The Golden Eagle

1500m The Golden Eagle

Date: 4th November 2023
Time: TBD
Prize Money: $10m AUD

Some interesting facts that horse owners and trainers take into consideration leading into and after this race are

• The race was established as an alternative event for trainers and owners who were seeking an alternative to the Victoria Derby Day held in Melbourne.
• The race encourages high-profile jockeys and trainers to participate by offering generous prize money.
• In addition to the prize money, the Golden Eagle also aims to raise awareness and support for various charities, as a portion of the entry fees is donated.
• The race attracts a strong field of both Australian and international horses, making for exciting and fiercely contested racing.

The Golden Eagle is the headline event on the race card at Rosehill, but other excellent races of note include the 1,300m Giga Kick Stakes (also known as Winner Stakes, prize money $3m!), the 2,000m Rosehill Gold Cup (prize money $750k) and the 1,500m Four Pillars (prize money $500k) which are excellent, highly attractive support races.

Some interesting facts that horse owners and trainers take into consideration leading into this race are:

• 1st, 2nd and 3rd from the Epsom Handicap are exempt from the ballot
• 1st, 2nd and 3rd from the Silver Eagle are exempt from the ballot 
• Winners of the previous running of the Golden Rose, Randwick Guineas and Arrowfield Sprint are exempt from the ballot 
• Should it become necessary to reduce the number of acceptors, the excess horses shall be rejected, commencing with the horses with the lowest NSW Benchmark Handicap Rating at final acceptances shall be the first rejected
• Should a further ballot be required between horses with the same NSW Benchmark rating figure then the ballot will be by prize money and the horse with the lowest aggregate prize money in their last 3 starts shall be eliminated first.

The prize money for the $10m Golden Eagle is as follows:

Note: 10% of the $10 million prize money is donated to the winning owners’ charity of choice

The field has undertaken an increasing number of runners with 16 lining up in 2019, 18 in 2020 & 2021 and an even larger 20 horses in 2022

Although it is too early to know who will be running this year. It is interesting to note that the 2022 Golden Rose winner, Jacquinot, has had wins in February and March 2023. The 2022 Golden Eagle winner, Giga Kick, has been showing form with wins in March and April 2023 and is likely to be an early favourite with the bookies.  

The race will be held on Saturday 4th November, which is the exact same day as the start of the Victorian Melbourne Cup week, starting with the Victorian Derby Day. A great day for punters, when Victoria and NSW will be competing for owners, trainers, jockeys and race horses to visit their venues.

Saturday 4th November is an important date in the NSW Spring Racing Carnival in Sydney and will feature a number of supporting races for the Golden Eagle main attraction on the full race card.

Here is a simple strategy for deciphering the complex world of picking a bookie. At the end of the day it comes down to 2 things:

Firstly, which bookie is going to offer you the best value for betting with them on feature races such as the 2023 Gold Eagle race, bonus bets may come into play here. 

Secondly, which are your preferred markets or bets, that you wish to place on the race.

So you are trying to extract the most profit from your bets, if there are bonus bets on win odds for runners coming 2nd or 3rd or even 4th, then you have some additional cover that could be worth exploring with the compromise of possibly lower odds being available from those bookmakers.

Compare the odds for your picks across as many available Australian bookmakers as you can be bothered with or are already a member. For reference, we have a Bookmaker Review page that includes a pros and cons list for every single Australian bookmaker that offers racing markets. Additionally, our bookmaker reviews include feature in-depth reviews of specific bookmakers that we care to highlight. Some of these bookmakers include PlayUp, Midasbet, PalmerBet, Unibet, and Winnersbet, all of which I have included a sneak peak of their pros and cons lists. Be sure to click on any of these tables to visit our full bookmaker reviews.

Bet on whichever available Australian bookmaker offers you the best price for your preferred bets on races. The longer you take to find the bookmaker and associated odds, the longer the process will take.

Another option is to simply bet with whichever bookie you are used to, or rather, most comfortable with. They may or may not offer the best odds, but it is a bookmaker than you know well and you can easily navigate their webpages to place bets.

Rosehill Gardens is fast becoming one of the most well-known racing venues around the world, thanks partially to hosting races as important as The Golden Eagle. As the last of the Golden Grand Slam (or triumvirate), starting with The Golden Slipper (for 2 year olds, 1st run in 1957) then The Golden Rose (for 3 year olds, 1st run in 1978) and finally the Golden Eagle it is easy to see why Rosehill Gardens and specifically The Golden Eagle is on the racing map for owners, trainers, jockeys, horses and punters.

Visit our Rosehill Gardens Racecourse feature length review for important information on the track’s history, biggest races, and differentiating factors in comparison to other esteemed racing venues across Australia.

The Golden Eagle, unlike The Golden Slipper and The Golden Rose, has a very short history having only first been run in 2019, although every race has been held a Rosehill Gardens, at 1,500m and only for 4 year olds.

There have been 4 separate winners and 4 separate trainers (and owners). The 2019 winning trainer was Chris Waller who incredibly has trained over 150 Group 1 race winners. 

Being so close to the end of the NSW Spring Racing Carnival we next see many of these thoroughbreds in the following year’s Autumn Racing Carnivals.

If you are looking for clues, indicators or experience as to a possible winner in 2023, here is some food for thought:

• Hugh Bowman who won in 2021 was 2nd in 2022, all the other winning jockeys have only ridden in their one winning ride.
• 4 jockeys have ridden in all 4 races (in order 2019-2022):

• • Jason Collettt - 3rd, 9th, 17th and 4th
  • Tommy Berry - 11th, 17th, 5th and 18th
  • Nash Rawiller - 12th, 12th, 8th and 8th
• 17 jockeys have ridden in at least 2 races
• The skills and talents of female jockeys should not be missed as they have ridden in all 4 races including Rachel King 9th (2019), 10th (2020) & 9th (2022), Kathy O’Hara 18th (2020), Alysha Collett 6th (2021) and Jamie Kah 14th (2022).

Since all horses have a birthday on 1st August every year, it is also worth looking at successful 3 year olds in the Autumn Racing Carnivals earlier in 2023 or 4 year old winners in the week’s leading up to the 4th November running of The Gold Eagle.