Star Godolphin colt Cylinder and the emerging Encap have made emphatic Golden Rose statements, the former defying the odds to land The Run To The Rose while Encap shed his maiden tag in style winning the Ming Dynasty Quality.
Both three-year-olds are now on a collision course with Golden Slipper winner Shinzo as the trio chart a course towards the Golden Rose (1400m) in two weeks.
Cylinder’s trainer James Cummings was left searching for superlatives after his charge was badly strung up for most of the straight before bursting through a late opening to nail Moravia on the line.
The stable has won the race with In Secret (2021) and Anamoe (2022) for the past two years and Cummings reckons Cylinder loses nothing against that pair.
“He’s up there isn’t he? He’s a powerhouse of excitement,” Cummings said.
“The horse arguably shouldn’t have won the race but he’s been able to find the narrowest of gaps, if you could even call it a gap, and he’s burst through and savaged the line.
“A very good colt with a great record, our best two-year-old who is now undefeated, two from two this prep, and that’s very exciting for us going into the spring.”
A winner up to 1200m, Cylinder still needs to prove himself over the 1400m of the Golden Rose having finished midfield in the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes at his only attempt at the journey.
However, that was on a heavy track and at the end of a long campaign and Cummings is confident the horse has the pedigree and scope to extend his brilliance.
“I think the Golden Rose looks very nice for the horse. He will have to stretch to seven (furlongs) but two runs under the belt, he can certainly do that,” he said.
“He’s out of a Street Cry mare and he’s a good racehorse and that can take him a long way.”
Moravia ($14) almost led throughout, Cylinder ($2.50 boombet fav) only nabbing him by long head on the line with Nadal ($11) an eye-catching third another short neck away.
Encap didn’t have everything go his way in the Ming Dynasty Quality (1400m) after being forced to shoulder his way out at the top of the straight before careering away for a dominant win.
Gary Portelli said he had never trained a horse who had improved as dramatically, or as quickly, with Encap beaten in midweek grade at his first three runs.
“It just goes to show you, good horses can come from anywhere,” Portelli said.
“He wasn’t showing this sort of ability early on. I thought he might win a maiden or a class one and here he is, he’s a proper horse.
“He has probably improved twenty lengths. I’ve never had a horse that has improved so much.”
Portelli confirmed Encap would also head to the Group 1 Golden Rose (1400m) after winning Saturday’s feature by 1-3/4 lengths over Ceolwulf ($17) with Godolphin’s Tom Kitten ($3.80 fav) battling away for third, another three-quarters of a length in arrears.