Cepheus qualified for the $3 million Big Dance in the South Grafton Cup earlier in the year and is the favourite after he showed at Rosehill that he was in the best form of his career.
Nash Rawiller made it a treble after wins on Peace Officer in the Midway and Espiona in the Golden Pendant.
Cepheus ($4.20) raced away for 1 length victory from WiIliamsburg ($9.50) with favourite Waterford ($3.40) a nose back in third.
“On his day he does special things like that,” Rawiller said.
Mo the great
The Newgate syndicate is one of the most successful stallions groups in the county and are used to winning,but they are going to have a lot of fun with the Darby Racing owners in unbeaten colt Ozzmosis.
The Zoustar colt looks like he will be a major player in the big sprints after he returned with a win in the Heritage Stakes at Rosehill.
The Darby crew,who sold a quarter of Ozzmosis to Newgate in June,gave jockey Rachel King three cheers when she came back.
“I have never had that before,they are pretty excited,” King said. “He has always had an engine.
“Even today he hit the front and he was arrogant. He just has that fantastic attitude for a colt. He only has 53 kilos in The Everest.”
Ozzmosis ($3.10) took control of the 1100m sprint early,sitting to the outside of favourite Royal Tribute and then sprinting away to beat Celestial Legend ($6.50) by 1 lengths,with Namesake ($16) a half-length back in third.
“It was never about today and it’s never about The Everest. It’s about doing the right thing,and he did,” trainer Bjorn Baker said after the win.
“We’ve got the Roman Consul[Stakes at Randwick on two weeks] pencilled in and hopefully getting down to the Coolmore.
“In the autumn he’ll be better again,and this time next year he will be a live Everest candidate.
“But it might come earlier than that.”
Athabascan to chase Melbourne Cup spot
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John O’Shea has his eyes clearly on the Melbourne Cup with Athabascan after he made it back-to-back wins by taking out the Colin Stephen Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday.
Tom Sherry found a way from the fence back in the field on the turn to charge down the centre of the track and arrive in time to win a short neck from Al Aabir with Desert Icon the same margin back in third.
“He’ll go to the Bart Cummings,we want a ticket into the big one (Melbourne Cup) so he’s a young stayer that’s right at the top of his game and will take a power of beating in a couple of weeks.
“He’ll relish that. You saw him there today – he never touched the bridle. He’s got a great turn of speed. He’s got 51 kilos I think in the Cup. We’ve just got to get him in there.”
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