Group 1 winning filly Yankee Rose will be late arrival in Sydney before contesting the Group 1 $1m Golden Rose Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill on September 10.
Yankee Rose, above, will travel to Sydney two days before the Golden Rose Stakes at Rosehill. Photo by Steve Hart.
Trainer David Vandyke will prepare Yankee Rose for the 2016 Spring Carnival debut from her Sunshine Coast stables before heading south two days before the running of the first Group 1 in Sydney for the new racing season.
“She will leave for Sydney on the Thursday before the Rose and arrive at Warwick Farm the next day and then straight into the race,” Alan Thomas, racing manager for the Vandyke stable, told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“Yankee Rose is doing well in Queensland. David doesn’t want to give up three weeks of sunshine for her.”
Vandyke previously trained out of Warwick Farm in Sydney when he prepared Yankee Rose for a first up second to Capitalist in the Group 1 $3.5m Longines Golden Slipper (1200m) at Rosehill on March 19 before she went on to win Group 1 $1m Inglis Sires’ (1400m) at Randwick on April 2.
Yankee Rose is the star of Vandyke’s newly established stable at the Sunshine Coast but Thomas said you wouldn’t think so watching her go through her paces on the training tracks.
“She’s not a filly that exerts herself on the track,’’ Thomas said.
“She ran last in her trial and she got past a couple in the jumpout without looking impressive.
“She did the same thing before the Golden Slipper.”
Vandyke didn’t lose faith in the filly when she could only best one runner home when fourth in a 850m barrier trial at the Sunshine Coast on August and then wasn’t overly impressive in winning a 1270m jump out earlier in the week.
“I thought she went fair. She was shaken up and off the bit to catch the other two in the jump out and she found the line well,” Vandyke told G1X.
“She felt good, her recovery was good. We’ve learnt not to expect too much from her at the barrier trials or in her track work – she’s not a filly that works or trials like a Group 1 horse, she saves her best until race day and that’s where she’s at.
“We weren’t expecting too much and we didn’t get too much.”
Vandyke has pencilled in one more barrier trial on August 30 before she heads to Sydney and he has also selected the Group 1 $500,000 Flight Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on October 1 s her follow up race.
A place in the Group 1 $3m Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 22 could be considered if Yankee Rose races up to expectation in her early Spring outings.
In early Golden Rose Stakes betting at Ladbrokes.com.au, Yankee Rose shares the top spot at $7 with John O’Shea’s promising Lonhro colt Impending.
Golden Rose Stakes market order at Ladbrokes.com.au: $7 Impending, Yankee Rose, $9 Star Turn, Mediterranean, $11 El Divino, Telperion, $13 Derryn, Good Standing, $15 Omei Sword, Tango Rain, $17 Russian Revolution, Prized Icon.
