Widden Stud led home a quinella in the LR Rosebud Quality at Randwick on Saturday when unbeaten colt Eurozone (Northern Meteor) defeated Dissident (Sebring) in a hotly contested sprint.

Prepared by James and Bart Cummings, Eurozone had looked good in winning his only two previous starts and tuned up for this 1200 metre assignment with a recent barrier trial on August 2.

Presented in sparkling order, the handsome chestnut jumped fast and landed in front with Hugh Bowman electing to leave him at the head of the field in a race where there was not a lot of pace.

He cruised along and when asked for an effort in the straight found another gear and despite racing a touch greenly found the line in style to beat Peter Moody’s autumn stakes-winner Dissident by more than a length.

“The best thing about him is that he does everything right when he hits the ground,” James Cummings said.  It was the first stakes-winner prepared by the James and Bart Cummings training partnership.

“He was strong late and is really warming into his prep.  There is plenty of petrol in the tank and her still has room for improvement in him.”

Eurozone (3c Northern Meteor – Miss Vandal by Don’t Say Halo) was a $110,000 Magic Millions purchase and runs for staunch stable clients Dato Tan Chin Nam, Dr Alexeeff and Tunku Ahmad Yahaya.

He has now won each of his three starts to date collecting over $150,000 in prizemoney and the G1 Golden Rose now looms large on the horizon followed by the G1 Caulfield Guineas in October.

Bred by Phillip Chen and foaled at Carramar Park, the Rosebud winner is the latest stakes-winner for Widden’s ill-fated sire Northern Meteor whose premature death last month rocked the industry.

Bred by Phillip Chen and foaled at Carramar Park, Eurozone is the fifth winner from G3 Perth winner Miss Vandal.  He is also a three-quarter brother to G2 winner Miss Marielle (Encosta de Lago).

Runner-up Dissident will also progress towards the Golden Rose.  A $210,000 Magic Millions purchase for Peter Moody, he won the LR Blue Diamond Preview on debut in the autumn.

Eurozone made it a winning double at Randwick for Northern Meteor, who scored earlier in the day with his stablemate Streaking Meteor.