Godolphin gelding Pericles gets moment in the sun with Five Diamonds win at Rosehill

Godolphin stalwart Pericles came out on top after a battle with a couple of Queenslanders to win the Five Diamonds at Rosehill.

Godolphin’s gentle giant Pericles finally had his moment to shine.

After several near-misses in major races, warhorse Pericles took out the $2m Five Diamonds (1800m) at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.

“This horse has been such a great campaigner for us,” Godolphin representative Darren Beadman said.

• PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet’s team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW!

“He has been around everything but the Bong Bong bike races – he deserved this win.”

Typically, this win didn’t come easy. He had to dig deep to edge out the Queensland raiders Freedom Rally and Yellow Brick.

But even though Perciles was allowed to go to the post at big odds of $20, it was a popular win.

After all, no would could begrudge the gelding an overdue big-race success after he had been runner-up in the Rosehill Guineas, Golden Eagle, Futurity Stakes and Doncaster Mile, and third in the Underwood Stakes.

The James Cummings-trained Pericles took his career earnings to over the $5 million prizemoney barrier when he scored by a head from Freedom Rally ($15) with Yellow Brick ($9) a neck away third.

The $4 equal favourites Attrition and the luckless Territory Express ran fourth and fifth respectively.

Champion jockey Kerrin McEvoy, rider of Pericles, enjoyed wearing the famous royal blue colours of Godolphin to another big-race success.

“It’s lovely to win a good race for the Godolphin team and James Cummings,” McEvoy said.

“Before the race, James gave me some good confidence when he said just roll the dice and see if you can get across from the draw.

The $2 Million Five Diamonds belongs to Pericles! 💎@KPMcEvoy | @JamesCummings88 | @godolphinpic.twitter.com/7RDDz3v0hf

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) November 9, 2024

• ‘She likes to dictate’: Belclare dominant in Hot Danish Stakes

“We drew wide but we were on a fit horse. He was able to get into a nice spot with got a lovely bit of cover.

“He’s a class horse and has been running well at a very high level. You look at horses beating him home like Buckaroo, Ceolwulf, they’re all Group 1 winners.

“The little drop in grade helped today, he was fit and ready to go, and he ‘toughed’ it out well.”

Beadman, a Hall of Fame jockey, said McEvoy “rode such a lovely race.”

“Pericles is still a bit suspect at the distance, so we took the blinkers off and he relaxed well in the run,” Beadman said.

“He was able to roll across into a lovely spot and Kerrin has got great hands, the horse settled nicely, had a trouble free run.

“This horse came back from Melbourne, it was pretty tough opposition down there but to come up here, run over this trip, 1800m is about as far as he wants.

“It was ideal and it was a master move by James to take the blinkers off him today.”

Pericles, bred to be a top class racehorse, is a product of Godolphin’s renowned breeding program.

His sire is Street Boss, the sire of Cummings’ champion Anamoe, and he is the fifth stakeswinner out of the celebrated broodmare Accessories.

"He's a little bit suspect at the distance, but great training effort by James and all the team.. he's a great campaigner."

Darren Beadman joins Richo to chat about Pericles big win in the Five Diamonds! 💪 pic.twitter.com/g93wdk37vn

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) November 9, 2024

• Boom colt North England strikes it rich in Golden Gift

Pericles is a half-brother to Group 1 winners Helmet and Epaulettes, and also Bullbars, himself the sire of the outstanding Mr Brightside, who took his earnings to over $16.3 million with his win in the Champions Mile at Flemington.

“People don’t realise how big Pericles is,” Beadman said.

“I’m vertically challenged but when you go to put the saddle on him… he’s such a tall horse but he’s so placid but he adds a lot of enthusiasm to the camp.”

Tommy Berry, rider of Freedom Rally, described the horse’s effort to finish second as “massive”.

“We just needed a bit more pressure in the race which we looked like we were going to get on paper but it didn’t eventuate,” Berry said.

Yellow Brick endured a tough run but was still there fighting out the finish.

“A brave run,” jockey Jason Collett said. “He was caught wide early, had to press on but he really dug deep.”

Territory Express got back inside runners in an awkward position and was then held up behind a wall of horses in the straight before ducking and weaving through to finish a close fifth.

“He has gone great,” Zac Lloyd said. “There was just not enough tempo for him, he didn’t have much luck.”

Originally published as Godolphin gelding Pericles gets moment in the sun with Five Diamonds win at Rosehill