Co-trainer David Hayes has confirmed that Rising Romance remains a chance to contest the 2015 Zipping Classic at Sandown on Saturday before she makes the trip to Hong Kong for the 2015 Hong Kong Cup.
Rising Romance was narrowly denied by Gailo Chop in the 2015 Mackinnon Stakes. Photo by: Ultimate Racing Photos
Rising Romance joined the Lindsay Park team at the end of her disrupted autumn preparation and she has performed well without winning during the 2015 Spring Racing Carnival.
The Ekraar mare returned to the races in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on August 29 and she found the line strongly to finish sixth behind Boban before she was only narrowly denied by Fawkner in the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on September 12.
Rising Romance did not have a great deal of luck in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on October 4 and she was well-backed in the lead-up to the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield on October 17, but she tired in the final stages of the race to finish a disappointing 13th.
Hayes elected to drop Rising Romance back in trip for the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on October 31 and it worked wonders, with the talented mare unluckily denied by Gailo Chop in the final stages of the race after racing on inferior ground.
Connections confirmed over the weekend that Rising Romance will join Criterion on the flight to Hong Kong for the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup (2000m), but Hayes told AAP that he is still not ruling out giving the five-year-old a run in the 2015 Zipping Classic.
“I’ll have a chat with the owners on whether they want to run her and then come back in distance in Hong Kong,” Hayes said.
“She ran so well on the back-up from the Caulfield Cup to the Mackinnon and she’ll have a month back to the big race over there.”
Even if Rising Romance does not run in the Zipping Classic, Hayes is still set to be represented in the race in the form of imported stayer Almoonqith.
Almoonqith stamped himself as a genuine Melbourne Cup contender when he recorded a most impressive victory in the Group 3 Geelong Cup (2400m) on October 21, but he was settled at the tail of the field and was never able to get into the race.
The Dynaformer entire has also been included in the 2015 Sandown Cup nomination and Hayes will wait until he sees the entries for both races before he decides which race the Geelong Cup winner will contest.
