The Golden Eagle Race Information
The Golden Eagle is a 1500 metre set weight race for four-year-olds run as a joint venture between Racing NSW and the Australian Turf Club. It is held on the Saturday before Melbourne Cup day at Rosehill racecourse, and is the second richest race in Sydney after The Everest.
- Race Type: Feature (not a Group race)
- Distance: 1500 metres
- Conditions: 4 YO’s Set Weights
- Track: Rosehill Racecourse, Sydney, New South Wales
- Prizemoney: $10,000,000
- Date: Saturday 4 November 2023
The Golden Eagle Race History
See the 2023 Golden Eagle Preview and results
See the 2022 Golden Eagle Preview and results
See the 2021 Golden Eagle Preview and results
See the 2020 Golden Eagle Preview & results
The Golden Eagle was first held in 2019 as part of the expanded Sydney Spring Racing Carnival. It aims to encourage good horses to remain in Sydney rather than head to the Melbourne Spring Carnival. It is Australia’s first feature race that is exclusively for four-year-olds and although it is not a Group 1 race, the massive prizemoney of $7.5 million should attract top quality sprinter-milers. This makes it the third richest race in Australia with only the Melbourne Cup and The Everest offering more prizemoney. There is a field limit of 16 runners where mares carry 55.5 kg while entires and geldings carry 57.5 kg.
The race has been planned so that 10% of the prize money will go to charity. The connections of each horse nominate a charity that has been accredited with Racing NSW, and that charity receives 10% of the prizemoney that their horse wins. This means a total of $750,000 will go to charities plus $75,000 will go the Equine Welfare Fund and $75,000 to the Jockeys Welfare Fund.
The Golden Slam
A “Golden Slam” has been created at Rosehill that offers a $5 million bonus for any horse that can win the Golden Slipper as a two-year-old, the Golden Rose as a three-year-old and the Golden Eagle as a four-year-old. It will take a very special horse to achieve this.
The Golden Eagle 2019
The inaugural running of the race was on Saturday 2nd November 2019. There were three international runners who carried a weight of 56.5 kg because they are technically only three-year-olds in the northern hemisphere. Chris Waller was the only trainer with more than one runner as he had the favourite Arcadia Queen plus equal second-favourite Kolding.
Kolding had won the Epsom Handicap at his previous start so we knew he was good. In the Golden Eagle he came from well back in the field in an almost impossible position to win by 0.4 lengths after a tough run down the straight. Multiple Group 1 winner Sunlight came second, 40 to 1 runner Mizzy was third, Behemoth ran 4th at $101 and the favourite Arcadia Queen ran 5th.
Glen Boss rode the winner Kolding. Just two weeks before trainer Chris Waller and jockey Glen Boss had teamed up to win The Everest with Yes Yes Yes, giving them an incredible start to the Spring by winning the two richest races in Sydney.
The Golden Eagle Facts
Last mare to win: Colette (2020)
Fastest time (1500m): Kolding (2001) 1:28:28
Epsom Handicap & Golden Eagle: Kolding (2019)
Leading jockeys : Glen Boss (Kolding 2019) and Koby Jennings (2020) each have one win.
Leading trainers (since 1982): Chris Waller (Kolding 2019) and James Cummings (2020_ each have one win.
Interesting trivia: Kolding won the Group 2 Queensland Guineas, the Group 3 Bill Ritchie Handicap and the Epsom Handicap prior to winning the Golden Eagle.
Past winners of The Golden Eagle
The race was run for the first time in 2019.
| Year | Winner | Second | Third |
| 2023 | Obamburumai | Pericles | Golden Mile |
| 2022 | I Wish I Win | Fangirl | Gypsy Goddess |
| 2021 | I’m Thunderstruck | Count De Rupee | Vangelic |
| 2020 | Colette | Icebath | Dawn Passage |
| 2019 | Kolding | Sunlight | Mizzy |