Press Report Set For Golden Rose After Barrier Trial Win

Trainer Lee Curtis has set talented filly Press Report for the 2014 Golden Rose after she scored a dominant five lengths victory in a barrier trial at Rosehill Gardens yesterday.

Press Report finished second behind Mossfun in the 2014 Silver Slipper Stakes.

Press Report finished second behind Mossfun in the 2014 Silver Slipper Stakes. Photo by: Steve Hart

Press Report contested the ninth trial of the day over 900 metres and she jumped from the gates strongly before running away from the rest of the field to score a comfortable win over Atomic Queen and Mischievous Devil.

Curtis told AAP that he could not have been happy with the barrier trial performance of Press Report and he believes that the Written Tycoon filly has returned for her third racing campaign as a much stronger horse.

“It was unbelievable to watch her in the trial,” Curtis told AAP.

“She jumped and ran and seems to have put it all together in her head.

“A couple of times early on she missed the start but there was none of that today.

“There are exciting days ahead.”

Curtis revealed that Press Report will return to the races in a two-year-old event at Rosehill Gardens next Saturday before returning to black type level for the Listed The Rosebud (1200m) at Royal Randwick on August 9.

Press Report will then step up to Group 2 level for the Silver Shadow Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick on August 23 and make her Group 1 debut in the Golden Rose Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill Gardens on September 13 before potentially stepping up to 1600 metres for the Group 1 Flight Stakes (1600m) at Royal Randwick on October 4.

The talented juvenile is yet to break through for a maiden race win, but will face the weakest field of her career to date when she resumes at Rosehill Gardens next weekend.

Press Report made her racing debut with a second place finish in the Blackwoods AAP Industries Plate (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens on November 30 and after a stint in the spelling paddock returned to the races with a second place finish behind Mossfun in the Group 2 Silver Slipper Stakes (1100m).

She finished a luckless fourth behind Believe Yourself in the Group 2 Sweet Embrace Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick on March 15 and was sent to the spelling paddock after finishing seventh behind Bring Me The Maid in the Group 2 Magic Night Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 29.

Curtis is chasing his first win at Group level since he took out the Group 1 The Galaxy (1100m) with Mistegic in 2002.

About The Author

Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.