Cylinder's victory marks Godolphin's fourth G2 Run To The Rose win

Cylinder made a powerful Golden Rose statement when he overcame difficulties in the home straight to win the G2 Run To The Rose on Saturday at Rosehill Gardens.

Last season’s Golden Slipper runner-up raced in fifth spot for jockey Nash Rawiller to the turn but couldn’t find a split until inside the final 200m.

The three-year-old by Exceed And Excel (AUS) finally saw daylight and sprinted to grab Moravia in the final bound. 

Nadal finished well to take third place as the winner clocked a slick 1 minute 9.67 seconds for the 1,200m.

The James Cummings-trained colt, a first-up winner of the G3 Vain Stakes at Caulfield last month, now looks “cherry ripe” for the G1 Golden Rose at Rosehill on 23 September.

Godolphin head trainer James Cummings was thrilled with the performance, but a little relieved Rawiller had managed to find clear galloping room after appearing trapped.

“The horse arguably shouldn’t have won the race, but he’s been able to find the narrowest of gaps and he’s burst through and savaged the line,” Cummings said.

“Our very good colt is now two out of two this prep and we’re very excited going into the spring.  

“Cylinder has had to learn a tiny bit more racecraft today, with a few horses up ahead of him.

“Now he’s had plenty of experience, he should be absolutely cherry-ripe in two weeks and I think he’s an interesting contender for the Golden Rose.”

Rawiller looks almost as relieved as Cummings after the race.

“I just had to play the patience game and wait for the run to come,” the experienced jockey said.

“I could tell he had it there, it was just a matter of waiting for the right time to ask for it.

“He ran through the line full of running and took no harm from the run going forward.”

Together with the Golden Rose, The Everest, the G1 Caulfield Guineas and G1 Coolmore Stakes are other possible targets for Cylinder.

Godolphin bloodstock manager Jason Walsh said race decisions wouldn’t be taken lightly.

“At this stage, everything is a possibility,” Walsh said.

“If he happened to eat up the 1,400m of the Golden Rose, it (Caulfield Guineas) wouldn’t be off the table.

“The Everest and the Coolmore could also be a target in the immediate term.

“We’ll let the dust settle from today and focus on the next G1 opportunity.”

Stablemate Golden Mile also delighted Cummings when he bounced back to his best form at Rosehill in the G2 Theo Marks Quality over 1,300m.

The G1 Caulfield Guineas winner last year, Golden Mile had raced without luck - including when severely checked first-up in the Missile Stakes at Rosehill on 5 August.

Rawiller settled the four-year-old in third spot on the fence and the pair never went around a horse as Golden Mile sprinted home to beat The Inevitable and Waterford.

“He’s a very talented horse and we’ve kept him in training for a reason, and hopefully we can land another blow,” Cummings said.

“What I love is by winning the Theo Marks he’s a G2 winner as a four-year-old and it gets a rap back on the horse.

“If you think about it, he stormed away to win the Ming Dynasty on this day last year.

“I’m not adverse to running the horse in the Premiere Stakes in three weeks, but we’ll see how he pulls up.

“A deserving victory for a horse who has been training so well for so long and not even running places.”

Rawiller was impressed with Golden Mile and credited the addition of blinkers as a positive factor.

“He obviously hadn’t had much go right for him in his first couple of runs, blinkers on today gave him a lot of confidence,” Rawiller said.

“I pushed the button to go through and he really showed a great turn of foot.

“To his credit, when he got tired, he really fought on.

“He’s an older horse now and he might win a Stradbroke, get in with 55kg, who knows?” 

Cummings finished the day with a hat-trick of winners, with speedy Ribchester four-year-old Red Card leading all the way with Adam Hyeronimus in the saddle to win the Precise Air Handicap over 1,100m.