No Derby For Broadsiding

Cox Plate placegetter Broadsiding won’t back-up into Saturday’s Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington, with a race on Champion Stakes Day now favoured for the prized colt.

Godolphin trainer James Cummings confirmed the Derby was off the radar for Broadsiding at Monday’s launch of Melbourne Cup Week.

Cummings said the Too Darn Hot colt had come through the memorable Cox Plate race, where he beat home the likes of Mr Brightside and Docklands, in fine order.

“I’d have loved for us to have run the horse in the Derby … but considerations need to be made for the horse’s prospects at stud in his next life,” Cummings said.

“The stallion business is an interesting one and the breeders really dictate where horses of his nature tend to race.

“From that reason, the horse is going to refrain from running over a mile-and-a-half, which is a shame for him, because I really think he could’ve won that race and that’s something we’ll never know now.

“He’d be nevertheless well placed in one of the weight-for-age races on the final day.

“We might be leaning towards the Champion Stakes at the moment, but he could easily run very effectively in the Champions Mile as well and we’ll look at both of those options.

“I’ll have a think about just which one will suit him the most, but he has pulled up beautifully from that run in the Cox Plate.”

Cummings was full of praise for the three-year-old’s ‘excellent effort’ to finish third in the contest.

“He was really rock solid in the race, and there’s so much more to come from Broadsiding,” he added.

“He would look beautiful at Flemington, I feel, on a beautifully big, spacious track.”

A three-time G1 winner, Broadsiding was to have run as the favourite in Saturday’s G1 classic and his withdrawal leaves last Saturday’s Spring Champion Stakes winner El Castello at the top of the market ahead of Vase (2040m) winner Red Aces.

– racing.com

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