By Duane Fonseca -
Corniche stars in Godolphin and Cummings’ double
A perfectly timed ride from James McDonald witnessed Corniche deal a terrific knockout blow to the rest of his rivals in the Group 3 Gold Coast Guineas at Sunshine Coast in Australia on Saturday.
Trained by Godolphin Australia’s head trainer James Cummings, the Fastnet Rock colt flew through the final furlong of a heavy track for a game half length success in the 1200m contest.
Corniche had won just one of her previous nine starts, when nicking the G2 Skyline Stakes at Randwick in February 2023 under Brenton Avdulla, but with McDonald taking the ride for the first time, he raced the first third of the race mid-division and started to pick up pace at the 800m marker. In the straight, he still had about three lengths to make up with leader Celui, trained by Brent Stanley and ridden by Opie Bosson, and after Cifrado moved forward at the 200m marker there remained still as much work to be done.
However, the final 100m saw him find the winning traction he needed to reel in the front runners and sticking his nose in front at the 50m marker, he ran home effortlessly to win by a half length from Rex Lipp’s Cifrado, the ride of Michael Rodd. Celui was a further half length back in third.
Corniche’s success marked a double for trainer Cummings on the card, who won the card opening handicap with Pereille. Cummings said: “It's been pretty good. We got three placings last weekend with three runners so we've gone better this weekend.
“He's (Corniche) been a good horse early, he's just had a bit of time that he's needed. Now he's had the time he can keep growing. He had a little bit of a flat spot there but then he just found really well. The last 50m he just hammered home. Very good. It was a good win. We only had two runners here today, and they're full-brothers.”
Winning jockey McDonald added: “He took a while to get through his gears, that might have something to do with the track. But in saying that he showed good tenacity late to come through the gap and fight to the end. It was a good effort.
"It (1400m) shouldn't be a problem for him. James has got a nice team coming up to Queensland for the carnival and he's definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with."
RESULTS
- Corniche (J. Cummings/J. McDonald)
- Cifrado (R. Lipp/M. Rodd) 0.5l
- Celui (B. Stanley/O. Bosson) 0.5l
Time: 1m12.02s
