By Trevor Marshallsea

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Mega trainer Ciaron Maher has a quartet of nominations for Saturday’s Run To The Rose (Gr 2, 1200m), as four more quality runners embark on spring campaigns amid an extremely classy crop of three-year-olds.

It’s unlikely all four will start in the Rosehill set weights and penalties feature, but two who look likely to clash in it are Maher’s former Godolphin star filly Tempted (Street Boss), and ATC Sires’ Produce (Gr 1, 1400m) runner-up State Visit (Wootton Bassett), both of whom are resuming.

Maher believes the outside chance of his quartet, Navy Pilot (I Am Invincible), could surprise a few people this spring, after a Brisbane winter campaign hampered by immaturity. The colt had four starts in the north for a win in an Eagle Farm two-year-old handicap, two placings – including one in Listed class – and a seventh in the JJ Atkins (Gr 1, 1600m).

Maher’s fourth Run To The Rose nominee is another Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) colt in West Of Swindon, but the trainer said he may be steered instead to the slightly longer distance  – and the more friendly handicap scale – of the Ming Dynasty Quality (Gr 3, 1300m).

Tempted is the only filly among 20 nominees for what shapes as a compelling Run To The Rose.

The main lead-up to the stallion-making Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m) features 18 colts, but the $3.50 favourite on Tuesday was the lone gelding among the nominations. Peter Snowden’s Raging Force (Cosmic Force) is seeking his fifth straight win since his ultimate gear change.

Another son of Wootton Bassett, the Chris Waller-Coolmore colt Wodeton, was at $4 after his first-up second in Raging Force’s San Domenico Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m).

Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou’s recent first-up winner Skyhook (Written Tycoon) was at $5, with Tempted at $6 alongside ATC Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) hero Nepotism (Brutal).

It’s hard to imagine Maher – who has more than 550 horses on his books, trains out of seven bases, and was comfortably Australia’s most successful trainer last season with 329.5 wins to Waller’s 273 – having a hard act to follow.

But Tempted’s former conditioner James Cummings, when Godolphin’s private trainer, won the past four editions of the Run To The Rose, and five of the last six. Bivouac (Exceed And Excel) won it in 2019, then the four straight from 2021 comprised Anamoe (Street Boss), In Secret (I Am Invincible), Cylinder (Exceed And Excel) and Traffic Warden (Street Boss).

Maher drew one of the prime lots in Godolphin’s switch to public trainers when given Tempted, and while she’ll be a rose amongst thorns this Saturday, he’s confident she can acquit herself well as she opens a campaign which could aim towards Flemington’s Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) or the Golden Rose.

Tempted was a star two-year-old through six starts last season, and while all three of her wins came against her own sex, she also showed she could mix it with the boys.

She was a meritorious seventh in the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), finishing strongly after being blocked for much of the straight, and later ran a superb 0.65-length third in the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m), powering up the inside from tenth at the 400m as a $4.80 favourite.

Showing her durability, she came out three weeks later and won Randwick’s Percy Sykes Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m), beating two fillies who’ve shown their class before and after that race in Savvy Hallie (Hellbent) and Within The Law (Lucky Vega).

Tempted was also nominated for Flemington’s fillies’ event, the Cap D’Antibes Stakes (Listed, 1100m) this Saturday, but Maher told ANZ News his new acquisition would “most likely” race against the boys at Rosehill.

In Secret is the only filly to win the Run To The Rose in its 22 editions. And the only female to win the Golden Rose since 2001 has been the outstanding triple Group 1 winner Forensics (Flying Spur), who won the event when it was still only a Group 2 in 2008.

But Maher has no qualms about taking on the males with Tempted.

“She’s come to me in good order, and she seems to have come up very well. Obviously she’s a very good horse,” said Maher, who took note of the filly as a two-year-old.

“I noticed her in all her runs. She was enormous in the Slipper, and in the Sykes she covered ground and blew them away.

“Mentally she’s very good. In all her trials, she travels and improves up under her own steam. She seems quite experienced for a young horse and that certainly comes through.

“She’s done it against the boys before, so there’s not worries in that department.”

Tempted comes in with one barrier trial, a second over 1050 metres at Randwick under James McDonald on a soft 7 on September 2. With McDonald in Melbourne to partner Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) in the Makybe Diva Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m), Tempted will be ridden by Ethan Brown in the Run To The Rose.

Rosehill was a soft 5 on Tuesday. Cool weather and the chance of showers were forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, but with fine and sunny weather predicted for the rest of the week, the track may yet improve into the good range.

“The track was fairly damp for her barrier trial and she went OK – James gave her a good report – but on top of the ground she’s fine as well,” Maher said.

“She looks like she’s furnished this time in for sure. She spends more of her time at our place up at Bong Bong, and she seems to enjoy that. She’s a happy horse in a good spot. I think she used to spend a fair bit of time at the farm when she was with Godolphin, so she likes the rural environment.

“We’ll be guided by her first-up run. She could go to Melbourne and target the Coolmore, or stay in Sydney for the Golden Rose.

“She’s pretty sharp. She certainly trialled that way the other day.”

Fillies have fared better in the Coolmore, with three winners in the past seven runnings, also including In Secret. 

Coolmore homebred State Visit has also been nominated for Flemington’s Poseidon Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) but Maher said he was “most likely” headed for a clash with Tempted – and a few others – in the Run To The Rose.

He’ll resume after shining as a two-year-old, his four runs highlighted by a 0.21-length second in the Sires’, and a last-start fourth in the Champagne.

The colt has had two recent barrier trials and will be ridden by Chad Schofield.

“I think he should go right on with it this campaign,” Maher said. “There’s a good group of three-year-olds in Sydney. He was right up there with them as a two-year-old, and I can’t see why he wouldn’t be right up there as a three-year-old.”

Having performed well over 1400 metres and 1600 metres in juvenile Group 1s, State Visit may seem a likely candidate for the Golden Rose or the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m). But Maher said he might still head towards the Coolmore.

“I put blinkers on him for his trial the other day to see how he was and he was a little bit sharper in them,” Maher said.

“He’s very good over 1400 metres, and you probably need a horse who runs at least 1200 metres or a little bit further for the Coolmore.”

Navy Pilot, likely Caulfield Guineas bound, has had a somewhat chequered start to life. A younger full brother to triple stakes winner – and $2.8 million broodmare – Tiz Invincible, he was passed in at Magic Millions Gold Coast $80,000 short of a $750,000 reserve.

Breeders Phoenix Thoroughbreds (II) thus race him with Maher. He showed promise as a two-year-old without starring, but his trainer feels he could be finally ready to bloom.

“When he travelled to Brisbane, he had to grow up a little bit,” Maher said. “He overdid it a couple of times and beat himself.

“But he’s come up well this time in. He’s definitely matured mentally and I think that should transfer through to his form.

“I reckon he’ll have his first run in Sydney and then go to Melbourne, and he probably gets to a Guineas.”

West Of Swindon, bred by his senior owners Qatar Bloodstock, had three starts at two for Team Hawkes for one black-type placing, a second in Rosehill’s Silver Slipper Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m). He also ran second in the Golden Gift (1100m), one of NSW’s rogue 18 races whose supposed black type upgrades have been rejected by the Asian Pattern Committee – a state of affairs frustrating not only to breeders but journalists on a word limit.

After failing in the Golden Slipper, West Of Swindon was transferred to Maher.

He’s the only one of this Maher quartet with a run under his belt – but it wasn’t a good one.

The colt was sent to Kembla Grange for an intended soft kill in a 1200 metres colts, geldings and entires’ maiden on August 30 but, as a $2.60 favourite, travelled wide and managed only a 1.7-length fourth.

With the Golden Rose or the Caulfield Guineas his likely grand final, Maher’s backing him to rebound, though his Saturday second-up run looks likely to come not in the set weights and penalties Run To The Rose, but the Ming Dynasty quality handicap.

In the former, he’s on the minimum of 55kg beneath a topweight of 58.5kg, shared by Nepotism and Blue Diamond (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Devil Night (Extreme Choice). In the latter, he has 54.5kg, half a kilo above the minimum and six kilos below topweight.

“The weight scale might suit him a bit better in the Ming Dynasty,” Maher said.

“Nothing really went to plan at Kembla. He was wide and did a fair bit of work. He’ll definitely come on from that.

“He’s a lovely, well put-together colt who’s got good ability. He’s got a run under his belt, and hopefully he can get back to form on the weekend.”