John O’Shea is no fan of the revamped Sydney spring carnival.
He has a better suggestion: move the $1 million Golden Rose from Rosehill to Randwick and run it two weeks later.
That way it will be an ideal lead-up to the Caulfield Guineas.
Already the richest race of the Sydney spring, it will also become the focus of Australian racing on a day when there is no Melbourne meeting because of the AFL grand final.
Racing NSW confirmed a revamp of the carnival program on Thursday, including shifting the Spring Champion Stakes back a week to clash with Caulfield Guineas day in Melbourne.
But O’Shea believes the Golden Rose is the race officials should have targeted for change.
“The Golden Rose should be two weeks before the Caulfield Guineas so that Sydney horses have the luxury of running in a million-dollar race on their home track later in the spring,” O’Shea said.
“That day used to traditionally be the old George Main Stakes day at Randwick and it was a big day. Last year they had it at Rosehill and you could have fired a canon up the joint.
“That change in program has not worked. The right scenario would be to move the George Main Stakes back to Randwick a week before the Epsom, and put the Golden Rose on that day.”
The rejigging of the carnival has also impacted the Princess Series with the distances of two legs of the four-race contest shortened.
Rosehill trainer Gerald Ryan felt the changes to the fillies’ series unnecessary but had no qualms about pushing back the Spring Champion.
Nor does he have an issue with the current mid-September timeslot for the Golden Rose.
“I don’t see why we’ve got to complement the Caulfield Guineas or the Melbourne carnival,” Ryan said.
“For the short time the Golden Rose has been going, horses who run well in it always seem to run well in the Caulfield Guineas.”
Racing NSW has also announced prize money increases with mid-week city races to rise $5000 to $40,000 and public holiday races to increase from $42,000 to $50,000.
Officials also confirmed 10 mid-week metropolitan meetings would be bumped to provincial tracks.
