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By Ray Hickson

Trainer James Cummings has left nothing to chance in order to have star colt Broadsiding as close to his best as possible to add to his Group 1 tally at Rosehill on Saturday.

Trainer James Cummings (Pic: Bradley Photos)

Last season’s champion NSW two-year-old spearheads a dual assault from Godolphin on the Group 1 $1 million Golden Rose (1400m), with Traffic Warden the able lieutenant, and if he is to win he’ll need to create a piece of history.

No horse has won the Golden Rose first-up from a spell but that’s a task Cummings has deliberately set the colt.

“He’s been going beautifully, we’re delighted with the way he’s prepared for the Golden Rose first-up,’’ Cummings said on Sky Sports Radio.

“We’ve kept it all up to him in order to be ready to go at seven furlongs. We got it right knowing he couldn’t beat his stablemate in the Run To The Rose.

“The right approach with Broadsiding was to have him here first-up seven furlongs and we have him spot on in lung and limb ready to do combat.”

It was 10 years ago Cummings trained his first Group 1 winner, in partnership with Bart Cummings, when Hallowed Crown won the Golden Rose and he won the race again in 2019 with Bivouac.

Broadsiding, $3.30 with TAB on Thursday, wound up his two-year-old season with a dominant display to claim his second Group 1 in the JJ Atkins at Eagle Farm on June 15, two months after his Champagne Stakes win.

Cummings has prepared the horse with two eye-catching barrier trials and an exhibition gallop and said as talented as Broadsiding is he’s backing that talent to shine through.

“It’ll be a big ask, but it doesn’t matter whether you’re first-up or fifth up in a Group 1 it’s a big ask and the horses have to rise to the occasion,’’ he said.

“All we can do is have confidence in our process and we’re confident we’ve got him where we need to have him.

“He has the assignment ahead of him now to cross that bridge from two to three-year-old campaigns and prove that he’s not just a champion two-year-old.

“It’s a trip he will be comfortable with when fresh and from that perspective the Golden Rose is going to be a very interesting test for Broadsiding.

“He does have the aura of a very good horse, he’s built up an enormous record already.

“It’s very possible there’s more yet to come because he has that beautiful European style about him.”

One concern Cummings doesn’t have is Broadsiding’s ability to handle any track conditions, given his Champagne Stakes win was on a heavy 10 and his Atkins win on a good 3.

“Broadsiding will handle it and it might even deter some others from appearing the Golden Rose and that wouldn’t do any harm to his chances,’’ he said.

While all eyes are on how Broadsiding returns, Cummings said Traffic Warden has come through his Run To The Rose win in stellar fashion and history says it’s that race which is usually the “A1 form”.

The son of Street Boss has raced twice at 1400m for a win in the Group 2 VRC Sires’ and a narrow defeat on a heavy track to Manaal in the Group 1 Inglis Sires’.

There’s every chance Traffic Warden could be Godolphin’s TAB Everest representative so there’s a bit riding on whether he can continue to improve.

“Every time he comes to the races he elevates his rating, you don’t see that very often,’’ he said.

“That’s an exciting prospect that he’s got more to offer. I’m utterly convinced you didn’t see the best of him as a two-year-old.

“He’s absorbed that first-up effort in the Run To The Rose beautifully. He’s been bouncing out of his skin down on the track and he pulled up beautifully the Sunday following that effort.”

Broadsiding runs second in a Hawkesbury trial on September 17

Traffic Warden meets those who finished behind him better at the weights for winning the Run To The Rose, aside from Storm Boy who also drops in weight, but faces a different scenario from a near outside gate.

“He’s adept on the going and he has the versatility but he doesn’t quite have the draw he had first-up,’’ Cummings said.

“The Tulloch Lodge three will be up there near the lead and Traffic Warden can be bolting in behind them but he’s going to need to knuckle down and rise to the occasion at Group 1 level.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday’s Rosehill meeting