“He’s had no luck this prep, and he’s ready for a peak performance.
“The father has sadly passed away, so it would be an extremely great result for all concerned if he could win.
“He’s a group 1 colt every day of the week. He just needs to get it done.”
Super sire Wootton Bassett died at Coolmore Australia on Tuesday.Credit: Colin Kenny
Wodeton is $5.50 with Sportsbet, which had Run To The Rose winner and the only filly in the race, Tempted, as the $2.90 favourite. The Ciaron Maher-trained State Visit ($67) will be another progeny of Wootton Bassett in the race.
Waller also has Autumn Boy ($5, gate seven), Beiwacht ($9, two) and Sixties ($14, four) in the Golden Rose, and he found them hard to split after the draw.
“They’ve all drawn well; they’ve all drawn to suit,” Waller said. “If I could have picked their draws, I would have picked close to them.”
Autumn Boy (right) runs second to Sixties last start in the Ming Dynasty at Rosehill.Credit: Getty Images
Waller has added blinkers to Autumn Boy, which stormed home for second to Sixties last start in the Ming Dynasty. Wodeton has switched from winkers to blinkers, and both colts worked in them on Tuesday.
“He’s had winkers on the last few runs, and he raced really well with them,” he said of Wodeton.
“And it’s good to see he’s drawn well. The draw cost him winning the Sires’ Produce, and it probably cost him a bit in a couple of other runs as well.”
McDonald is back aboard another exciting colt, Beadman, on Saturday.
The Peter Snowden-trained son of Snitzel resumes in the listed Heritage Stakes (1100m) for three-year-olds. McDonald rode Beadman, named after riding great Darren Beadman, to a last-start eight-length win in the group 3 Ken Russell Memorial (1200m) at the Gold Coast in May.
McDonald pushed him to the line to win his second trial back at Randwick, and he expects him to build off Saturday’s first-up run. From gate 10, he is $4.20.
“He’s a very exciting horse, a big, strong colt,” McDonald said. “He’ll improve, but he’s there to run extremely well and he’s got great talent. I’d expect him to be fighting out the finish.”
Beadman was touted as a potential Everest runner after the huge win on the Gold Coast. Part-owner Newgate has since gone with Overpass for its slot, which it holds with GPI Racing. Snowden said Beadman still had a lot to learn.
Loading
“He’s a really nice horse,” Snowden said. “He’s got it all ahead of him, and he’s got some big wraps to live up to, which I don’t like, but he is a nice horse.
“He’s still very raw yet. Very raw. He will be a lot better for this preparation, when he’s had a few more runs.”
Snowden also has Akaysha ($4.80) in the Heritage. She was a close second to My Gladiola first up in listed company at Flemington two weeks ago.
“She’s a good filly, and she’s the only one to beat Beadman,” he said. “Then she came to town and just got beat a head Randwick. She went to Scone and ran third in that stakes race and had no luck there.
“She was first up the other day and was in it the whole race. She’s got a good draw, no weight. She’s got a chance there.”
