Golden Mile was in the wars at his first two campaign runs but the entire finally got an opportunity to show his wares in the Theo Marks Stakes and he made the most of it.
The four-year-old was lucky to stay on his feet in the Missile Stakes first-up when Big Parade broke down in front of him, then was galloped on when failing to beat a rival home in the Winx Stakes.
Adamant he had genuine excuses both times, trainer James Cummings kept faith in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas winner and the addition of blinkers for Saturday’s Theo Marks proved an added masterstroke.
“I don’t have many horses come back to scale with the injury he had last start in the Winx, he got galloped on badly enough and thankfully he was fine. He’s got quite lucky the last two times,” Cummings said.
“He’s a really talented colt and unfairly, he’s just been a bit forgotten about after the last couple.
“The horse has actually got his chance here.
“He came out humming like a six-furlong horse with the blinkers back on – the horse was travelling strongly in the run when he raced first up and never got the opportunity to let go, ‘J Mac’ (jockey James Mcdonald) thought he was going to win the race on the day.”
Nash Rawiller had the Theo Marks Stakes (1400m) ride aboard Golden Mile on Saturday and stalked the speed before a piece of advice from Godolphin’s expert form advisor Dominic Beirne came to fruition.
Beirne had noticed the tendency of race leader Cross Talk to hang out around the home turn and Rawiller was waiting for the run that presented when it did.
“Great attention to detail from Dominic Beirne who did well to pick up on Cross Talk laying out turning for home and it won Nash the race,” Cummings said.
“Those little things make a difference, the devil is in the detail.”
After shooting to the front at the top of the straight, Golden Mile ($8.50) was on tired legs late but he held on to defeat the fast-finishing The Inevitable ($13) by a short neck with Waterford ($10) also doing his best work late another neck away.
The winner is now likely to progress to the Premiere Stakes (1200m) at Randwick in three weeks.
Golden Mile gave Cummings and Rawiller a race-to-race stakes double after they combined to win The Run To The Rose with Cylinder.