Keen eye confident Warwoven set to stamp stud potential in Golden Rose

The man who bought Warwoven is confident, from what he saw in the stallion prospect as a yearling and since, that the Bjorn Baker-trained colt will relish the 1400m of the group 1 Golden Rose on Saturday at Rosehill.

Bloodstock agent Jim Clarke, together with Baker and Ridgmont Farm, bought Warwoven for $380,000 and Paradoxium for $400,000 at the 2025 Magic Millions Yearling Sale. The pair have become “the two best colts” Clarke has secured.

Both overcame setbacks to win group races as two-year-old before wide gates thwarted their Golden Slipper chances. Paradoxium, the Todman Stakes winner, is on track to a stallion career after racing giants Yulong bought a majority share, and he has since won the group 3 Poseidon Stakes.

Warwoven will guarantee similar interest from studs if he can back up his group 2 Run To The Rose (1200m) victory in the Golden Rose, where he has drawn gate one and was $6 with TAB, behind Golden Slipper winner Guest House ($2.30) and St Gotthard ($4.20). Rachel King, who has ridden Warwoven in every trial and race, is aboard again.

Clarke, who has had group 1 success with Stefi Magnetica and Arapaho, believed Warwoven’s physique and pedigree on his dam’s side pointed to him handling the step up in trip. Warwoven is a son of Sword Of State, a Snitzel colt which won four stakes races in New Zealand at 1200m, but he is out of Needle And Thread, a Makfi mare which won over 2000m at group 2 level.

“He is probably a little bit of a combination of both his sire and his female family,” Clarke said.

“He’s probably a bigger horse that can cover a little bit more ground. Sword Of State was a neater, sharper, Aussie sprinting-style horse.

“Warwoven is a pretty big, imposing character, and his female family I guess is why we’ve got confidence sending him out to 1400.

“He’s obviously got a lot of speed, but Rachel’s always been of the view that he does have the scope to get out over a little bit more ground, at least 1400, and potentially beyond.”

While Paradoxium’s sire, Extreme Choice, remains hot property, Warwoven was part of Sword Of State’s first crop. Clarke, though, was immediately impressed by the unknown quantity.

“I remember seeing Warwoven for the first time at Kia Ora when we were doing yearlings inspections in December and I thought he was one of the best colts I’d seen,” he said.

“I’ll probably look at close to 800 or 900 horses over the course of three weeks in December and he was one of those that stuck out in my mind based on his physique.

“He is a very well-bred horse. He’s got a very strong Kiwi female family. His mother was a very good mare herself and I remember Sword Of State as a yearling several years ago at Newgate and he’s a very talented horse in his own right.

“He didn’t have a lot of yearlings selling in Australia last year, but this guy stood out. They do change as they grow. Sometimes they keep progressing physically as you expect, sometimes they don’t, but fortunately he’s one that’s furnished into a beautiful horse.

“At the time, it probably seemed like a fair bit of money for a first-season stallion standing for a comparatively low fee, but fortunately it was one we seemed to get right.

“He’s won the Pago Pago, the Run To The Rose, but capturing that group 1, certainly makes a very meaningful difference to his appeal as a stallion.

“We’ve got to get through Saturday first and foremost. He’s in good shape and he’s drawn an inside barrier for the first time in a long time.”

Paradoxium, meanwhile, is set to race in the Roman Consul Stakes at Rosehill on October 10 before targeting the group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes.