Widden Celebrate Rosebud Quinella

Sydney – Widden Stud’s young gun sires Northern Meteor, who is sadly no longer with us, and Sebring provided the quinella in the Listed ATC Rosebud Quality at Randwick on Saturday with unbeaten Eurozone defeating Dissident in a hotly contested sprint.

Prepared by James and Bart Cummings, Eurozone had looked good in winning his only two previous starts and tuned up for this 1200 metre assignment with a recent barrier trial on August 2.

Presented in sparkling order, the handsome chestnut jumped fast and landed in front with Hugh Bowman electing to leave him at the head of the field in a race where there was not a lot of pace.

He cruised along and when asked for an effort in the straight found another gear and despite racing a touch greenly found the line in style to beat Peter Moody’s autumn stakes-winner Dissident by more than a length with Magic Millions sale-topper Bull Point in fourth place.

“The best thing about him is that he does everything right when he hits the ground,” said James Cummings of the horse, who will always hold a place in history as the first stakes-winner prepared by the James and Bart Cummings training partnership.

“He was strong late and is really warming into his prep. There is plenty of petrol in the tank and her still has room for improvement in him.”

A $110,000 Magic Millions purchase for DGR Thoroughbreds from the draft of Carramar Park, Eurozone has now won each of his three starts to date collecting over $150,000 in prizemoney with the Group I ATC Golden Rose looming large on the horizon followed by the Group I MRC Caulfield Guineas in October for which he holds an entry.

The fourth stakes-winner for ill-fated Northern Meteor, Eurozone is a three-quarter brother to Group II winner Miss Marielle, who is by Northern Meteor’s sire Encosta de Lago.

Bred by Phillip Chen and foaled at Carramar Park, Eurozone is the fifth winner from Group III winning Don’t Say Halo (USA) mare Miss Vandal.

Runner-up Dissident also looks set for a great campaign judging by his strong finishing second and will also progress towards the Golden Rose.

A $210,000 Magic Millions purchase for Peter Moody from the Widden Stud draft, Dissident won the Listed MRC Blue Diamond Preview on debut back in the autumn and has now won $126,000 in prizemoney.

Eurozone made it a winning double at Randwick for Northern Meteor, who scored earlier in the day with Gooree homebred Streaking Meteor, who is also trained by James and Bart Cummings.

Northern Meteor died tragically of colic last month at Widden Stud and his last foals will be born this spring.