Stable jockey Luke Nolen finds it hard to split the Peter Moody trained pair of Bring Me The Maid and Better Land leading up to the Group 1 $1m De Bortoli Wines Golden Rose Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
Luke Nolen is happy to be on Bring Me The Maid again in the Golden Rose Stakes. Photo by Steve Hart.
But the top Victorian rider is happy to be aboard Bring Me The Maid whom he steered to an emphatic first up win in the Group 2 $175,000 Coolmore Silver Shadow Stakes (1200m) on August 23 on a soggy Randwick track.
While Bring Me The Maid has won three of her five race starts, all at stakes level, Shamardal colt Better Land has only a Sale maiden win from his three appearance.
“He’s a colt of high quality and he’s going well, but she has the score on the board,” Nolen told Racing Network.
But everybody who was at Randwick on August 23 would agree that Better Land was very unlucky and should have won the Group 3 $125,000 Synergy FX Up and Coming Stakes (1300m) if the Gai Waterhouse trained Liberation hadn’t raced erratically over the concluding stages, interfering with several runners, with Better Land copping the worst of it.
Blake Shinn has picked up the ride on Better Land replacing Glyn Schofield who will be riding the Chris Waller trained Boban in the Group 1 $400,000 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on Saturday.
Nolen was having his first ride on Bring Me The Maid at Randwick, replacing the suspended Chad Schofield, and was very impressed with the Sebring filly who has trained on nicely since her Silver Shadow Stakes win.
“She is effective on all surfaces and she is drawn well (gate 6) and from all reports she has trained right on,” Nolen said.
“But, most importantly, given she is not an overly big filly, she’s had three weeks to get over that heavy track run.
“I think that is going to hold us in good stead.”
Even though Bring Me The Maid continues to hold her position at the top of the Golden Rose Stakes market order with Ladbrokes.com.au and is the ruling $3.80 favourite, Nolen knows that you need a lot of luck to win any Group 1.
“These Group 1s are hard to win, they don’t give them away. All the good luck you need can be not having any bad luck,” Nolen said.
“I can’t wait to see both these horses with the spring on their back. He’s going to be a cracking colt come the autumn and I think she will continue to improve.”
Better Land is also well in the betting at $7 with the Bart and James Cummings trained Hallowed Crown sandwiched in between the Moody pair at $5.50.
Nostradamus is the only other runner under double figures at $8.50 and will shorten up more if the Rosehill track continues to dry out on Friday and Saturday morning.
Hallowed Crown threw himself into Golden Rose Stakes contention with an impressive first up win in the Group 3 $125,000 MTA NSW Run To The Rose (1200m) on a heavy Rosehill track two weeks ago but Nostradamus failed to handle the wet conditions and paddled into seventh spot, three and half lengths behind the winner.
The Rosehill track was rated a slow 7 on Thursday afternoon and officials are hoping the clear conditions that are forecast leading up to the weekend will prevail.
