The Rosehill Guineas is a Group 1 race held each autumn at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in Sydney. Run over a distance of 2000 metres and worth $500,000 in prizemoney, this event is held alongside the George Ryder Stakes and The Galaxy on Rosehill Guineas Day. This event has a long history in Australian thoroughbred racing, with the inaugural edition held in 1910.
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The Rosehill Guineas was originally held over 7 furlongs, which is the equivalent of roughly 1400 metres. It became a 1 1/8 mile race in 1915, which is roughly 1800 metres, before growing to its current distance of 1 1/4 miles or 2000 metres in 1948. The Rosehill Guineas was run as a Principal Race from 1910-1979, before graduating to Group 1 status in 1980.
The Rosehill Guineas has been won by many of Australia’s best known horses, including names like Phar Lap in 1929, Ajax in 1937, Tulloch in 1957, Dulcify in 1979, Kingston Town in 1980, Octagonal in 1996, Naturalism in 1992, and Tie The Knot in 1998. Recent notable winners include It’s A Dundeel in 2013, Jimmy Choux in 2011, Metal Bender in 2009, and Sky Heights in 1999.
The Rosehill Guineas is a good test for three-year olds heading into the Group 1 Australian Derby, which is held at Randwick over the longer distance of 2400 metres. It’s A Dundeel in 2013, Eremein in 2005, and Sky Heights in 1999 have all managed to win both races in the same season. The Randwick Guineas is a good lead-up race for the Rosehill Guineas, with both Both It’s A Dundeel in 2013 and Metal Bender in 2009 winning both events in recent years.
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He is the class runner in Saturday’s Group One Rosehill Guineas but Shamus Award will need to prove himself on two fronts to win.
The colt has never raced in the clockwise direction, nor on a surface worse than dead.
The 2000m contest is set to be held on a heavy track and jockey Craig Williams admits he can offer little insight into how the Cox Plate winner will cope with it.
“He’s never raced on a wet track so the Gods will tell whether he handles it,” Williams said.
“They have all got to run in it.”
A surprise winner of the Cox Plate in the spring, Shamus Award reinforced his quality with an all-the-way victory in the Group One Australian Guineas.
He drops back to three-year-old company on Saturday after finishing sixth to Fiorente in the Australian Cup three weeks ago.
Williams isn’t concerned by the colt’s newness to Sydney and says trainer Danny O’Brien has him well prepared.
“He had a serious gallop the Sydney way at Moonee Valley on Saturday morning and (on Wednesday) he just had a spin around at Flemington,” Williams said.
“I’d be disappointed and surprised if Shamus Award got beaten because of racing in the other direction.
“Danny has given him plenty of work that way and I’m really happy with the way he has taken to going right-handed.”
Australian Guineas placegetters Criterion and Thunder Fantasy will again be among Shamus Award’s adversaries on Saturday.
Criterion was an even eighth to Dissident at Randwick last start and will be reunited with Hugh Bowman who hasn’t been aboard since his two-year-old season.
The backmarker wasn’t suited in a Randwick Guineas dominated by the on-pace runners but Bowman says he can feature if Saturday’s tempo is more genuine.
“I’m not saying I think he can win but it wouldn’t surprise me if he did. All he needs is a bit of pressure up front and a trouble-free run and he’ll be doing better than most of them in the last furlong,” Bowman said.
Murray Baker has indicated he could have just one Guineas runner, Show The World, with Atlante a doubtful starter if Sydney’s wet weather continues.
Baker won the race last year with It’s A Dundeel.
