The Run to the Rose Winners, Past Results & Latest News

The Run to the Rose is an Australian Turf Club Group Two graded race that is run in September of each year at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse. The Run to the Rose is run over a distance of 1200m and only three year old horses are allowed to enter the race. 

The Run to the Rose is run under set weight conditions with penalties with a prize pool of $200,000. The Run to the Rose is the set up race for the much larger Group 1 feature The Golden Rose Stakes also ran at Rosehill Gardens.

History of The Run the the Rose

As far as racing goes in Sydney The Run to the Rose is a relatively new race feature on the Spring calendar with the race first being run in 2003 when it was won by a horse called Gilded Youth.

When launched in 2003 The Run to the Rose was in fact named the Monakea 3YO Quality Handicap and for the first two editions were run under this banner. In 2005 it was renamed the Smithfield RSL Club Handicap before being run as The Run to the Rose from 2006 onwards. 

The Run to the Rose provides trainers an excellent chance to test the quality of their runner against others targeting the Golden Rose with many winners of the Golden Rose in the past coming through The Run to the Rose. 

In 2015 such was the strength of those formlines coming from The Run to the Rose the ATC increased the grading of the race from a Group 3 to a Group 2 graded race. 

Given the distance of The Run to the Rose (1200m) many runners have of course gone on to tackle The Golden Rose but also bigger Group 1 targets with past winners going on to win the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes, The Caulfield Guineas as well as the Group 2 Roman Consul Stakes.

In more recent years The Run to the Rose has attracted more high calibre runners through the increased Prize Money. When the race was originally set out in 2003 prize money sat at just $125,000 (the same as Saturday metro racing) so with it’s Grade increase it also received a financial boost and the prize pool increase to $200,000.

The Run to the Rose at Group 2 level is one of the key races on the Sydney Spring Carnival schedule and it sits alongside the Group 2 Theo Marks Stakes and Group 2 Sheraco Stakes on an action packed day of racing at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse. 

Race Venue For The Run to the Rose

The ATC’s Group 2 Run To The Rose has had changes of distance, prize money and even name however the one thing that has remained consistent is that the race is held at Rosehill Racecourse in September of each year.

Given that the first Run to the Rose was only run in 2003 and given that Rosehill Gardens have been hosting races since 1885 it’s amazing how prominent the Group 2 has become on the Rosehill Spring schedule.

Rosehill Gardens were originally built in 1883 and racing began in 1885 for a total cost of just $24,000 as we know it today. John Bennett who purchased the original land to build the racecourse also built a supporting train station to allow easy access for punters to watch the races.

Nowadays the Rosehill Racecourse falls under the control of the Australian Turf Club after the Sydney Turf Club and Australian Jockey Club combined in 2011 to form the ATC. That subsequently gave the ATC control of Rosehill and its partner racecourse Randwick as the two premier tracks in Sydney.

Offering quality racing in Sydney’s west, Rosehill Gardens hosts nine Group 1 features, thirteen Group 2 races and fourteen Group 3 races across the course of the year. 

The Group 2 Run to the Rose plays a key part in those features as it creates a great buzz and great ideas of form in the lead up to the Group 1 Golden Rose Stakes and a host of other races across the Spring. 

A classic example of this was in 2016 when Godolphin owned Astern won the Run to the Rose followed by the Golden Rose Stakes just a few days later.

Past winners have sometimes chosen to stay in Sydney however bigger stables have switched previous winners to targeting bigger Spring riches across the border in Victoria. 

Past Winners Of The Run to the Rose

The Run to the Rose has definitely been an interesting one and closely watched for formlines leading into the bigger Spring races like the Golden Rose Stakes and Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes. 

Even in only such a short period The Run to The Rose has presented multiple Group 1 winners as well as several super horses who have gone on to achieve amazing feats. 

The first and probably most notable winner was in 2012 when The Run to the Rose was won by Pierro who was trained by Gai Waterhouse. Pierro was a prominent performer as a 2 and 3 year old when winning 10 Black Type titles in a 2 year career. 

Pierro was the progeny of superstar Lonhro and after winning The Run to the Rose in 2012 he went on to win The Canterbury Stakes at Group 1 level as well as the George Ryder Stakes at Group 1 level before being retired to stud.

In more recent years the royal blue of Godolphin have dominated the race with Exosphere, Astern and most recently in 2019, Bivouac winning the race on the way to huge Group 1 victories.

Possibly one of the best editions of the race was in 2020 when Rothfire beat a stacked field at Rosehill to win the Group 2 feature. In the race we saw Golden Slipper winner Farnan, Caulfield Guineas and of course Rothfire who had been hotly tipped to win the Everest. 

Conclusion for the Run To The Rose

Definitely a race to be watching if you’re looking for form lines into Spring and particularly The Golden Rose Stakes. 

The Run to the Rose has produced more winners of the Golden Rose Stakes than any other race as well as the last 10 runners of the race going on to win further Black Type race titles in Sydney and Victoria.