The Autumn Sun rises to Golden Rose glory
Arrowfield graduate The Autumn Sun powers to his second Group 1 success in the ATC Golden Rose G1. (PHOTO: Bronwen Healy)
The Autumn Sun became the 10th multiple Group 1 winner for his peerless sire Redoute’s Choice with a breath-taking finish in Saturday’s $1 million ATC Golden Rose S. 1400m G1.
It was an appropriately high-class performance to mark the 50th Group 1 win on Redoute’s Choice’s remarkable 16-season record.
The colt had all his rivals ahead of him at the 300-metre mark, and 100 metres later had caught only one of them, while up front his stablemate Zousain made what looked like a winning break.
Then Kerrin McEvoy swung The Autumn Sun wide, giving him the space he needed to let rip with the big, raking stride that swept him to victory in last season’s J.J. Atkins G1 and is now even more effective.
He defeated the gallant Zousain, also runner-up in the Atkins, by a short neck, in 1:22.24, with the favourite Graff a length away, third.
Watch The Autumn Sun win the ATC Golden Rose G1.
McEvoy said, “He had to do it all, he was still last at the 300 metres but what a powerful engine he’s got. To do that in what I really think is below his best trip shows how classy he is…He’s got a great attitude and a great temperament and I’m thrilled to be on his back.”
Bred by Arrowfield’s joint venture with HH The Aga Khan, The Autumn Sun was purchased for $700,000 from the Stud’s 2017 Inglis Easter draft by Hermitage Thoroughbreds & Chris Waller Racing, assisted by agent Guy Mulcaster.
The Golden Rose prizemoney takes his earnings to $1.1 million and so he becomes the 16th million-dollar earner by Redoute’s Choice.
The Autumn Sun is the second foal of the young Galileo mare Azmiyna, an unraced half-sister to European Champion Azamour & Group 2 winner Arazan, from Listed winner Asmara.
His three-quarter sister by Snitzel was secured for $1.3 million by the same Hermitage/Waller/Mulcaster team at this year’s Easter Sale. Azmiyna has a yearling colt by Not A Single Doubt and is due to foal again to Snitzel this Spring.
The Autumn Sun now heads Timeform’s Australian 3YO rankings with 120+, ahead of Zousain (119) and Graff & Lean Mean Machine (both on 117) and his next target is the $2 million Caulfield Guineas G1 on 13 October.
