Rising super star The Autumn Sun showed his true champion qualities in producing a devastating finish to win the Group 1 $1m Mostyn Copper Randwick Guineas (1600m) at Randwick today.
The Autumn Sun, above, produced a powerful finish to claim his fourth Group 1 win in the 2019 Randwick Guineas at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Jason Collett on Miss Fabulass set up a blistering pace to go out to a six lengths lead at the 600m while Kerrin McEvoy had The Autumn Sun ($1.80 favourite) parked near the tail of the field.
Miss Fabulass ($21) still had a handy break when heads were turned for home but it was obvious that she was going to get run over in the straight.
The Lindsay Park trained Fundamentalist ($15) and last week’s Surround Stakes winner Nakeeta Jane ($3.70) were the first to challenge the leader while McEvoy was trying his hardest to rev up The Autumn Sun as the field came down the Randwick rise.
Fundamentalist, under the hard riding of Sam Clipperton, claimed the lead at the 100m and for one moment it looked like a huge upset was on the cards but out wide The Autumn Sun was hitting top gear and arrived in time to claim his fourth Group 1 victory buy a narrow margin.
Fundamentalist held on for second for her fifth Group 1 placing with Nakeeta Jane fill third spot.
Winning trainer Chris Waller was reluctant to compare The Autumn Sun to his stable star Winx, but said that winning performance was something she would do.
“If I didn’t train Winx I wouldn’t have believed that performance but she probably desensitised the emotion of these big race wins. That was a glimpse of what she can do and I won’t say any more about her. Full credit to this horse. He’s next Australian star and I can only tell you how good he is. You’re seeing it but he is a very very good horse,” Waller said.
“The exciting part about this horse is he’s not mature yet. That is the next question you have to ask do you want an immature horse taking on the world or be around for a bit longer. It’s a great thing to be thinking about.”
The Autumn Sun has raced eight times for four Group 1 wins, adding today’s victory to his wins in the $600,000 J.J. Atkins Plate (1600m) at Doomben as a two year old and in the $1m Golden Rose Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill and the $2m Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield as a three year old during the 2018 Spring Carnival.
