You wouldn’t have thought he would have taken him so long to break through, but, now that the Golden Century has put his first win on the board in his twelfth career start, the four-year-old could well have finally put a marker down from which he could be expected to make significant progress.
The son of Pierro, who took out the opening event at Canterbury on Wednesday with sublime ease in the soft going, has never been short of promise.
In his first seven starts in New Zealand, when racing for trainer Tony Pike, Golden Century finished in the first three places on five occasions, most notably claiming a third place result in the Group 1 New Zealand Derby, coming home just 2.50 lengths behind the very smart Willydoit, who had won four of his six starts at that time.
Golden Century raced a further two times for Pike … finishing unplaced in the Group 2 Tulloch before rounding off his three-year-old campaign in the Group 1 AJC Derby.
He was then transferred to the Chris Waller stable and in Wednesday’s outing, his third start for the Waller yard, Golden Century at last turned promise into an overdue win in the kind of untroubled fashion you would expect from a $1.60 favourite.
The soft underfoot conditions played into Golden Century’s hands and the race was never in doubt once James McDonald gave Golden Century the green light to go as early as the approach to the home turn.
“He should have done that three starts ago,” commented McDonald post-race.
“He is a bit of a lad … a headstrong horse. He does really just what he wants to do at times, so it was good to get the win today.”
Stable spokesman Charlie Duckworth was already looking forward.
“He’s got his maiden tag off his back now, and can take some good confidence from today’s win,” said Duckworth.
“He stays very well. We obviously know that. It’s just about trying to iron out any kinks he has in his mannerisms.
“He is nominated in some lofty races. Hopefully we can get him to the Metropolitan,” concluded Duckworth.
