Exciting $1.6m colt Wodeton lives up to hype with a stunning debut victory at Rosehill

The wraps on Wodeton were proved correct as the $1.6m colt vaulted to Golden Slipper favouritism with an outstanding debut win at Rosehill.

Wodeton and James McDonald race away to an easy debut win at Rosehill. Picture: Getty Images

Wodeton announced himself as the most exciting two-year-old to race so far this season and vaulted to outright favouritism for the $5m Golden Slipper after a dominant debut at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.

Superstar jockey James McDonald compared the Chris Waller-trained Wodeton favourably with outstanding stablemate Switzerland when he made a mess of his rivals in the Chandon Handicap (1100m).

The Waller stable came close to withdrawing Wodeton on race morning due to the wet track conditions before the boom colt took his place in the field and lived up to the hype, winning by a widening four lengths.

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McDonald said it was a relief to see Wodeton produce under race conditions what the colt had shown in his trackwork and barrier trials.

“Wodeton has done everything so professionally at home and he has never come off the bridle,” McDonald said.

“Like I’ve said to everyone, if he finds a length off the bridle when he gets to the races, it’s going to be over – and he exceeded expectations today”.

Wodeton ($1.60 favourite) was trapped three-wide with cover during the race but it made no difference once McDonald asked the colt for an effort as he exploded clear to win by a margin from The Magic Man ($7) with Sanctified ($12) four lengths away third.

TAB Fixed Odds price assessors wasted no time in slashing Wodeton’s odds from $13 to $5 favouritism for the Golden Slipper, run at Rosehill Gardens on March 22.

“He is a very good horse and just takes everything in his stride,” McDonald said.

“For him to be able to do that on a track that is on the worse side of seven - wait until you see him on good ground!”

Wodeton is raced in similar interests to the brilliant three-year-old Switzerland, runaway winner of the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes last spring.

Switzerland won his first three starts as a two-year-old and lined up as favourite for the Golden Slipper last year only to finish unplaced behind Lady Of Camelot.

“At the same stage of their careers, Wodeton is equally as good as Switzerland,” McDonald declared. “He’s strong and big, he’s just got everything going for him.”

McDonald was desperate to ride Wodeton on debut before the jockey flew to Hong Kong overnight to partner Voyage Bubble at Sha Tin on Sunday and then continuing his overseas odyssey with a trip to Dubai for champion Romantic Warrior later this week.

Did we just see the Golden Slipper winner?! 😮

Wodeton wins brilliantly at Rosehill for @cwallerracing and @mcacajamez!@aus_turf_club | @CoolmoreAuspic.twitter.com/ZlCFYR68WS

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) January 18, 2025

“It’s a good position to be in, but in saying that, at this time of year I want to be working these horses,” McDonald said.

“This time of year is so exciting. There was one morning where every horse I rode in trackwork was a Group 1 winner.”

Waller or Coolmore’s Tom Magnier weren’t on track for Wodeton’s first start but both men would have been very impressed by the colt’s brilliant win.

Wodeton’s debut came almost a year to the day that he was catalogued as Lot 666 at the annual Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling sale.

Offered by Segenhoe Stud on behalf of breeder John Camilieri (of Winx and Fairway fame), Wodeton is a son of first season sire sensation Wootton Bassett and was secured for the princely sum of $1.6 million.

The colt’s half-brother by I Am Invincible was knocked down for $1.15 million at last week’s Magic Millions auction, and like Wodeton before him, was secured by Magnier.

Waller’s stable representative, Charlie Duckworth, conceded there was some thought given to withdrawing Wodeton due to the wet-track conditions but McDonald’s availability swayed the decision-makers to run the high profile colt.

“If it was in the heavy range we might have waited a week but James won’t be here next Saturday,” Duckworth said.

“We wanted to have James on and we are fortunate to be racing on a soft deck today.

“James was concerned about the track because this colt has such a good action he was worried he might lose a bit of brilliance but he was very good.

“We would have been pretty disappointed if he got beat. He was running to win and the only thing we thought could beat him was the track.

.@cwallerracing notched up his sixth win in the Coolmore Stud Stakes as Switzerland dominated his fellow 3YOs.

A Royal Ascot tilt may be on the cards 😉#TheWrappic.twitter.com/xxWo2EIlvR

— Racing.com (@Racing) November 2, 2024

“We didn’t think anything was capable of beating him on ability. In terms of two-year-olds this year he is our number one seed at the moment.

“But we have loads of Wootton Bassetts, we were really strong on them last year, we have some nice ones coming through.

“We have a couple of nice colts trialling this Thursday but timing-wise they have to be ‘win and they are in’ jobs but we can pick our mark now with this colt.”

The start of the race was delayed more than five minutes when Miss Fleetwood dumped her rider, Tom Sherry, on the way to the barriers before bolting around the track, leaving Racing NSW stewards with no option but to order the filly’s scratching.

But Wodeton wasn’t troubled by the delay and although he wasn’t brilliant out of the gates, he was able to settle midfield with cover before putting his rivals to the sword in the straight.

“He was incredibly professional for a horse having his first start. His demeanour before the race was like he was an old hand at this,” Duckworth said. “Then it wasn’t ideal being trapped three-wide but he put them away with ease.”

Duckworth said Waller will soon settle on Wodeton’s Golden Slipper program.

“There is the Canonbury Stakes coming up in a fortnight but Chris will want to see how the colt comes through this race,” Duckworth said.

“We are glad to get this race over with. He was the most highly talked-about colt when we were up at the Magic Millions.

“It was just a trial but everyone was asking about him. It was only a trial and it is amazing he generated that much hype when he didn’t even win the trial but everyone knew what they were looking at, he is very exciting.

Originally published as Exciting $1.6m colt Wodeton lives up to hype with a stunning debut victory at Rosehill