5:50am - DE BORTOLI WINES GOLDEN ROSE STAKES | 1400m | Group 1 | i

Sydney's former Spring feature (before the Everest towered over it) the Golden Rose is a great contest again, mostly colts looking to add a stack of prizemoney and a few zeros to the stallion earnings. SANDBAR with the blinkers on should go forward with JONKER (blinkers off) and set a FAIR tempo, DANAWI the horse pushing up out wider to keep them honest. GRAFF is ideally placed here coming off what has to be rated as the best run in the lead-up Run to the Rose over 1200m (stuck 3W, strong tempo) when 2nd. He's a muscular type that will relish the 1400m here from an ideal midfield spot. LEAN MEAN MACHINE did beat him last start, slicing up the inside (bias, tempo helped) to produce a soft win on the line. He clearly could have come back a much better horse, but is risky from the barrier. THE AUTUMN SUN potentially the best horse in the race over 1600m+, he'll need to be extra special from out the back winding up. ZOUSAIN, SANDBAR and SEABROOK all have some recent ratings to be a chance. SANTOS perhaps the best value knock-out after getting no luck fresh. [updated Saturday 9am]