Golden Mile can give James Cummings farewell Group 1 win with Godolphin in Stradbroke Handicap
James Cummings believes it will be a fairytale story if Golden Mile can win this week's Stradbroke Handicap in the gelding's remarkable comeback from retirement.
And Sydney trainer Cummings is confident that Golden Mile will handle the seven-day back-up following his third placing in last Saturday's Group 1 Kingsford Smith Cup (1300m) at Eagle Farm, with Jason Collett on board.
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Golden Mile was briefly stood for $16,500 at Sheikh Mohammed's Northwood Park Victorian base last season but he was injured after covering 14 mares.
He was then retired from stud duty and gelded, returning to the racetrack in the Group 3 Liverpool City Cup (1300m) at Randwick on March 1 when he finished sixth, 3¼ lengths behind Iowna Merc.
Cummings isn't interested in talk about the Stradbroke being one of the weakest fields in many years – he just wants to win Queensland's premier race for the first time since 2019 (Trekking) in his final season with powerhouse stable Godolphin.
It was announced late last month that Cummings and Godolphin would split at the end of July after an eight-year partnership, with the Dubai-based stable to adopt a public training model.
Golden Mile (second from left) will back-up in the Stradbroke Handicap after just missing in the Kingsford Smith Cup. Picture: Trackside Photography
'I always say try and win it,' Cummings said of the 1400m Stradbroke.
'It'd be a great story for Golden Mile, who has come back from stud duties and he's been warming to a win.
'If he can get that in this prep in the Stradbroke, that'd be some feat to pull off and all the accolades would go to Golden Mile himself.
'I wouldn't seek to diminish the depth of the field at all and I haven't seen the final field either.
'What I would say is that good Group 1 weight-for-age form should be golden form.'
• Stanley dreaming of Stradbroke win to make grandad proud
And Golden Mile certainly has that form after finishing a fraction behind superstar mare Joliestar and Zarastro in a thrilling Kingsford Smith Cup.
'He was excellent and he's been building up to that,' Cummings said.
'A bit over a month ago he screamed home for third in the (Group 2) Victory Stakes and that had him back in the form he was 12 months ago, just prior to him going to stud.
'It's been a slow burn to get him up to where he is now but to give a sight in a Group 1 against Joliestar and to defeat some very good Group 1 sprinters in his final lead-up run to the Stradbroke, where he drops to 53.5 kilos, is a very good recipe.
'He should be an even better horse out to 1400m, a little bit further under the handicap conditions that we'll see this week.'
• Gollan faces more Stradbroke heartbreak by prizemoney rule
Collett will again ride Golden Mile in the $3m Stradbroke at Eagle Farm, just seven days after the gelding's massive run on a soft track at the same venue.
'I've never backed him up before,' Cummings revealed about the 2022 Caulfield Guineas winner.
'I've pushed him in the past to go another run and he's rewarded us because he's a very tough horse.
'While I've never done it before, I was drawn to the idea to persevere with that program for the Stradbroke.
'I'd say I'd be confident, without having done it before, that he would be the type of horse who would relish the back-up.'
Originally published as Comeback star Golden Mile can give James Cummings farewell Group 1 win with Godolphin in Stradbroke Handicap
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Ponissi explained that the $10 million came from the Victorian government to develop pathways, especially for disadvantaged youth in Melbourne's northern suburbs. Still, Des will not concede he sees agendas everywhere in NRL land, or that he believes passionately in siege mentality. 'Frank and I go back a long way,' he explains, suggesting he was setting his up former Manly coaching colleague while also agitating for the Titans to gain a place on the powerful committee. 'The fact he thinks I am paranoid makes it more delicious. I told him I couldn't understand how a bloke from Melbourne who gets his young players from Queensland could be on an NRL Pathways Committee. I'm pleased my little phone call worked.' Riiiiiight. But if Hasler was playing an innocent game with an old colleague, he has grounds for paranoia, considering the blurry ethics involved when NRL agents seed stories with journalists in order to engineer moves for their client players and coaches to other clubs. The journo gains the clicks, and agent receives the commission. For most of this season, Hasler has coached with the proverbial axe above his head, following a story that the Gold Coast board can sack him if the teams fails to make the play-offs. No one I spoke to at the Titans has any knowledge of such a clause in his contract, but such stories can become self-fulfilling prophesies. As defeat builds on debilitating defeat, weak-minded players have a worthy scapegoat other than themselves and it ends in a win for the player manager when his client is appointed to replace the sacked coach. So, when the Titans came from 24 points down to lead four-times premiers Penrith 26-24 in round 22, only to lose when a Penrith trainer distracted their goal kicker after what should have been a penalty try, surely Des has the makings of a conspiracy theory. Maybe US movie director Oliver Stone could do a film on this. (After all, Des already has a book on him written by Booker Prize winner, Tom Keneally). But no. For a coach entitled to be nine-tenths empty after such a cruel result, he was positive. 'The upside for me was that it was there for all to see. It showed what we are building. People saw it.' Translation: the savvy board, chaired by old school footballer Dennis Watt, saw what would have been the biggest comeback in the club's history, a confirmation the team is playing for their coach. Furthermore, it followed a win away against the Warriors in Hasler's 500th game which, in turn, was preceded by televised Leichhardt dressing room scenes where Hasler dragged his players back from the showers for another tongue lashing, presumably because they didn't look sufficiently penitent after losing 21-20 to the Wests Tigers. Only the lifer coaches, like the Storm's Craig Bellamy, Souths Wayne Bennett and Canberra's Ricky Stuart are willing to risk humbling players. 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I see the training collisions, too, but I also hear coaches complain about players unwilling to play with a minor twinge, or unwilling to commit in defence. 'I can understand them saying that,' Hasler says, 'but it's more a generational thing. Players today have so much information at their fingertips.' True, players sit in their cubicles post game, poring through their phone messages. He also sympathises with players regarding their defensive role, particularly with multi-camera coverage of games. 'All responsibility rests with the defensive player. The defensive choices are a lot more demanding today. A ball carrier could be falling and gets a clip on the head and the defensive player is in trouble.' A Herald reader, Hasler points to a recent column where Joey Johns, an Immortal and former halfback, conceded he has finally come round to the view clearing kickers have been given too much protection. 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Hasler agrees the referee is not accountable for six-agains because they are ruled on the run. However, for a coach accused of being paranoid, he says, 'It's not as if they are used to even up the game. They control the fatigue factor. They control the momentum swings.' He argues a team needs a good game manager to exploit these oscillations and he has finally found one, switching former fullback Jayden Campbell to halfback. He cites the comeback against the Panthers, saying 'We came up with an unforced error and Penrith had the ball for 27 tackles straight. Once you get the ball back, you need a game manager. You need players who can play instinctively. Jayden Campbell did that. He was a stand-out.' But veteran Latrell Mitchell showed Campbell he still has much to learn in a 20-18 round 23 'Spoon Bowl' loss, when the Rabbitoh centre jolted the ball from his hands, saving a try. Aged 64, Hasler has the work ethic to shame a sherpa. Chairman Watt counsels me not to call him during a five-day turnaround, citing occasions he has worked through the night. Like other footballaholics, such as Bellamy and Bennett, Hasler shows no signs of slowing up in a career which began in Penrith. 'I started playing in 1980, finished with Tommy [Raudonikis] and Singo [John Singleton] at Wests in 1997. What a fun year that was. Then I started coaching with Manly in 2004 and have been doing it for 21 years.' In between were two premierships as a player with the Sea Eagles (1987 and 1996) and two as a coach with the club (2008 and 2011). He also took the Bulldogs to two grand finals (2012, 2014) before returning to Brookvale with messy departures at both clubs following legal settlements. There will be no messy departure from the Gold Cost at the end of this season, with the Titans owners, the Frizelle family saying in a statement: 'Des will be with us in 2026 as his contract states.' 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