From Sam Kavanagh
Horse: Kayobi
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 10, Cerrone Hcp) My plan is to head into the Five Diamonds Prelude (1500m) at Randwick in two weeks and then the Five Diamonds (1800m) run at Rosehill on November 11. He’s definitely going to get a mile so we think the Five Diamonds Prelude is the logical step for him. He probably needs to win to guarantee his place in the Prelude, just to make a bird of it. The Five Diamonds isn’t going to be a weak race. But for a horse like him there’s so many options, if he comes out of the Prelude and we don’t feel he stayed there’s the Goulburn Cup which qualifies him for the Big Dance. I’m not sure he’s an apprentice’s horse but from (gate) four he just lands three back the fence off a hot speed. The speed seems to be drawn wide. The 1300m second-up is no issue, he’s run well at Rosehill in the past. I don’t want to be trying to push him up on speed when I want to go to 1500m next start. I’ve left the blinkers up my sleeve, I think he’s significantly better with blinkers on but I want to leave them there for the run after. He’s a strong traveller so he probably gets left with a really good run off a hot speed and he’ll be there late.
From Michael Freedman
Horse: Ducasse
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 6, Tapp-Craig Stakes) Winkers come off for the first time and from a better barrier, I am hoping Tommy Berry can settle a touch closer than what the horse did in the Ming Dynasty. I’m very happy with him. He’s drawn a much better gate (7) on Saturday so hopefully he can get a better run. He obviously had to be ridden where he was ridden in the Ming Dynasty because he drew off the track. I think it’s a good option for him and from the slightly better draw hopefully we can settle a bit closer with him.
Horse: Queen Of The Ball
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 9, The Nivison) Drawn barrier 3 for Saturday’s The Nivision at Rosehill, it gives Queen Of The Ball plenty of options to either lead or take a sit off the speed. It was just run at a ridiculous speed (last start in the Sheraco Stakes) so it was set up for something to run on but she pulled up from it really well. We do have a nice gate with her but if there is crazy speed on up front she can take a sit. She showed in those Melbourne runs that she can be effective coming off the speed so she doesn’t have to lead. But she’s pulled up well from it, she worked nicely on Tuesday morning and I think she’s going as good, if not better than she ever has.
From Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott
Horse: Royal Tribute
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 5, Roman Consul Stakes) After scoring an impressive first-up win at Hawkesbury, Royal Tribute was no match for Ozzmosis in the Heritage Stakes (1100m), finishing 4th, but with a slight distance rise and different race set-up, I am keeping the faith. Whether the Hawkesbury run just took a little bit of the brilliance out of him because he was very effective first-up and he just wasn’t able to quicken away from Ozzmosis when we wanted to. In saying that, Ozzmosis is a very good horse and he was able to put the pressure on us very early and make it difficult for us. Maybe the 1200 might open up a different style of race for him. But I feel our horse is in good shape, he’s trained on well and he can improve, although there is no doubt he has to to try to turn the tables.
Horse: The Little Pumper
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 6, Tapp-Craig Stakes) He was up early heading into the spring and we were getting quite deep into it (his campaign) without finding suitable races for him, so it was a bit stop-start for him in terms of his preparation. We said this and the Callander-Presnell (Stakes) might be nice targets for him down the road, so we just had to time his run. He’s had a little freshen-up and he should be forward enough to Saturday. He looks great. The Little Pumper will be ridden by Tim Clark and has drawn nicely in barrier (3).
From Matthew Dunn
Horse: Cepheus
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 8, Alan Brown Stakes) Cepheus won the South Grafton Cup in July to secure his eligibility for the Big Dance and running in the Alan Brown (Stakes) keeps a nice two week progression from race to race until the November 7 grand final. Cepheus won the Group 2 Shannon Stakes two weeks ago and I elected not to run in the Group 1 Epsom Handicap, because he didn’t need to. The beauty is there’s so many races and you can pick and choose your way along. We could have backed up last week but chose not to because we had this race. His goal always has been the Big Dance but these races along the way, he’s so competitive in them. He’s going two weeks, two weeks then two weeks and three days so he doesn’t need huge amounts of work now. Maybe coming back 100m might help, Nash commented he wanted to overdo things a little bit last start so that tiny bit of extra tempo back to 1400m might help if anything. He needs a firm deck, he’d had a couple of starts for us on chopped out ground and he went awful. His form on top of the ground is so much better than anything that’s rain affected. He’s a chance again this week. He’s going really well, we gave him an easy time after we qualified him for the Big Dance and once he gets fit he’s pretty simple.
From Team Hawkes
Horse: Zeyrek
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 7, Hill Stakes) The gelding has been valiant in his two return runs, sticking to his task when 4th to Pericles in the Tramway Stakes and again when 5th to Think It Over in the 7 Stakes. A third-up winner over a similar course and distance in the autumn, Zeyrek is giving every indication he can repeat that feat in the weight-for-age Hill Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday. It looks a nice race – 1900 metres, home track, third-up. First-up he sprinted well, and second-up he hit the line well, but he’s a 2000 metre horse. I thought he would be hard to beat
Horse: Mount Poppa
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 7, Hill Stakes) Mount Poppa resumed with a solid midfield effort in the Cameron Handicap at Newcastle. He’s looking for 2000, albeit it’s 1900, although maybe weight-for-age will find him out a touch, I do think he’s more of a handicapper in that sense. But he’s really well and second-up, he performs.
From Bjorn Baker
Horse: Ozzmosis
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 5, Roman Consul Stakes) Ozzmosis passed his first class test with flying colours when he took out the Listed Heritage Stakes at his third race start two weeks ago and there should be natural improvement from the run. I hope so, you never quite know and it’s always a bit tricky to quantify. I just think he will be better second run. I have no doubt he improved from his first to second start, 1200m is new ground for him but he’s very well and we hope he can do it again. With sharp early pace from gate six, expects the colt to be in a similar position in the Roman Consul. It sets up similar to last time and Rachel (King) has a lot of belief in him. He’s got a lot of natural speed so he jumps pretty well and we’ll just leave it up to her as much as anything. He just put himself there the other day, I thought he was exposed earlier than I would have hoped so he was very game and kept finding the line.
Horse: Diamond Dealer
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 10, Cerrone Hcp) Diamond Dealer comes back in class in the Cerrone Handicap after handling herself well in two shots at Group level in the past month. She finished 4th in both the Group 3 Tibbie Stakes at Newcastle and the Group 2 Golden Pendant at Rosehill so a Benchmark 78 is a nice target. She’s back in grade, has a good gate (3) and Nash rides so we’ll be putting her up there. She’s been running well and she should be competitive.
From Les Bridge
Horse: Celestial Legend
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 5, Roman Consul Stakes) I had an idea in my head, a little bit of speed and being by Dundeel I thought I might get a really good mile and a quarter horse and here he is matching it with the speedsters. He’s a lovely horse and when you look at him he’s all legs and a bit immature. He’s an autumn horse. He’s surprised me, the boys riding him work early were saying this horse can fly. But when you see his pedigree you think he’s a mile, mile and a quarter horse. He might be a sprinter, you’ve got to play the cards as they come but we’ll know more on Saturday. He just couldn’t run the other horse down (Ozzmosis in the Heritage Stakes (1100m) two weeks ago), we’ve got another half a furlong on Saturday and that might help him a bit. He hasn’t gone backwards, he’s gone forwards a bit. He only had one trial and the way he’s bred I was just trying to keep him fresh. He’s gone up against the better three-year-olds the other day and he didn’t get the best run in the straight, something ran out in front of him and he should have finished closer. That’s what it’s going to come down to, whether he can peg that horse back at 1200m.
From Gary Portelli
Horse: Encap
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 6, Tapp-Craig Stakes) Encap broke through for his first victory in the Group 3 Ming Dynasty Quality last month before only narrowly going down to Militarize in a thrilling edition of the Golden Rose. This horse was racing in maidens four starts ago and then he has gone on to finish 2nd in a Group 1 so who knows where his ceiling is. He is a pretty horse and at this stage there is Saturday and then the Callander-Presnell in a few weeks time for him. I had him down on Tuesday morning to do three-quarter pace with an eye for the King Charles (III Stakes) but when I saw the field I thought realistically, the King Charles is going to be a race where we are going to be 20-1 and this race we will be favourite. We changed the trackwork to Tuesday to a gallop instead and head towards Saturday. If we drew well (gate 6), we would definitely head there and we look to have pulled the right rein by the look of things at this stage.
From Team Snowden
Horse: King’s Gambit
Message: (Saturday, Rosehill Race 5, Roman Consul Stakes) The colt was doing all the right things in his trials and at home but it went awry at Flemington (first-up) when he got worked up prior to the Poseidon Stakes (1100m) then jumped too well for his own good, taking up an uncustomary leadership role and tiring late to finish 3rd. It’s a great field, a really good rendition of the race, but we’ve drawn a nice gate (7) to let that speed go and get on the back of it and that’s what we want – a little bit of cover, let them run at a nice pace then he won’t pull and if he gets the right scenario, he can really do something. It just went pear-shaped there (at Flemington) but he’s back home now and he’ll be better for that run under his belt. He just gets a bit hot at times but if he’s good in the yard he’ll run a really good race.
From The Editor
Sydney Race 5 – King’s Gambit
Sydney Race 6 – Encap
Sydney Race 7 – Hoo Ya Mal
