Golden Path’s winning ways could put him on road to Grafton

The rise of Golden Path could take him to the Grafton Cup after he made it back-to-back 2000m wins in the McKell Cup at Rosehill on Saturday.

The four-year-old son of Belardo was able to take up a position one out and one back, and showed a turn of foot to put away his rivals and defy a late betting drift.

Golden Path runs away with the McKell Cup.

“We were looking to get him up in the ratings to a place where he would get into the right races in the spring, and that win should do it,” Ben Elam, Sydney foreman for the Mick Price and Michael Kent jnr stable, said.

“He is going so well that it might be a good time to test him at 2400m, and the Grafton Cup fits into that program.

“We will see how he pulls up after that and talk with Mick and Junior, but while he is going this good it is worth another run.”

Golden Path ($3.60) sat just off the speed and raced clear when Chad Schofield gave him his cue to win by 3½ lengths from Touristic ($15), with Lord Ardmore ($26) a head away in third.

Schofield, who earlier won the Midway on Emmadella, feels another step up in trip is not beyond Golden Path.

“He has really turned the corner since the blinkers have gone on,” Schofield said. “He is just a real racehorse now.

“He’s jumping, he’s putting himself on the pace, he is travelling perfectly and then he’s quickening.

“If you have a turn of foot at the end of a staying race, you’re always going to be hard to beat.

“I hit the front far too early, but when I pushed the button he really put them away, and he was too good with the light weight.”

Tough Bella Nipotina takes Tiara

Bella Nipotina has arguably been the toughest top-class horse this season and she finished it with another group 1 success in the Tatt’s Tiara at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

Ryan Maloney, who was filling in for regular rider Craig Williams, rode Bella Nipotina ($2 fav) like the best horse and she proved she was. She won by a length from stablemate Semana ($10), with leader Bubble Rock ($18) holding on for third a long neck away.

It was Bella Nipotina’s 14th run in a season in which she matched it with all the sprinting stars and was never beaten by more than 2½ lengths and has won the Giga Kick Stakes, Doomben 10,000 and the Tiara.

“She’s phenomenal,” trainer Ciaron Maher said. “I thought we’d come up here for maybe one run and maybe have a crack at 1400m and the Tiara, but to run in all four and be as good in the last as she was in the first … phenomenal.

“That’s on the back of going to Perth and running in the autumn in Sydney.”

Bella Nipotina was also runner-up in the Kingsford Smith Cup and Stradbroke in Brisbane, and it has earned her a crack at an Everest preparation later in the year.

“We’ll work back from The Everest; she probably has a run beforehand. She’ll go back out and freshen up, and have a couple of weeks off and then start ticking over again,” Maher said.

Maloney was confident a long way out and got his timing right on Bella Nipotina.

“She makes your job a lot easier and a lot more enjoyable. She obviously loves racing,” Maloney said.

“She began beautifully and I thought, ‘this is going to work out perfect’. There was good, genuine speed. She toyed with them.”

Pride sings Ford’s praises after winning double

Joe Pride and Jay Ford is a partnership that has stood the test of time, and they combined for another winning double with Anagain and emerging filly In Flight at Rosehill on Saturday.

It took them to 96 wins together, and Pride said there was a reason for the success.

Jay Ford gets Anagain home at Rosehill.

“The best thing about Jay, and there are other jockeys who are similar, but Jay has no ego whatsoever,” Pride said.

“I’ve taken him off other horses before, and I’ve never heard him complain once. He takes what is given to him, he rides some terribly behaved horses at times, and he never complains.

“You want to look after someone like that. It has been a relationship that has lasted for years, and he is having a really great run at the moment.

“It’s good to be rewarding him because he has been there at times when it hasn’t been going as well.”

In Flight went to the top the BOBS horse of the year winnings with her fourth win for the season and second city success, and could have another run before the end of the season.

Racing looking for a new integrity head

Racing NSW is searching for a new general manager of integrity after Jacqueline Johnstone resigned.

Johnstone, a former NSW police detective, joined Racing NSW in 2019 and was promoted to the head of integrity in 2022 when Marc Van Gestel left to take the chief steward role in Hong Kong.

Racing NSW is also looking for another senior steward to the raceday panel.

Amberite to extend Sydney stay

Mornington trainer Matt Laurie will leave Amberite in Sydney after an all-the-way win at Rosehill on Saturday.

Amberite ($4.80) enjoyed the heavy conditions as he held off a challenge from Caprice Des Dieux ($61) by a head, with Bright Red ($14) making up late ground to run third 1¾ lengths away.

Coriah Keatings returns on Toes In The Water.

“We came here last week and the races got called off, so he stayed here and got the conditions he liked,” Laurie said. “He is a very handy stayer that likes wet tracks, so it is a good time of year for him. We were thinking about going to the Caloundra Cup, but there might be another race for him in Sydney. I think, in time, he’s going to get to a good level.”

Keatings gets first city win

Queanbeyan apprentice Coriah Keatings never dreamed of being a jockey – it was a profession that found her.

The 23-year-old admitted to being “overwhelmed” when she scored her first Sydney win on Toes In The Water in the Highway Handicap at Rosehill on Saturday.

“I was going to go to uni but COVID happened, and I started to work in a stable. Someone said to me, ‘you’re a pretty good rider and should be become a jockey’, and I have been doing it for two years,” Keatings said.

She fired Toes In The Waters ($7) from a wide gate to lead and held a margin of 1¼ lengths from County Kilkenny ($26), with Invasive Dreams ($17) another half-length back in third.

“It was good for my boss [Nick Olive] to leave me on it, and that was so exciting,” Keatings said.