From Richard & Will Freedman
Fri 25th Aug, 2023
Horse: Elettrica
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 4, Midway Hcp) The way she’s been racing she’s indicated she’d be every chance to do it (stretch out in distance). Usually horses that run fast last sectionals have the ability to go a bit further. But it’s still trial and error and it’s the first time she’s run over this sort of distance. We might unearth one that can get over a bit of ground. She’s just more dour than we would have expected and she doesn’t like to get used up early. Sometimes if there’s not much pace that means she can sit just behind the speed but if there’s a lot of pace she drifts further back like last start. She has a lot of heart and if you let her catch her breath and pace herself through the race she gives a really good kick late. Hopefully she can keep in touch without doing too much work and have her best chance of winning one of these Midways. She’d be due one more than most.
From Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou
Horse: Smashing Eagle
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 5, Cabra-Vale Diggers Hcp) Smashing Eagle has been a work in progress but provided he gets conditions to suit, there’s no reason he can’t make it back-to-back Rosehill wins. You have to ride him quiet, and you have to have speed on, and then he’ll find the line well. He’s a funny horse but after his second run for us he really settled down and came around and his last two runs have been very good.
Horse: Call Di
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 6, Campbelltown Catholic Club Hcp) First-up she melted in the mounting yard, she’d never been like that before. It really surprised me. I went to the races thinking she could win but by the time she got into the mounting yard, I basically said to ‘Singo’ (owner John Singleton), ‘I don’t like her at all the way she paraded’. Hopefully she gets back to her old self on Saturday now she’s got that run under her belt. On Saturday there’s a lot more speed in the race so I reckon she’ll get a more genuinely run race and that will allow her to find her feet and get home.
From Brian Walker
Horse: Classic Dreamer
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 1, Highway Hcp) He’s won two easy, ran time, drops 3kg in weight and is drawn to lead. He was allocated topweight for a reason, that Newcastle form is as good as any in the race. He’s still untapped, the kid [Ben Osmond] has won twice on him, they relate and it’s still only a country Class 2. What this horse does is keep finding when he’s put under pressure, and he’ll do that again on Saturday. Vitally Classic Dreamer’s 59.5kg is reduced by Ben’s 3.5kg claim.
From Gary Portelli
Horse: Kintyre
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 7, Up and Coming Stakes) Last start winner Kintyre came up with barrier 11 of 12. Kintyre earned a shot at Saturday’s race with a second-up win over the same course and distance at Rosehill. I’m going to be getting him out to a stayer’s distance, so the good thing about this weekend is there’s no pressure on him. We’ll just ride him quietly, get him to relax, settle, get into a rhythm and then hopefully he will have some petrol in the run home and we’ll see him striking out right to the line doing his best work. He’s a pretty laidback customer, a bit like his sister (Fireburn), he doesn’t go out there demanding much respect at trackwork but he turns up on race day.
Horse: Encap
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 7, Up and Coming Stakes) The gelding has put the writing on the wall at his two recent runs, flashing home for consecutive seconds in strong midweek races, and the horse’s work has continued to improve the deeper he’s gone into his campaign. Brett Prebble has the race ride on Saturday after venturing to Warwick Farm to test Encap in a trackwork gallop midweek. He (Prebble) was quite surprised by how sharp the horse was in his work, how keen he was and how strong he was because watching his races, he looks quite laidback. His sectionals have been unbelievable at the back end of both runs from a spell. I’d have to say that based on what I saw in Tuesday morning’s work, he’s in peak condition. I’m just disappointed he couldn’t have drawn a better gate (9).
From Anthony Cummings
Horse: Manwe
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 7, Up & Coming Stakes) Manwe made an impressive start with an all the way win at Canterbury earlier this month. He’s a pretty nice horse and he was pretty well prepared for his first run. He’s done very well since then and he’s drawn a nice gate (2). This puts him into a nice routine into what might be a run to the Golden Rose depending on what he shows. These are once in a lifetime races and you don’t walk past them lightly. If the horse is there and he looks like he’s up to it then why not. I think the distance will be comfortable for him and everything he does says it’s a sensible race for him to go to. In a race like that you need things to go your way and that gives him an opportunity to show off.
From John O’Shea
Horse: Cafe Millenium
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 7, Up & Coming Stakes) I don’t think you want to make a judgement on him until he gets to a mile. He’s going great. He’s big and strong, happy and healthy. He’s hard to get out of the gates because he’s so big, but when he gets to a mile and the tempo is different, I think he’ll be fine. He’s not a Caulfield horse. I think we would go through the traditional path to the Spring Champion (Stakes). Hopefully he runs ten furlongs as a three-year-old, but he will definitely run a mile as a three-year-old. There are a bunch of races for him. Tom Sherry will partner Café Millenium.
From James Cummings
Horse: Corniche
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 8, San Domenico Stakes) A horse like Corniche was perhaps a little underestimated early on and he’s gone to the paddock a last start winner. We looked after him when I wasn’t quite happy with him and he would have gone into the Slipper looking pretty good, having beaten the impressive Pago Pago winner (Shinzo) the start before. But I think we did the right thing at the time, and we get the opportunity to see whether or not he’s going to improve vastly as a three-year-old in the spring. He’s certainly got the pedigree to improve a lot and he’s looked good in the trials. With the benefit of two recent trials, I am anticipating a bold return. He’s got the look of a boxer about him, that horse, and hopefully he can come out swinging first-up.
From Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott
Horse: Les Vampires
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 7, Up & Coming Stakes) Expects him to handle the rise to Group 3 and back up his maiden Warwick Farm win earlier this month. The colt was a little wayward at his debut but corrected his ways straight away and the Up And Coming is a good opportunity for him to consolidate. He won very well at Warwick Farm last start, he’s a nice progressive type of horse. There’s still more upside, that little bit of extra trip will suit and he’s in good order.
Horse: The Instructor
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 8, San Domenico Stakes) The Instructor will be better for his first Sydney start where he sat outside Introducing and stuck his head in front 100m out before just weakening late. He loomed up there and just peaked on the run late and he will improve nicely off the back of that
Horse: Introducing
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 8, San Domenico Stakes) Introducing has gone up a notch since his Rosebud effort to fight back and only just go down to Tiz Invincible. I thought he did everything right. He was making a few mistakes as a young horse last campaign and I think now he’s ready to go on with it and be effective in that class.
Horse: Butch Cassidy
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 8, San Domenico Stakes) Butch Cassidy had his first two starts in Victoria including a dominant Mornington win at his second start, before being thrown in the deep end, and showed his readiness when he stretched Kandinsky Abstract in a recent trial. On debut he ran a big race and broke his maiden nicely, his form after that tapered off. I think you can forgive him for a couple of those runs. He seems to be back well and has trialled up nicely.
From The Editor
Sydney Race 1 – Take The Kitty
Sydney Race 7 – Les Vampires
Sydney Race 8 – Corniche
