Linebacker leads Kiwi-bred charge in Golden Eagle
Richard Edmunds - Raceform • October 31st, 2025 2:00 PM • 4 min read
Group One winner Linebacker will attempt to deliver a fourth New Zealand-bred victory in the Golden Eagle when the A$10 million four-year-old feature is run for the seventh time this weekend.
The super-rich race was added to the Sydney spring calendar in 2019, when its inaugural edition was won by Ocean Park gelding Kolding. He was followed two years later by Shocking’s highly talented son I’m Thunderstruck, and the 2022 edition was taken out by the superstar Waikato Stud homebred I Wish I Win (by Savabeel). There have also been placings for Icebath (second in 2020) and Gypsy Goddess (third in 2022).
Linebacker heads into Saturday as a $6 second favourite in the TAB’s fixed-odds market for the Golden Eagle, which is dominated by Chris Waller’s unbeaten mare Autumn Glow at $2.20. Other New Zealand-breds prominent in the market are Evaporate ($11), Willydoit ($15) and Perfumist ($15).
Bought for $160,000 by John O’Shea Racing and Suman Hodge Bloodstock from Haunui Farm’s draft at Karaka 2023, Linebacker has had 11 starts for four wins, two seconds and A$1.63 million in stakes. The Super Seth gelding triumphed in the Gr.1 Randwick Guineas in the autumn, and he made a bold Golden Eagle statement when he romped to victory by two and a half lengths in the A$1 million Silver Eagle at Randwick two weeks ago.
Linebacker will be ridden by Zac Lloyd, who has had a frustrating time in the Golden Eagle in the past. He rode Golden Mile into third in 2023, then finished a luckless fifth last year with subsequent multiple Group One winner Stefi Magnetica.
“We were a bit stiff last year, so I’m after a bit of revenge,” Lloyd told Racing NSW this week. “I’m confident Linebacker can go well. I’m very excited for the weekend, he’s a top-class horse. You don’t get much better than him.
“He’s won a Group One but he’s not regarded in the same heights as some other horses, so hopefully he can win and prove that he is one of the top horses in Australia.
“John (O’Shea) and Tom (Charlton) have him going really well, his work has been sensational, and I’m very excited to see what he can do in the Golden Eagle because his win the other day was spectacular.
“It might not have been the strongest field, and he’ll have to beat a lot classier horses on Saturday, but he can’t do much more than he did. He jumped from the wide barrier, he sat three deep the trip, and what I liked the most was how sharp he was. He ran home in 33, which is pretty darn quick, and still with plenty of improvement in fitness to come. He was nowhere near screwed down.”
Linebacker fared well in Tuesday’s barrier draw and will jump from gate five in a 17-horse field.
“It’s one of the few big races I’ve been involved with where I don’t care about the barrier draw,” Lloyd said. “A barrier isn’t the biggest deal for him, he likes to roll forward and can absorb pressure, and as we saw the other day, he can come off a slow tempo.”
This year’s Golden Eagle will be the first one staged at Randwick, with the first six runnings all having taken place at Rosehill.
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