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Outstanding Queensland mare Chinchilla Rose will head to Melbourne next week to prepare for a tilt at Group One glory.
Outstanding Queensland mare Chinchilla Rose will head to Melbourne next week to prepare for a tilt at Group One glory.
Trainer Steele Ryan has pencilled in four Melbourne starts for the daughter of Lion Hunter culminating in either the Group One Emirates Stakes (1600m) on the last day of the Melbourne Cup carnival at Flemington on November 8 or the 1200m Patinack Farm Classic on the same day.
Chinchilla Rose will have her first Melbourne run against her own sex in the Listed Le Tan Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on October 12 before the Group Two Schweppes Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley on October 25.
The Group Three Chatham Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on Victoria Derby day on November 1 will be the crucial race to determine whether Chinchilla Rose steps up in distance to the Emirates Stakes or heads to the shorter Patinack Farm Stakes.
"We're hoping to take her to 1600 metres in the Emirates but the Group Three race on Derby day will tell the tale whether she's ready to go further, otherwise we'll drop her back in distance," Ryan said.
Chinchilla Rose is yet to win at elite level but is a dual Group Two winner of the Surround Stakes (1400m) at Randwick in March and QTC Cup (1300m) at Eagle Farm in May.
Ryan is pleasantly surprised with Chinchilla Rose's condition ahead of her spring engagements and hopes to run her in a barrier trial at Bendigo before she resumes racing.
"I've got plenty of time and she'll probably trial at Bendigo and then maybe have an exhibition gallop somewhere," Ryan said.
"She's coming up a lot quicker than I thought so I'm letting her work along as much as she can while she's enjoying her trackwork.
"She's about 20 kilograms heavier than last campaign and is a lot more mature now and looks like a real lady."
Ryan is taking a team of 11 horses away to Melbourne for the spring and will divide the remaining 10 horses in his care between staff and Toowoomba trainer Lindsay Hatch.
"Chinchilla Rose will have four runs in Melbourne before she comes back home and gets ready for the Coolmore Classic and Queen Of The Turf in Sydney," Ryan said.
"After Sydney she'll then probably get ready for the Doomben 10,000 and Stradbroke Handicaps next year."
Ryan will let managing part owner Ken Turner decide the grey's jockey in Melbourne but didn't rule out Stephen Baster retaining the ride.
Baster partnered Chinchilla Rose in her first Group Two victory in the Surround Stakes and in four starts during the Brisbane winter carnival including her QTC Cup victory and fifth in the Group One Stradbroke Handicap.
Ryan believed backing up on wet tracks in successive weeks led to her defeat in the 1400-metre Stradbroke Handicap.
"Backing up in consecutive weeks on wet tracks might have taken too much out of her for the Stradbroke but she still did a good job to run fifth," he said.
