David Vandyke’s Queensland Oaks-bound filly Arabian Gold is the top rated acceptor for the 2014 The Roses field at Doomben this weekend.
Arabian Gold shoots for her third Group win on the trot this weekend in The Roses 2014. Photo: Steve Hart.
The grey daughter of Dubawi is one of a full field of 16 starters, plus an emergency runner, making up the field for the $175,000 Group 2 XXXX Gold The Roses (2000m) on Doomben Cup Day on Saturday.
Running as Doomben Race 6 at 3:05pm the race is the traditional lead-up to the $400,000 Group 1 Queensland Oaks (2400m) held at Eagle Farm on May 31 with The Roses – Oaks double last achieved by Scarlett Lady (2011).
Arabian Gold is one of the top three in futures Queensland Oaks betting this year following the Sydney filly’s two Group 3 wins at home back in April
She thrived on a Heavy (9) at Randwick to take out the Group 3 Adrian Knox Stakes (2000m) before backing up to beat home the boys in the Group 3 Frank Packer Plate over the same track and distance a fortnight later on April 26.
The other shorite in the pre-field Crown Oaks odds staking her claims with a Doomben Roses run this weekend meanwhile is the Kris Lees-trained Hera.
Both are drawn well too with Arabian Gold to get the rails run from barrier one with Blake Shinn in the saddle while O’Reilly filly Hera has gate four and Jim Cassidy riding.
Hera has won five of her 12 starts to date and has been racing down under for just a couple of weeks having started her career off in New Zealand.
Back there she showed plenty of promise including her Group 2 Tristam Classic (2000m) win at Te Rapa back in early February.
She ran a decent debut down under too last time out when fourth to Estonian Princess in the Group 3 James Carr Stakes (1400m).
Along with Arabian Gold there are three other last start winning fillies in The Roses mix this year including the Rex Lipp-trained Tinto.
Drawn wide with barrier 13 for their weekend assignment with Tim Bell to ride the daughter of Red Dazzler hails from Toowoomba and comes off a tight win at the Gold Coast a fortnight ago.
There she improved on some poor Brisbane form over the Eagle Farm mile to win the Listed Gold Coast Bracelet (1800m) where she thrived on a Heavy track with more distance.
She gets the distance again here but might struggle with Doomben set to be in the Dead – Good range for the weekend’s racing.
The other last start winners looking to keep the form going are then the Brian Smith-trained Cruz By who won at the Sunshine Coast over 1800m on May 4 and Rosey Joan after her third straight.
There’s a notable Kiwi-trained contingent here too with the Tony Pike-trained Rock Diva debuting down under on the back of a Group 1 NZ Oaks (2400m) third form mid-March and Shaune Ritchie’s Chop Chop.
Guillotine grey Chop Chop ran fourth in the NZ Oaks before travelling over for the Gold Coast Bracelet where she didn’t handle the Heavy (8) track finishing six lengths away fifth.
Improvement then is expected on firmer ground this Saturday.
Other notable The Roses hopes then include Michael Moroney’s visiting Victorian Asadauskaite and the Tony Gollan-trained Tornado Miss who ran third and fourth respectively in the Bracelet last time out.
The full Doomben The Roses 2014 field, barriers, jockeys and set weights are outlined below.
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2014 The Roses Final Field & Barrier Draw
Doomben Race 6 – 3:05pm – 17/05/2014
| # | Form (Last 10) | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Br. | Wgt. | H. Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4146×58011 | ARABIAN GOLD | David Vandyke | Blake Shinn | 1 | 56.5kg | 96 |
| 2 | x5644x2881 | TINTO | Rex Lipp | Timothy Bell | 13 | 56.5kg | 80 |
| 3 | 1x812121x4 | HERA (NZ) | Kris Lees | Jim Cassidy | 4 | 56.5kg | 94 |
| 4 | 14215×0574 | TORNADO MISS | Tony Gollan | Craig Newitt | 10 | 56.5kg | 73 |
| 5 | 123×318230 | LITTLE BIT DITSY | Kelly Schweida | Michael Cahill | 11 | 56.5kg | 74.5 |
| 6 | 70x631x907 | NAVELINA | Darren Bell | Brad Stewart | 9 | 56.5kg | 71 |
| 7 | 23113x | ROCK DIVA (NZ) | Tony Pike | Leith Innes | 14 | 56.5kg | 83 |
| 8 | 523114545 | CHOP CHOP (NZ) | Shaune Ritchie | Ric McMahon | 7 | 56.5kg | 70 |
| 9 | 8344×213 | ASADAUSKAITE (NZ) | Michael Moroney | Damian Browne | 15 | 56.5kg | 69 |
| 10 | 81242×636 | NIGHTINGALES | John O’Shea | James McDonald | 17 | 56.5kg | 66 |
| 11 | 7×15474028 | MOON AND THE STARS | Harold Norman | Michael Hellyer | 16 | 56.5kg | 66 |
| 12 | 705×1181 | CRUZ BY (NZ) | Brian Smith | Larry Cassidy | 12 | 56.5kg | 70 |
| 13 | 16×082 | CROOKED STICK | Patrick Webster | Glen Colless | 8 | 56.5kg | 67 |
| 14 | 771125×092 | SISTER SOUSS | John P Thompson | Ryan Wiggins | 3 | 56.5kg | 69 |
| 15 | 688×125 | MISS HUFFLEPUFF | Chris Waller | Nash Rawiller | 5 | 56.5kg | 64 |
| 16 | 7085526711 | ROSEY JOAN | David J Lawlor | Anthony Allen (a) | 2 | 56.5kg | 66 |
| 17e | 096×7112 | EKOFANIDEA (NZ) | David Kelly | Ms Tegan Harrison (a) | 6 | 56.5kg | 63 |
