Yankee Rose may have missed the autumn – winter racing carnivals due to injury issues but the dual Group 1 winning filly is back in work with connections keeping a run in the Cox Plate 2017 against Winx on the cards.
The 2017 Ladbrokes Cox Plate is a spring option for last year’s third placegetter Yankee Rose. Photo: Steve Hart.
Prepared by the now Sunshine Coast-based David Vandkye, the All American filly is majority owned and raced by Scott Darby, also the owner-syndicator behind Golden Slipper winner She Will Reign.
Yankee Rose has to date enjoyed four wins from her nine career starts with prize money earned already exceeding $2 million.
She was runner-up to Capitalist in last year’s Golden Slipper before winning the Group 1 ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) and became a dual elite level champion with her Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) success at Randwick last October.
The rising four-year-old however is perhaps best known not for the Group 1 races she won, but for her brave third behind Winx in the Group 1 Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley last Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival.
Hoof and t problems kept Yankee Rose from competing in Sydney this autumn or during the winter in Brisbane, but Darby said all reports from Vandyke about her recent progress have been positive.
“We are getting only very positive reports from David about how well Yankee Rose is progressing,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
Yankee Rose is a chance to contest her second Ladbrokes Cox Plate when the $3 million weight-for-age classic runs on October 28.
Chris Waller’s dual defending champion Winx is of course the Cox Plate contender to beat, dominating futures betting at Ladbrokes.com.au at $1.50.
Punters can find last year’s third placegetter Yankee Rose at $34 in the all-in Cox Plate odds to score an historic upset over the Hall of Fame mare.
There’s also a chance Yankee Rose could instead be extended out over a mile and a half contesting the $3 million Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) a week prior to the Cox Plate Carnival.
A decision will be made on which of the spring majors she’ll wrap things up in after her early spring runs that will begin with $1 million Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield Racecourse on September 2.
“His [Vandyke’s] plan is to have her ready for the Memsie Stakes then the Makybe Diva Stakes and Underwood Stakes,” Darby confirmed.
“After those races, a decision will be made whether to aim her at the Caulfield Cup or the Cox Plate.”
Yankee Rose is yet to race at Caulfield with her only other Victorian run aside from the Cox Plate being her disappointing 14th behind all-the-way winner Lasqueti Spirit when things went amiss for the odds-on favourite in last November’s Group 1 Crown Oaks (2500m) at Flemington.
The $750,000 Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) is scheduled for Flemington on September 16, while the Underwood Stakes is run over 1800m at Caulfield a fortnight later.
To lock in the juicy early spring racing odds on Yankee Rose this carnival season head to Ladbrokes.com.au today.
