Schweida hoping long term Golden Rose plan comes to fruition

It was six months ago when Brisbane trainer Kelly Schweida first slated the Group I Golden Rose (1400m) for Shogun Sun.

The gelding had shed his maiden in a 1200m 2YO event at Eagle Farm and was spelling in Queensland's winter sunshine.

Schweida had a methodical plan in place upon Shogun Sun's return to his Eagle Farm stables.

Despite settling for runner-up when resuming in a 1200m 2YO Handicap at the Sunshine Coast in July, Shogun Sun was sent for a hit and run mission to a Randwick Saturday race – a bold move for a horse who had won only one of its first five starts.

But the decision was vindicated after the son of Written Tycoon won comfortably as a $20 chance.

"We had plans of going to the Golden Rose but it's so hard to line up our Queensland form at that time of year so we went down to Sydney just to test the water," Schweida said.

"If he wasn't good enough to compete it would have been silly going back but he won and the second horse (Addictive Nature) came out and won the Ming Dynasty."

Shogun Sun then finished another gallant second at the Gold Coast on August 26 before returning to Sydney for his final Golden Rose trial – the Group II Run To The Rose (1200m) on September 9.

Menari emerged a dominant winner of the race and remains a justified favourite on Saturday but the slickest final 600m of the Run To The Rose belonged to the fifth-placed Shogun Sun. The big chestnut clocked 32.91 seconds – 0.23 seconds faster than anything else in the race.

That run convinced Schweida that his charge can make an impact stepping up to a high pressure 1400m race like the Golden Rose.

"All his runs this time in have been super and he couldn't have done any more last start," Schweida said.

"I think he's heading in the right direction and is improving all the time.

"He still looks like he's six months away to me – he's a big gangly sort of fella – but we're having a crack."

Shogun Sun has remained at Rosehill since the Run To The Rose, taking up residency at David Payne's stables, and is aiming to become the first Queenslander to win the Golden Rose since the Helen Page-trained Doonan triumphed with a young Hugh Bowman aboard in 2004.