HISTORY
GOLDEN EAGLE HISTORY
Relatively new to the racing world, the Golden Eagle is quickly becoming a very popular race, both for punters, and for aspiring 4 year olds that are looking to win their share in $10,000,000! It is a unique race on the Australian Racing calendar, as it is the only feature race in the country that is restricted to 4 year olds only. The Golden Eagle sits in the Top 3 for the richest Australian races, joining The Everest and the Melbourne Cup.
We are incredibly excited to have Willydoit contesting the race this year, and can’t wait to see how he goes against the best 4 year olds from Australia, and around the world on Saturday!
With the $10,000,000 prize pool, the race typically attracts a full field. A great initiative to this race is that every year, 10% of the prize money is donated to the winning owners charity of choice.
THE BEGINNING
The Golden Eagle was first run in 2019. It has been run at Rosehill Gardens every year until this year, where it will run at Royal Randwick! It is a race run under set weights conditions and doesn’t have Group/Stakes status (yet).
THE RACE DAY
The Golden Eagle sits as the feature race on the program, with supporting races such as the Russell Balding Stakes, which is a $3,000,000 race contested over 1300m, and used to be named after the previous years Everest winner. The other supporting race on the card of note is the Rosehill Gold Cup (albeit run at Randwick this year), which is a 2000m Group 3 worth $750,000. The race day coincides with Derby Day in Victoria, and is widely known as one of the best days on the spring racing calendar.
The Golden Eagle would attract the biggest crowds that Rosehill have seen, so it will be interesting to see how much the attendance changes at Randwick!
THE WINNERS
Whilst only a small sample size of winners are in the history books, there have been a range of different horses that have won the race. International raiders Obamburumai (2023) and Lake Forest (2024) have been successful in the lucrative race, and New Zealand bred horses also play a factor, with Kolding (2019), I’m Thunderstruck (2021) and I Wish I Win (2022) all being successful in the race too. Colette (2020) is the only Australian bred horse to win the race, and also the only mare to win the race.
Tomorrow’s Golden Eagle article will delve deeper into the statistics of the race, including key lead up races, key trends in the history of winners and other key insights!