It's in the prep: what race will produce the 2025 Coolmore winner?

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

Twelve 3-year-olds will line up for the starter on Saturday in the hopes of catapulting themselves into greatness with victory in the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes. For the colts, a spot at stud beckons if they can win, and for the fillies, there’s cementing your reputation as a spring star by beating the boys.

Since the race was elevated to Group 1 status in 2006, 11 of the 13 colt winners have gone on to stud careers, and among the six filly winners are two champions. When examining the spring campaigns that have led to Coolmore glory in the past, a number of common themes emerge. What are the paths taken by previous winners, and where could 2025’s victor - or victress - emerge from?

Roman Consul form lines hard to beat

The G2 Roman Consul Stakes has proved an excellent source of winners in the 19 editions of the race at Group 1 level, with six past winners coming through the race. Notably, all of them have been winners or placegetters if they have replicated their form at the top level; Switzerland, Brazen Beau, and Zoustar all won their Roman Consuls.

Ozzmosis, whose first foals have arrived this spring, and talented gelding Japonisme (Choisir) both finished third, while Gold Edition (Lion Hunter) was second in her year before winning the Coolmore in its first year at Group 1 status.

Gold Edition routinely faced off with the boys before her win, winning the G3 San Domenico Stakes and finishing fourth in the then-G3 Golden Rose Stakes, split by a victory against her own sex in the G1 Silver Shadow Stakes.

Only two runners in this year’s edition have come from the Roman Consul, but the odds historically stack in their favour; the winning quinella of Hidden Motive (Capitalist) and Beadman (Snitzel) have made their way south to continue the event. Nathan Doyle’s improving colt Hidden Motive was a wire to wire winner of the event, with Beadman getting within a quarter of length of him at the line.

“He deserves his chance,” said Doyle. “The Roman Consul has always been a good race every season, and he ran good time, breaking the class record. Naturally, he’s got to step up again, but we feel he can do it.

“He’s a big, gross colt who takes some racing to come to hand, and at fourth-up, he will be cherry ripe. The Coolmore has always been in the back of our minds - if he could step up, then it would be worth a crack. And after what he did in the Roman Consul, it’s been full steam ahead into that race.”

Beadman has pleased the Snowden Racing team in his preparation for the grand final.

“We’re really happy with him,” Aaron Lau, Peter Snowden’s assistant trainer, said. “He’s third up now and is at his peak. He had a good look down the straight last Friday, he’s tightened up nicely from his two runs, and he’s ready to go.”

“He was a little bit unlucky to not win the Roman Consul, but he's come through that run in good shape and travelled down well.”

Is the future Golden?

The G1 Golden Rose Stakes, won this year by Beiwacht (Bivouac), has produced several winners in the past, but they haven’t always come from the head of the field. Coolmore winners have finished as far back 10th (Merchant Navy) in the 1400-metre event before appreciating the drop back to 1200 metres.

Merchant Navy certainly was sharper over the shorter distance; he may have won as a juvenile over 1400 metres, but all of his best work, including his Royal Ascot victory, came over six furlongs.

The equally sharp Nechita (Fastnet Rock) conceded her only loss in a four-start career in the Golden Rose, finishing sixth before leading home a fillies quinella for her sire in the Coolmore, followed home by Jolie Bay (Fastnet Rock).

In Secret (I Am Invincible) and Exceedance finished second and third in their respective editions of the Golden Rose, and Zoustar was the winner, securing the Roman Consul in between the two Group 1 victories.

It’s a tough act to follow for Beiwacht, whose sire Bivouac finished second in the Coolmore in Exceedance’s year after a detour to Moonee Valley for his first rumble in open company, finishing sixth in the G1 Manikato Stakes.

“He is a class horse,” Beiwacht’s trainer Chris Waller said on his weekly preview podcast on Thursday. Beiwacht has been in good hands since being transferred this season to the six-time Coolmore-winning stable.

“His win was simply amazing in the Golden Rose. He's trained on well since. He's in scintillating form. He's a good horse. It's his first time up the straight. They don't all adjust to the straight, but I think he will.”

Skyhook (Written Tycoon) is the only other Golden Rose runner to take on the Coolmore, and given he slid from second to fourth spot by four and three quarter lengths in the Group 1 event, maybe the drop back to 1200 metres will be more ideal.

“He’s doing well, he travelled down 10 days ago and had an easy jump-out up the straight where he followed them around a little stargaze-y,” co-trainer Gerald Ryan said. “We worked him there again on Tuesday following a mate and he worked quite well.”

To Ryan, Skyhook is the forgotten horse in the race.

“He’s right up there with those other colts. The biggest negative for him will be the barrier (two).”

Uncharted territory in the Danehill

Two races featuring prominently in the form this year are the G2 Danehill Stakes and the Listed Gothic Stakes; the first five finishers in the Danehill will make their way to the Coolmore, two of whom ran in the Gothic as well.

One of last season’s boom juveniles Tentyris (Street Boss {USA}) finished third in the Danehill before a confidence-boosting Gothic win, reversing the fortunes of Mcgaw (I Am Immortal) who finished fifth in the Listed event.

They are joined by Gothic second-placed Raging Force (Cosmic Force), who had begun his preparation with a win in the San Domenico, and G3 Vain Stakes winner Jimmy Recard (I Am Invincible), who finished sixth. Unbeaten in his first three starts, Jimmy Recard has been sharpened with a jump-out before his Group 1 debut and hopes to bounce back to form.

"He (Jimmy Recard) can (cause an upset)," trainer Ciaron Maher told SEN on Thursday. "I’ve always had a lot of time for him. I just don’t reckon he was at his best last start. His work since has been super and his trial was fantastic.

"He has to improve but I think he will, and I think his best is good enough to be very competitive."

The Danehill contingent is filled out by runner-up My Gladiola (I Am Invincible), fourth-placed Legacy Bound (Ole Kirk), and fifth placegetter Tycoon Star (Written Tycoon). The only previous Coolmore winner to come through the Danehill was Brazen Beau, who finished an uncharacteristic fifth, out of the placings for the first time in his career.

“This has always been his grand final,” co-trainer Ben Hayes told racenet.com.au of Tycoon Star’s chances. “There's a couple probably fancied ahead of him, but he's shown he's very good down the straight.”

If any of the contingent have the genes to succeed, it’s My Gladiola, the only filly in the field. Sire I Am Invincible has produced three winners of the race to date, including super filly In Secret, and dam Villa Verde (Not A Single Doubt) was fourth in her year to Zoustar.

“She’s trialled up beautifully,” said the filly’s trainer John McArdle. “She worked well on Tuesday morning, and then she has done a bit of evens this morning. She’s in really good order.”

Running against the boys is low on McArdle’s list of concerns for his hulking grey filly.

“She ran against the colts in the Danehill and came second. It’s always been the plan since the Blue Diamond to come here, and she’s built like a colt. She’s probably heavier than some of the colts that she’ll run against on Saturday, so I don’t think she will have any problems matching them.

“She’s got the pedigree, she’s got the type, and she’s got the race performances. She’s earned her way to being here.”

The Listed outsider

The unbeaten Skyglider (Flying Artie) makes his first trip south for the Coolmore and will be doing it the hard way in more ways than one; a winner on debut in July at Canterbury, he trialled twice before a hit-out last weekend in the Listed Brian Crowley Stakes where he was a one and a half length victor. He rolls into Saturday’s task on the one-week back-up and will be the only one with such a short gap between runs.

Northern Meteor is the only Coolmore winner in the last 19 years to have come through the Brian Crowley before, when the Listed race was two weeks ahead of the grand final. His path to greatness was not dissimilar to Skyglider’s though, only breaking his maiden at Canterbury two starts before the Coolmore and was a dominant winner of the Brian Crowley, setting a new race record in the process.

“It's a big task, but his ratings are massive out of his win the other day and his maiden win,” said Skyglider’s trainer Waller. “He's got a good constitution and he's ready to go.”

Another point in Skyglider’s favour comes from his breeding. Northern Meteor was the son of previous Coolmore victor Encosta De Lago - who won the race when it was the G2 Ascot Vale Stakes - whereas Skyglider boasts 2016’s victor Flying Artie as his sire.

2025 has been to date Flying Artie’s best calendar year for stakes winners, adding three new ones to his record alongside the Group 1 exploits of his globetrotting daughter Asfoora. Perhaps Skyglider can take his sire’s haul one step further on Saturday.

Unconventional methods

Not all stars of the Flemington straight have come through an established path. Sunlight (Zoustar) was always the cut above the rest, running a respectable seventh in the G1 Manikato Stakes a week before her Coolmore victory, where she led home a remarkable trifecta for her sire.

The five colts to cross the line next behind her were robbed of a high value Group 1 winner, but all subsequently found their places at stud, while Sunlight added two more Group 1s to her record that season and was a $4.2 million purchase for Coolmore at the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale. Her first foal, Dawn Service (Justify {USA}), is a stakes winner, and in 2022, she visited fellow Coolmore winner Home Affairs in his first year at stud, with the subsequent filly heading to Japan when selling at the same venue to Mitsu Nakauchida for $3.2 million.

Home Affairs came via a punt at the then-$15 million The Everest, where he finished ninth, having won the Listed Heritage Stakes the start before. He returned to Flemington in the autumn to capture the G1 Lightning Handicap down the straight as well.

Sepoy, already having cemented his spot at stud via the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes–G1 Golden Slipper Stakes double, also arrived from a bout in open company, where he sped home to win the G2 Caulfield Sprint. The start before, he had added the Manikato to his record as well. The Coolmore would be his last of 10 career victories, beaten only three times in 13 starts.

September Run (Exceed And Excel) and Flying Artie won the Listed Poseidon Stakes and the G3 Blue Sapphire Stakes as their final lead-ups to the big day. The remaining winners in this cohort, Star Witness and Headway (Charge Forward) round out the group with a fourth place in the G2 Schillaci Stakes and third in the G3 Thoroughbred Breeders’ Club Stakes respectively.