Jockey Damian Browne will meet with trainer Mike Moroney before finalising race tactics for Asadauskaite in the Group 2 $175,000 XXXX Gold The Roses (2000m) at Doomben on Saturday.
Asadauskaite ran third to Tinto, above, red and white, in the Gold Coast Bracelet. Photo by Daniel Costello.
Asadauskaite has drawn awkwardly at gate fifteen in the original barrier draw but could jump from fourteen if the emergency Ekofanidea dosen’t gain a start and Browne has to work out if he pushes forward down the straight the first time or tries to slot into a position in the second half of the field.
“At first glance, I don’t think they will go real quick, but I will talk to Mike and see what he thinks,” Browne told The Courier-Mail.
“She did box-seat when she won in Sydney, but her manners aren’t the best so I might be dictated by that.”
Browne has had one ride on the lightly raced Pentire filly and even though she was a beaten favourite when third to Tinto in the Listed $125,000 H Harvey Prestige Gold Coast Bracelet (1800m) at the Gold Coast on May 3, he still considers her a great Queensland Oaks filly.
“She definitely gave me the impression she was an Oaks type,” Browne said.
“She was stopped in her tracks at the 600m and got jammed back in. She lost about three lengths.
“To pick up and put paid to the rest of them was a very good effort.”
Browne is comparing Asadauskaite favourably with Kiwi filly Quintessential whom he rode to victory in the 2012 Group 1 $400,000 Queensland Oaks (2400m) at Eagle Farm.
“I rode Quintessential for the first time in the Roses and before that race I didn’t think her form was good enough,” Browne said.
“But after that I felt she would win The Oaks and this filly gives me the same impression.
“Her work has been good since last time and Mike Moroney knows how to win these good staying races.”
And the prospect of a wet track on Queensland Oaks day won’t brother Browne with the top jockey happy with the way Asadauskaite handled the rain affected Gold Coast track.
“Also, it’s usually 50-50 of it being wet on Oaks day and she swam through the heavy ground at the Gold Coast,” Brown said.
Asadauskaite did her early racing in New Zealand before being transferred to Moroney’s Melbourne base where she ran second in a 1400m Bendigo maiden on March 27.
Moroney then sent her to Sydney where she appreciated the step up in distance to score by three and a quarter lengths over 1800m in a Kensington maiden on April 21 before heading to the Gold Coast.
Asadauskaite, an $11 chance for The Roses with Ladbrokes.com.au, will be stepping up in class and distance again as she takes on the David Vandyke trained Arabian Gold who heads the market order at $2.20.
Arabian Gold is lining up for a wining hat trick after two victories at Group 3 level over 2000m at Randwick in the $200,000 TAB Adrian Knox Stakes on April 12 and the $150,000 Johnnie Walker Frank Packer Plate on April 26.
Former Kiwi trained Hera, now with the Kris Lees stable, is next in the betting at $4 with New Zealand filly Rock Diva marked as a $10 chance.
