Godolphin has a history with the Expressway Stakes in the James Cummings era that suggests Caulfield Guineas winner Golden Mile could be underrated heading into the autumn, but he will face a stern test from Forbidden Love, which saves her best for this time of year.
The pair at the top of the betting stand out being only group 1 winners in the field of nine and building to get back to top-level racing again in the next couple of months.
Golden Mile (blue) takes out the Caulfield Guineas.Credit:Getty
The weight-for-age group 2 feature is the earliest starting point for autumn campaigns. Golden Mile follows in the steps of Expressway winners Alizee and Savatiano, and Anamoe and Hartnell have also carried the blue colours in the event.
“They are not a bad bunch of horses we’ve had in this race, and we have found it a good starting point because it gives you plenty of options,” Cummings said. “Golden Mile is a very good horse and might be the sleeping giant of our team.
“He already has a stallion’s profile and we are mindful of that. A weight-for-age win as a three-year-old would only add to that and getting back to group 1 company.
“Three-year-olds tend to have a good record here, and he has shown himself to be a good three-year-old already this season.
“He is very sharp for the 1200m, but it’s a starting point where he is going to improve from. In saying that, we were very happy with the barrier trial [a third closing off from back in the field earlier in the month] and how sharp he has been in his work.
Forbidden Love races away with last year’s Canterbury Stakes at Randwick.Credit:Getty
“He is sure to run a good race, but it’s a handy field.”
Golden Mile is an even-money favourite for the Expressway. Forbidden Love, which is the $2.70 second pick, has trainer Michael Freedman hoping she can find the form of last autumn.
A winner of eight races, Forbidden Love has won six of 14 in the autumn, including her three group 1 races, and was a luckless runner-up to Overpass in this race last year before winning the Canterbury Stakes and George Ryder Stakes.
“She was coming off an indifferent spring last year and came out and was a different horse in the autumn, and we are hoping she can do that again,” Freedman said. “I’d be guessing if I was to find a reason for it, but she seems to like autumn better than spring for some reason.
“You are always concerned when they don’t come back like her last spring, so it was good to see her trial so well, and she should have won this race off a similar trial last year.”
With Kerrin McEvoy in the saddle, Forbidden Love cleared out by 6¾ lengths from Andermatt in a group barrier trial a couple of weeks, but it was the feedback that pleased Freedman more.
“Kerrin got off her and said she wanted to be there and felt really good,” Freedman said. “You’re always a bit worried going into a race off one trial, but she is so good fresh, it feels right for her.
“She is naturally a go-forward mare, so we will be using barrier one and not giving away an advantage she has over her main rival [Golden Mile].”
Freedman has had four winners from limited runners this year and sees Daytona as a horse with his hoof on the till despite failing on the Gold Coast last time, where he had excuses.
“It was a bit of leaders track up there and he didn’t help himself by getting his tongue over the bit,” Freedman said, “We have put a tongue tie on him and, if he runs up to run before he went up there at Randwick, where he should have won, he will be right in it.”
