Pariah new Golden Rose favourite after win
Pariah has assumed favouritism for the Group One Golden Rose after a brilliant return at Rosehill in his first start as a three-year-old.
Punters had faith in the Peter and Paul Snowden-trained colt who was the heavily backed favourite from $2.80 to $2.10 to win Saturday’s Group Three San Domenico Stakes (1100m).
All roads now lead to the Golden Rose (1400m) on September 23 with Pariah at $6 ahead of Kementari and Menari at $8.
Peter Snowden said although there had been talk of the $10 million subscription race, The Everest on October 14, his focus was on the Group One event.
“We will concentrate on the Run To The Rose and the Golden Rose. Anything else comes after that,” Snowden said.
“This horse has come back a lot stronger, physically and mentally.”
Blake Shinn took Pariah back from the outside barrier and waited to make his move.
When he did, the colt responded with a burst of speed to put a length on Chauffeur ($10) with Jorda ($8.50) another neck away.
Pariah was beaten in the Group One Blue Diamond Stakes by Catchy and beaten by the wet track in the Golden Slipper in March, his last start before Saturday.
“We’ve always had the belief that he was a top-liner and he narrowly missed the Blue Diamond, but we really thought he had made nice progression to a three-year-old,” Shinn said.
“His work had been good. His trials had been great.
“We had a bit of challenge there from barrier 10, but this track was presented very fairly today and I just had to go out there and have confidence in my horse.”
“He gave me a lovely ride and as the race panned out I got more confident, just had to extricate my way out at the turn and I know he’s got a great turn of foot and he delivered today.
“Peter left me with an open mind and I was really pleased with that. He didn’t hit the gates that hard so I just elected to ride him quiet and back his ability.”
“I was able to find the rail and got on the back of Jorda and when the runs appeared I took them, at the top of the straight I was very confident.”