Trainer Simon Miller is confident that Platinum Rocker can go one better in the 2014 Railway Stakes at Ascot on Saturday after she finished a close second behind Luckygray in last year’s race.
Platinum Rocker finished second behind Luckygray (pictured) in the 2013 Railway Stakes. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Platinum Rocker has been unable to record a race win since she took out the Group 3 Asian Beau Stakes (1400m) at Ascot over a year ago, but the Love A Dane mare stamped herself as a Railway Stakes hopeful with credible performances in the Group 3 Prince Of Wales Stakes (1200m) on October 25 and the Group 2 Waroa-Lee Steere Stakes (1400m) on November 8.
Miller told Perth Racing that he has been happy with the form of Platinum Rocker this preparation and he believes that the seven-year-old mare is a genuine lightweight chance in the 2014 edition of the Railway Stakes.
“She is going good, the key for her is she gets down on the weights, she is back on the minimum (53kgs) where she was last year,” Miller said.
“She is going equally as good as last year and she has drawn a better gate, hopefully that means she goes one better.”
Platinum Rocker has been restricted to just 19 race starts since she made her racing debut with a win at Bunbury in February of 2012 and is one of the only Perth-trained horses in the Railway Stakes field that has previously raced on the Eastern Seaboard of Australia after she had four race starts in Brisbane during the 2014 Queensland Winter Racing Carnival.
The talented mare resumed with a third place finish in the Listed Silk Stocking (1200m) at the Gold Coast on May 3 and was third again in the Group 3 Glenlogan Park Stakes (1350m) at Doomben on May 24 before she fell in a hole late to finished fifth in the Group 2 Dane Ripper Stakes (1400m) at Eagle Farm on June 7.
Platinum Rocker went into the Group 1 Tattersall’s Tiara (1400m) as an outsider after she drew poorly in barrier 15 and was set far too tough an assignment by jockey Peter Knuckey; with the mare tiring badly in the final stages of the Group 1 event to finish at the tail of the field in the worst performance of her racing career to date.
Platinum Rocker is currently available at 2014 Railway Stakes odds of $19, while The Cleaner ($4.60) has been on the drift, but remains a clear favourite to record a maiden win at Group 1 level.
