By Bren O'Brien
James Cummings' Godolphin stable flexed its muscles at Tuesday's Rosehill trials, with an array of top contenders for the upcoming autumn on display and Group 1 winners Bivouac (Exceed And Excel) and Kiamichi (Sidestep) winning impressively.
Bivouac, the G1 Golden Rose S. winner, was making his first public appearance since finishing second in the G1 Coolmore Stud S. and did it very easily in the morning's opening trial over 900 metres.
He sat outside of the leader Hush Writer (Jpn) (Rulership {Jpn}), and under a hold by Hugh Bowman shaded the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott import in the battle to the line to win by a narrow margin in 55.97s.
Stablemates Cascadian (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) and Avilius (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) closed well from further back in the field to finish fourth and fifth respectively, with Chris Waller's Night's Watch (NZ) (Redwood {GB}) filling third.
Shadow Hero (Pierro) and Castelvecchio (Dundeel {NZ}), who quinellaed the G1 Spring Champion S. in October, finished further back in the field, although Castelvecchio, who was also runner-up in the G1 Cox Plate, is not renowned as a strong trialler.
Bivouac's first-up assignment is likely to be the G1 Oakleigh Plate on February 22. His only previous run at Caulfield was an impressive 4.25l win in the G3 Vain S. in August.
The second of the trials for the Group and Listed horses was taken out easily by Cummings' Golden Slipper S. winner Kiamichi.
The filly failed to find her best in the spring and was well beaten at both her runs, but she improved immensely off a trial earlier in January to lead all the way on Tuesday and win by 2.8l.
Her time of 55.58s for the 1030 metres was over 3l faster than Bivoauc, and she looks well tuned-up for whatever her first-up assignment may be.
Her stablemate Deprive (Denman), a winner of the G3 Sydney S., finished second, tipping out Dawn Passage (Dawn Approach {Ire}), who was making his first appearance since his sixth behind Bivouac in the Golden Rose S. back in September.
Godolphin's G1 Thousand Guineas winner Flit (Medaglia d'Oro {USA}) finished fourth, ahead of stablemate Soothing (Lonhro).
Leading Golden Slipper S. prospect Dame Giselle (I Am Invincible) impressed in her first public trial of 2020, and her first appearance since trouncing her rivals by 3.8l in the Golden Gift in November.
The Peter and Paul Snowden-trained filly sat outside of Pressita (Press Statement) and when asked for by James McDonald, responded to defeat the unraced Lee Curtis-trained filly by 0.3l in the fastest time of the 900 metre 2-year-old trials.
Other 2-year-old trial winners included the Gary Moore-trained Princess Zeddy (Zoustar), the John O'Shea-trained Much Much Better (Stratum), Osamu (Exceed And Excel) from Waller's stable and the Gerald Ryan-trained Jor El (I Am Invincible), while the lone 1030 metre 2-year-old trial was won well by Can Do It (No Nay Never {USA}) for Jean Dubois.
Watch: God Of Thunder trial
Team Hawkes' God Of Thunder (More Than Ready {USA}), who is out of Jolie Bay (Fastnet Rock), the stakes winning sister of Merchant Navy, was arguably the session's most impressive trailer, powering clear to win by 5.3l in 52.90s, over a second faster than any other of the 900 metre trials.
He is a winner of three of his 11 starts to date and was runner-up in the G2 Caulfield Sprint at his most recent start.
