sun at a big price for the Rosehill Group 1.
Queensland raider Shogun Sun is at big Golden Rose 2017 odds to upset the local Sydney gallopers at Rosehill this weekend. Photo: Steve Hart.
Schweida has had this season’s Group 1 $1 million Golden Rose Stakes (1400m) on the cards for Written Tycoon three-year-old Shogun Sun for some time and is keen to see how the youngster handles the assignment on Saturday.
A previous Randwick winner defeating subsequent Ming Dynasty Quality winner Addictive Nature over 1200m in early August, Shogun Sun was last seen running fifth in the Group 2 The Run To The Rose (1200m).
“We had plans of going to the Golden Rose but it’s so hard to line up our Queensland form at that time of year so we went down to Sydney just to test the water,” Schweida told Racenet this week.
“If he wasn’t good enough to compete it would have been silly going back but he won and the second horse came out and won the Ming Dynasty.”
That September 9 run a fortnight ago in the Run To The Rose was the horse’s first Rosehill start and he finished three and a quarter-lengths back from the winning favourite Menari as a $19 outsider.
Schweida could not have been more impressed with the fast-finishing effort of Shogun Sun however who posted the quickest final 600m sectional of the race (32.91 seconds).
This weekend in the Golden Rose Stakes odds the Gerald Ryan-trained Menari is the dominant favourite again at $2 through Ladbrokes.com.au to make it three wins on the trot.
Recent history certainly backs-up The Run To The Rose form with the traditional lead-up producing the past five Golden Rose winners.
The latest three all completed the double Menari chases this weekend, while the last unplaced Run To The Rose graduate to improve and win the Group 1 was Zoustar (4th in 2013).
Shogun Sun is one of 14 hopefuls making-up the 2017 Golden Rose Stakes field and is drawn a treat in barrier six, the gate Court Command won from back in 2006.
Jockey Christian Reith retains the ride looking for his first win in the Sydney Spring Racing Carnival feature and the latest Golden Rose odds have Shogun Sun at $26.
Since 2005 just the one Golden Rose Stakes winner jumped at a double-figures in betting when Epaulette took out the race in 2012 at $13, but Schweida remains hopeful ahead of this year’s edition with his outsider with the extra distance to suit.
“All his runs this time in have been super and he couldn’t have done any more last start,” Schweida said.
“I think he’s heading in the right direction and is improving all the time.
“He still looks like he’s six months away to me – he’s a big gangly sort of fella – but we’re having a crack.”
Should Shogun Sun pull off the boilover result on the weekend he would become the longest priced Golden Rose Stakes winner since In Top Swing ($19 in 2003) who was also a Queensland raider.
The latest sunshine state-trained horse to take out the race meanwhile was the Helen Page-trained Doonan ($16 in 2004) who Hugh Bowman rode to victory.
Bowman has ridden a total of four past Golden Rose winners, most recently Hallowed Crown (2014), and gets a shot at a fifth partnering last start Ming Dynasty Quality runner-up Assimilate ($14) for Peter & Paul Snowden on Saturday.
To back your favourite Golden Rose Stakes 2017 horses at the right price this weekend visit Ladbrokes.com.au today.
