Beiwacht etched his name into the record books on Saturday, giving Godolphin its first Group 1 victory under a public training model with a blistering performance in the Golden Rose.
Adam Hyeronimus sent the $9 chance straight to the lead for Chris Waller, and the colt never looked back, dashing away to score by more than four lengths in a new track record of 1:20.79. Stablemate Wodeton ($4.20) finished second while Tempted ($3 fav), also in Godolphin’s colours, ran third.
For Waller, it was a significant victory not only for his stable but also for the Godolphin organisation. “Godolphin has been an amazing story for Australia and they’ve been my biggest competitor for so many years consistently in these big races, the stallion making races,” Waller said. “We had four great colts in the race and unfortunately there is only one winner.”
Initially viewed as Waller’s third seed, Beiwacht defied that label by producing his most polished performance to date, extending strongly over 1400m to emulate his sire Bivouac, who won the Golden Rose in 2019.
“We’ve had confidence the horse has continued to mature,” Waller said. “What struck us the most today, he was so calm and relaxed. He is a proper racehorse. He’s got good looks, he’s got proper two-year-old form and he’s backed it up at three.”
Godolphin has yet to announce its representative for the $20 million Everest, but managing director Andy Makiv said the Golden Rose would decide it. “Three weeks in is a really good lead-up for either Beiwacht or Tempted to go back to the 1200 metres. They seem to be our logical choices and really our only choices.”
James McDonald said Wodeton “was very gallant in defeat” and would earn his reward soon, while Ethan Brown felt Tempted’s best came over a shorter trip. “I feel like she’s probably a little bit more effective over 1200 metres with a hotter tempo but very good effort,” he said.
The win was Godolphin’s seventh in the Golden Rose and followed on from Broadsiding’s success 12 months earlier.