Prediction Comes to Fruition

At the Darley stallion parade in the Hunter Valley last month their team made mention of the fact their 2016 Golden Rose winning sire Astern may be on the cusp of a change of fortune and how accurate that prediction has proven to be.

Astern has emerged with a leading contender for both the Group I ATC Golden Rose and the Group I MRC Caulfield Guineas next month and at Canterbury later today we will see another three year-old with stakes potential in undefeated filly Cinderalla Days.

Golden Mile has drawn gate 11 in the Golden Rose - image Steve Hart

Godolphin homebred colt Golden Mile has two wins and a second from three starts and goes into the Golden Rose as a last start winner of the Group III ATC Ming Dynasty Quality, while his stablemate Aft Cabin progresses to the Caulfield Guineas off a last start win in the Group III MRC Guineas Prelude.

Aft Cabin was a dominant winner of the G3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude - image Grant Courtney

Back to Cinderella Days, the Joe Pride trained filly shoots for her third successive win in the 3YO graduation over 1250m taking on the colts in Race Two.

She beat them last start and there is no reason to think she can’t do it again and if successful Black Type races are sure to follow and she does hold an entry for the Group I ATC Flight Stakes on October 1.

A homebred for David Bentata, Cinderella Days is a half-sister to Group III winning stayer Persan, who was third in a Caulfield Cup and fifth in a Melbourne Cup.

She is one of six winners from Group I ATC Coolmore Classic winner Ofcourseican, so pedigree would certainly suggest she’s another stakes-winner in the making for Astern, who stands at a fee of just $11,000 this spring.

Demand for Astern has waxed and waned since he retired to stud in 2017, but it will be no surprise to see him cover a large book this year off the lowest fee he has ever stood for.