Baker colts show class at three to put group 1 targets on radar

Craig KerrySeptember 12, 2026 — 7:09pmWarwoven tuned up for target race the Golden Rose and Paradoxium put his hand up for an Everest slot as Warwick Farm trainer Bjorn Baker celebrated a group race interstate double with his three-year-old colts on Saturday.Stakes winners at two despite setback in their campaigns, the pair starred with commanding victories on Saturday as Warwoven claimed the group 2 Run To The Rose (1200m) at Rosehill and Paradoxium led all the way in the group 3 Poseidon Stakes (1100m) at Flemington.Rachel King salutes on Warwoven in the Run To The Rose.Getty ImagesRachel King put Warwoven ($8), the Pago Pago Stakes winner, outside leader Castillo King from gate seven of 11, and he travelled well before holding out favourite St Gotthard by a neck. Under Focus was third.It was a bounce-back performance from Warwoven, which was three lengths fifth first-up in the San Domenico Stakes (1100m) in Guest House’s track-record time win at Rosehill.Baker assistant trainer Luke Hilton said the group 1 Golden Rose (1400m) in two weeks was always the target for Warwoven, which had come back bigger and stronger this preparation. He was $11 into $6 for the Golden Rose, where Guest House was a $2.80 favourite.“We knew he was going really well,” Hilton said. “We were still a little bit disappointed first up, but when you sort of sat back and looked at it in isolation, he had gone really well.“Rachel was very confident and very happy that he’d gone well, and he’d just come on from that run.“He’s got good early speed when he needs it, and I like what Bjorn did with him first up because the idea was always to go to 1400.“We wanted to make sure that he could take a sit and be restrained, which he sort of adapted to pretty well first up. So now we’re there with one to go.”Earlier in the day, Paradoxium put its case forward for Yulong’s Everest slot with a front-running victory first-up at Flemington.The Extreme Choice colt, bought by Yulong in March, controlled the straight race under Jason Collett and powered away late for a one-length win to add to his group 2 Todman Stakes success.Baker was bullish about his chance leading into the run.“He’s got a great attitude and a great action,” Baker said. “Speaking pre-race, I did everything but declare him.“He was very good and he had to carry a little bit more weight than the others as well. Hopefully we can get back here for the Coolmore [Stud Stakes]. You dream, and you dream big.”Hilton said Paradoxium would return home for the Roman Consul Stakes before heading back down for the Coolmore.As for the Everest, he said: “Paradoxium is obviously Yulong and they have a slot, so they might want to be in discussions, but we haven’t really floated it about this bloke [Warwoven].”Payne on a roll for three-year-oldsVeteran Rosehill trainer David Payne was looking to a fourth consecutive week of wins with exciting three-year-olds after Persian Wonder sliced through late to win the group 3 Ming Dynasty Quality (1400m) earlier in the day.Persian Wonder, a $19 chance after finishing fifth in the group 3 Up And Coming Stakes, finished through the pack under Ash Morgan after the leaders set a solid tempo.It continued a dream run for Payne, who won a Midway with VRC Derby hope Proxima Dea two weeks ago before Bangkok Hottie took out the group 2 Furious Stakes last week. He will have Bangkok Hottie and Krasina in next week’s group 2 Tea Rose Stakes (1400m) for the fillies at Randwick.“It makes me feel a bit younger. It’s nice. I’ve found three good ones,” said Payne, who was surprised at Persian Wonder’s big odds.“It was wonderful run [last start], and he’s dropped three kilos against Genesis Runner and that, but people don’t see that. He got beat two lengths by them, and he had to come wide.”Payne said Persian Wonder, which had one win in nine starts before Saturday, had shown promise from the start but was “just a big dumb-dumb” early days. He said the group 3 Gloaming Stakes (1800m) on October 10 was a next target before a potential shot at the group Spring Champion (2000m).“He’s not bred to get a trip but everybody who rides him says he’ll stay a trip, so we’ll go to the Gloaming,” Payne said.“Then maybe the Spring Champion, if he stays.”As for Persian Wonder beating some high-priced opposition, Payne said: “He’s expensive, he cost $160,000. For me, that’s expensive.”Savvy return puts Everest in the frameHawkesbury trainer Brad Widdup has the group 1 Manikato Stakes as the next step for comeback mare Savvy Hallie, but he said the Everest is in the picture after she led all the way to claim the group 2 Sheraco Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill.A $20 chance after finishing last first-up in the Toy Show Quality and being deemed one-fifth lame by stewards, Savvy Hallie was taken to the front by Nash Rawiller from gate seven of eight to take control of the mares’ race.Nash Rawiller wins the Sheraco Stakes on Savvy Hallie.Getty ImagesShe was strong late to hold out Gangsta Granny by a neck, with favourite Lazzura another half-neck away in third.Widdup is the head trainer for Everest slot-holders Mulberry Racing, which had its own horse, Jedibeel, in the $20 million race last year. Although not owned by Mulberry, Savvy Hallie now appears in the mix for the slot.“It’s in discussions,” Widdup said. “The other one is Headwall, and it was very good the other day, he’s a very good horse, but it’s in discussions.”Widdup said the goal was to get a group 1 win with the four-year-old, which was a close second to Tempted in last year’s Surround Stakes, and the September 27 Manikato at Caulfield was a likely target.“Nothing went right first-up and that’s her at her best there today,” he said. “She has done it before. We took her to the Gold Coast and I thought she was terribly hard to beat there and she was flat, ran fourth.“Then first-up the other day, she didn’t get slammed out of the gates, so went back to the inside. It was a no-go zone and other things, like apparently she was lame, but she’s not lame today. Not a thing wrong with her and she’s proved that today.”Skyhook rocks in opening act to EagleCo-trainer Sterling Alexiou was eyeing potentially just one more run before the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) on October 31 for Skyhook after he returned with an impressive win in the group 2 Theo Marks (1300m) at Rosehill.Backed into a $2 favourite despite drawing the outside gate, Skyhook found the one-one under Kerrin McEvoy before surging to a length and a quarter win.Alexiou, who trains in partnership with Gerald Ryan, said the Shannon Stakes, Alan Brown Stakes or the Silver Eagle were all possible races for the entire leading into the Golden Eagle.“He’s a pretty athletic horse, he doesn’t cop a lot of work,” said Alexiou, who ruled out an Epsom run. “We could have just one more run and it wouldn’t worry us.“After his last-start win in Queensland [the Gunsynd in June], we basically worked backwards from the Golden Eagle, how we thought we could get him there in his best form.”He said Skyhook had come of age since his Queensland winter campaign.“I just think he lacked a bit of strength in prior preparations. He could do it at both end but he’s just an older horse now and he learned to absorb a bit more race pressure and sustain it at both ends,” he said.Sheza Alibi, a brilliant winner of the Makybe Diva Stakes on Saturday, is also headed to the Golden Eagle.“You never run away from one horse,” Alexiou said. “It’s been our aim for five months now.”Doyle gets in early for double delightThe early booking of premier jockey James McDonald paid off for Formal ($7.50), which prevailed as the longest-priced of Nathan Doyle’s three runners in the Midway Handicap as part of a double for the Newcastle trainer.Formal run down stablemate Better Late ($4) by three-quarters of a length in the 1200m for his first Saturday city win. The five-year-old was a $27,500 buy for Calibre Racing.“That’s how he had to ride him, he’s been getting too far back. He will sustain, but he won’t sprint five or six lengths and pick them up,” Doyle said.“I booked [McDonald] a couple of weeks ago. [Manager Mark Guest] asked if I had a horse in the Midway and that was the only one at that stage.”Doyle said Formal was likely to go for a spell and return in the summer. Doyle later won the benchmark 78 handicap (1500m) with another former Godolphin galloper, seven-year-old Silvanito.Baker-trained staying prospect Appeared could also be headed for a break soon after the Darby-bought import made it three from three in Australia.The five-year-old backed up wins at Newcastle and Warwick Farm, kicking clear late to take out the 2400m benchmark 78 handicap by two lengths.Hilton said there was likely not much left this preparation for Appeared, which they wanted to give a foundation ahead of an autumn campaign.Wayburn gave a recovering Matt Dunn his 50th Highway Handicap victory a week later than needed, dominating the 1400m class 3 at Rosehill on Saturday by two lengths under apprentice Mollie Fitzgerald.Dunn, resting at home after knee surgery following an e-bike accident, gained slots for Band Of Brothers ($4.50) and Considered ($11) in the $2 million Kosciuszko during the week, but he also had hopes for Wayburn, which was unlucky when sixth a week earlier in a 1200m Highway.Stable representative Holly Julius said, with all slots now filled, Wayburn could go for a spell. Dunn is the first trainer to reach 50 wins in the Saturday country-only races.From our partners