Perfect draw sets up Prowess to show finery in Vinery Stakes
New Zealand filly Prowess is trying to break a Kiwi Group 1 drought at Rosehill today and she has the right man in her corner to do so.
The Karaka Million Mile and Bonecrusher Stakes winner is a warm favourite for today’s A$600,000 Vinery Stakes, with the stars looking to align for the Cambridge filly.
She has drawn perfectly at barrier three, with her key rival Pavitra at barrier eight and the rain forecast for Sydney hadn’t arrived by last night, so the track is expected to be in the 4-5 range.
That will be ideal for Prowess because while she won her debut on a heavy track as a juvenile, all her exceptional form this 3-year-old season has been on good tracks.
Two of her biggest threats today in Pavitra and Fireburn would be better suited by a wetter track.
Co-trainer Roger James says his filly is up for today’s challenge, having not missed a beat since landing in Sydney last Sunday.
“I see no reason she won’t race as well as she did in the Bonecrusher last start,” says James, who trains Prowess with Robert Wellwood.
If Prowess is victorious today, she will be the first New Zealand-trained winner of a Group 1 at Rosehill since Gingernuts won the Rosehill Guineas in 2017.
The Guineas has been by far New Zealand’s most successful Rosehill target, with Volkstok’n’barrell winning it in 2015, It’s A Dundeel in 2013 and Jimmy Choux in 2011, but take the Guineas away, and Rosehill has been largely barren ground for New Zealand raiders in the past two decades.
Our last major Rosehill win not in the Guineas was when the Jamestrained Silent Achiever won the Tancred Stakes in 2014 and there have been few others this century, with Sixty Seconds, who won the Vinery in 2002, one of the exceptions and also trained by James.
While Rosehill is tighter than Randwick and Prowess is a long strider, the track should still suit her racing style, as she is naturally fast early, and that tactical speed should allow new rider Mark Zahra to sit handier than his key rivals. So if Prowess produces her best, it will take a special filly to beat her.
Royal Stakes winner Polygon provides New Zealand’s second string in the race but her trainer Lance Noble was hoping for some easing of the track that may not come.
Prowess isn’t the only Cambridge-trained 3-year-old favoured at Rosehill today, with Full Of Sincerity at the top of the market in the Tulloch Stakes, a A$250,000 lead-up to next week’s ATC Derby.
Stablemate Mustang Valley is in the Emancipation Stakes today but trainer Andrew Forsman says she could be scratched because of her wide draw if the track stays good and instead head to the Doncaster at Randwick next Saturday.
There was some good news for the New Zealand team in Melbourne yesterday, with Campionessa getting into today’s A$3 million Australian Cup at Flemington after being the second emergency, with Opie Bosson to ride her.
Closer to home, the feature race of the domestic calendar is the $120,000 Japan Trophy at Tauranga, in which track conditions will play a crucial role, with the Gate Pa track heavy midweek but having improved to soft yesterday.
The day has an even feel to it, with not one odds-on favourite.