BPL'S racing expert TONY BOURKE writes that Saturday's Rosehill meeting is the start of what should be one the best Sydney Autumn Carnivals for many years.

While Sydney racing has had its struggles in recent times, there is no doubt that the Autumn Carnival, which gets underway at Rosehill tomorrow, has the makings of one of the best in years.

It has long been accepted that Sydney racing gets its chance to shine through the autumn and bows to Melbourne in the spring but the Australian Jockey Club and Sydney Turf Club still have to make certain they can attract the best horses for their feature races.

As we saw at the just completed (and grandly-named) Melbourne Autumn Festival of Racing, there is a limited number of genuine Group One horses to go around and it takes a certain amount of juggling by their connections to have them at their best for both Melbourne and Sydney.

One of the main problems that recently seems to have been overcome is the timing of the Sydney carnival which was always dictated by the moving festival of Easter.

The AJC had always claimed the Easter dates for the Doncaster and Australian Derby which, when Easter fell early, meant the STC had to squeeze in the three days of the Golden Slipper meeting which in turn often caused a clash of feature races in both Melbourne and Sydney.

This year, the only major clash was a result of the ‘'once-in-a-century'' storm at Flemington two weeks ago which caused the postponement of the Australian Cup and Crown Guineas until last Saturday.

This meant that the Crown Guineas was up against the Randwick Guineas on the same day and made it that much more difficult for Australian Cup contenders to back up in tomorrow's Group One wfa Ranvet Stakes which is run over the same distance, 2000m. Having said that, Moatize, Littorio and Divine Rebel, who all ran well last week, are racing again tomorrow.

What we will see for the first time is Australia's two-year-old championship, the Golden Slipper, run on Easter Saturday which is likely to result in a record crowd heading to Rosehill. And what a race that promises to be.

Some of the main contenders are in action tomorrow with the fillies Solar Charged and Military Rose clashing in the Reisling Stakes (1200m) and Melbourne's Blue Diamond winner Star Witness a hot favourite in the Todman Stakes (1200m).

At the risk of stating the obvious, there is every indication we may have the most exciting line-up of two-year-old talent seen in years. Military Rose, unbeaten from four starts, has so far been able to maintain her form since her total blitz of the opposition in the Magic Millions at the Gold Coast in January but Solar Charged, the reigning Golden Slipper favourite after two effortless wins, is also a hot favourite to burst Military Rose's bubble tomorrow.

With regular jockey Stathi Katsidis sidelined by suspension, Michael Rodd takes over on Military Rose in the Reisiling, but will be back for the Golden Slipper.

Trainer Danny O'Brien had a change of mind with Star Witness after his stunning win in the Blue Diamond.

The Golden Slipper was never on the agenda for the Starcraft colt and his connections will have to stump up the $150,000 late entry fee for him to run in the race, which becomes almost incidental if he takes the $195,000 first prize tomorrow.

Another highlight at Rosehill tomorrow is the Coolmore Classic (1500m) for fillies and mares with the superstar Typhoon Tracy the the only notable absentee from the field.

Trainer Peter Moody decided against running her when she was given 61kgs and will be represented instead by the filly Set For Fame who ran so gamely in the Crown Guineas at Flemington last Saturday.

The Bart Cummings-trained Faint Perfume takes on the older mares for the first time in the Coolmore and her task has not been made any easier by having barrier 16 in the field of 18.

Still, as we have seen time and time again over the last 50 years, it would be extremely unwise to discount Cummings' chances in any feature race and tomorrow is unlikely to be an exception.

A bonus for Victorian punters tomorrow is the number of Melbourne-based jockeys riding at Rosehill including Michael Rodd, Craig Williams, Michelle Payne, Luke Nolen Nick Hall and Glen Boss.

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