It takes a bit to unseat the Golden Slipper winner for Australian Champion 2YO honours these days, but Broadsiding gets his chance to apply more pressure to Lady Of Camelot this Saturday at Eagle Farm.
The James Cummings-trained colt will be out to stretch his winning streak to four with a second Group 1 win in the $1 million JJ Atkins (1600m).
Broadsiding won the Group 1 Champagne Stakes (1600m) in April, the middle pin of a winning hat-trick that started with the Listed Fernhill Stakes (1600m) and included the Group 2 BRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) last time out.
The fact the son of Too Darn Hot’s wins have come on tracks rated between Soft 5 and Heavy 10 from a variety of settling positions underline his quality according to Cummings.
“I think it’s a great sign that he can overcome all of those scenarios and win races,” Cummings said.
“That puts him right up there with the better two-year-olds, there’s no question he’s the real deal and the horse to beat in this J.J. Atkins.
“He’s a beautifully sound two-year-old, he’s not heavy, he’s agile and, most importantly, once we’ve had him up in trip to a mile and trained him for these races, he’s responded and matured so beautifully.”
Broadsiding will create history if he can win the J J Atkins and become Cummings’ second 2YO Of The Year, behind 2019 winner Microphone.
No winner of what is now Queensland’s only Group 1 race for juveniles has been crowned Australian Champion 2YO.
Dracula, the 1998 Champion 2YO, won the BRC Sires’ Produce Stakes when it carried Group 1 status and he remains the only 2YO Of The Year who did not contest the Golden Slipper, a race Cummings bypassed with Broadsiding.
Introduced for the 1994/95 season, Merlene, Catbird, Dance Hero and Miss Finland were the only Slipper winners to be crowned Champion 2YO in the first 13 years, but Microphone is one of only two non-Slipper winners to win the award in the past 15 years.
The other was Earthquake (2014), who finished second in the Slipper after winning the Blue Diamond.
Broadsiding was ridden by Jamie Kah in the BRC Sires’ but regains the services of James Mcdonald this weekend with the pair to start from barrier two in the field of 14.
