Tulloch Lodge co-trainer Adrian Bott can see Gold Standard’s versatility helping him find the right spot from a wide barrier in the Group 1 $1m De Bortoli Wines Golden Rose (1400m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
Gold Standard, above, can race on the speed or off the pace in the Golden Rose at Rosehill. Photo by Steve Hart.
Gold Standard has shown in his short career that he can race on the speed or sit off the pace and Bott will be leaving the final decision where the Sebring colt lands up to jockey Tommy Berry.
“There is a fair bit of speed inside of us so it will be interesting to see how it pans out early in the run,” Bott told Racing New South Wales News.
“The thing on our side is that Gold Standard is versatile and can park himself wherever he needs to be. We have seen him lead and off the pace.”
“I’ll leave it up to Tommy (Berry). He does not have to lead at all costs though.”
“He is brilliant enough to sit off them and still produce late but if tactically he needs to put himself there, he can.”
Gold Standard will jump from gate ten while front runners The Mission and Perast have drawn barriers three and five respectively and will use their early speed to set up the pace of the race.
Race favourite Menari has drawn to the outside of Gold Standard and jockey Josh Parr will also be looking to slot into a nice spot in the early stages.
Gold Standard is coming off a last start win in the Group 2 $200,000 Kari Stan Fox Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill on September 9 which saw him jump straight to the front and dictate the first half of the race before The Mission took over at the 800m and led the field up to the 300m where Gold Standard took over again and went on to score a convincing one and three quarter lengths win over Sanctioned.
The Gerald Ryan trained Menari is coming off two first class wins at Rosehill in the Listed $150,000 Smithfield RSL Club Rosebud (1100m) and in the Group 2 $200,000 The Run To The Rose (1200m) and heads the Golden Rose market order at Ladbrokes.com.au at $2.
The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott trained Gold Standard is marked at $11 behind Team Snowden’s brilliant colt Pariah at $6 and the undefeated Melbourne colt Merchant Navy at $8.50.
