Golden Path (NZ) (Belardo) is proving a wonderful advertisement for Mick Price & Michael Kent Jnr Sydney arm and the trainers are hoping he can continue to fly the flag at Randwick.
The gelding will be chasing a hat-trick of wins in Saturday’s Premier’s Cup Prelude (1800m) after following up a Randwick 2000m success in May with a dominant performance in the Listed McKell Cup (2000m) in June.
He hasn’t raced since, but Price has given the horse a barrier trial to top up his fitness, albeit leaving plenty of room for improvement.
“I think he’s fit enough to run really well,” Price said.
“He’s six weeks in between runs, but he’s had a trial and he trialled super.
“I think he’ll show up, but if he is a little soft late, fair enough.
“He’ll improve from this run into his next run, and he’ll be very well suited, then it sets him up to run in a nice race in the spring.”
Based at Cranbourne, Price and Kent Jnr took up half a dozen temporary boxes at Rosehill earlier this year and have been making their presence felt with their small team.
Wee Nessy (Snitzel) captured the Gr.2 Sapphire Stakes (1200m) for them during the autumn carnival while Hezashocka(NZ) (Shocking)managed a feature race success in the Listed Gosford Gold Cup (2200m), but Golden Path has been the mainstay.
“He’s been a flag bearer for the stable up there and I think we’ve won about $1.5 million since we’ve had a presence up there in the last five or six months,” Price said.
The Gr.3 Premier’s Cup (2000m) two weeks from Saturday is the short-term goal for Golden Path, ahead of a possible shot at the A$2 million Gr.2 Hill Stakes (1900m) at Rosehill on October 12.
The five-year-old will be one of two Randwick runners for the stable, along with recent import Alhambra Palace (Le Havre) in the TAB Handicap (2400m) with Price hoping he can race more tractably in the clockwise direction than he has been in two Melbourne runs.
“He hangs in a little this way, so it will be interesting to see if he hangs in up there,” he said.
“He’s fit and well, so we’ll see what he does.”
