Cummings colts impress at Hawkesbury trials

James Cummings reminded everyone that the big names are not far from returning to the races, producing some of his best-performed colts at Monday’s Hawkesbury trials.

Caulfield Guineas winner Golden Mile, Golden Slipper runner-up Cylinder and beaten Blue Diamond Stakes favourite Barber were among a big team that Godolphin’s Australian head trainer sent around two weeks out from the end of the season.

Cylinder suggested he was in for a fruitful spring campaign with a soft win in one of five 800-metre trials for horses about to turn three.

The son of Exceed And Excel was the first head to show out from the barrier, but jockey James Mcdonald restrained him to settle midfield before peeling three-wide rounding the home turn and rounded up his more moderately-performed rivals comfortably to win by just over a length.

Cylinder, who won the Silver Slipper Stakes and Todman Stakes at Group 2 level before his Golden Slipper placing, covered the 800m in 48.87 seconds on the Soft track, a time that was bettered by a couple of his stablemates.

Another Exceed Ad Excel colt, Barber, was the quickest of all 800m trailers, winning his workout by just under half-a-length in 47.51secs, while Listed Fernhill Stakes winner Tom Kitten won his trial in 48.58secs.

Fastnet Rock colt Corniche, who defeated Golden Slipper winner Shinzo in the Group 2 Skyline Stakes, was Cummings’ other two-year-old to win a trial, doing so in 49.55secs.

Several of the team Cummings sent out on Monday are likely to be among entries for this year’s Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m), a race he won last year with Golden Mile.

That son of Astern, a rising four-year-old, had his first public outing since finishing last in the Doncaster Mile on April 1 in the 800m open class trial, hitting the line stylishly under light riding from McDonald to finish third, just over two lengths from Cylinder’s Group 3-winning half-sister Parisal.