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Again the margin was narrow, but The Autumn Sun won his fifth Group 1 at just his ninth start to cement his position as Australasia’s premier colt when he edged out Kiwi colt Arrogant to win the Rosehill Guineas on Saturday.
Stepping to 2000 metres for the first time, The Autumn Sun ($1.40 fav) looked to cruise to the leaders turning for home but could not shake Arrogant ($26), who was coming off a placing in New Zealand, with his trainer Mike Moroney also preparing the third horse Chapada ($26).
Jockey Kerrin McEvoy said in reference to the heavy surface that The Autumn Sun showed ‘an amount of grit because he wasn’t liking that ground’.
Trainer Chris Waller noted the Randwick Guineas and Rosehill Guineas were both decided in tight finishes: “He’s got a habit of doing that.”
Waller said the testing conditions meant the rise to 2000 metres was more like racing over 2400 metres or further.
Waller would not be drawn on the three-year-old’s future. Logically, the colt would stay at the 2000m and take on the older horses for the first time in the G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes in three weeks. But that is the race marked as the finale for Winx.
He said a decision on whether The Autumn Sun races again this campaign or indeed, ever, will be made in the coming days.
The Autumn Sun won the 1600-metre J.J. Atkins as a two-year-old before wins in the Golden Rose, Caulfield Guineas, Randwick Guineas and now Rosehill Guineas as a three-year-old.