Rising Romance back to her best for Sunline Stakes

High class mare Rising Romance is back to her best for the Group 2 $200,000 Sunline Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley tonight according to Lindsay Park co-trainer Tom Dabernig.

Rising Romance, above in orange and white colours, is back to her best for the Sunline Stakes at Moonee Valley. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

Rising Romance, above in orange and white colours, is back to her best for the Sunline Stakes at Moonee Valley. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

Rising Romance is the winner of five of her thirty-seven race starts but hasn’t visited the winner’s stall since her victory in an Open Handicap over 1500m at Ellerslie in New Zealand in February 2015 but Dabernig is expecting her to be very competitive in the Sunline Stakes..

Rising Romance’s only Group 1 win was in the 2014 $1m Australian Oaks (2400m) at Randwick but she has been placed at Group 1 level on six occasions since, which includes a second to Admire Rakti in the 2014 $3m Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield.

Dabernig said that he was very happy with Rising Romance’s first up second to Turbo Miss in the Group 3 $150,000 Frances Tressady Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on March 4 and expects her to be very hard to beat in the Sunline Stakes against the fillies and mares.

“She was terrific first up and really hit the line hard,” Dabernig said.

“She hasn’t won for a while but she is going better than I ever seen her and I think she has a good chance.”

The Lindsay Park Team of Dabernig and David and Ben Hayes are having a terrific Autumn Carnival with three Group 1 wins to date with Catchy in the $1.5m Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) and Sheidel in the $500,000 The Resimax Group Oakleigh Plate (1100m) at Caulfield and Redkirk Warrior in the $1.25m Lexus Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at Flemington.

Betting for the Sunline Stakes at Ladbrokes.com.au has Rising Romance listed as an $11 chance while the only three year old filly in the race, I Am A Star, sits at the top of the market order at $2.20.

The John Thompson trained First Seal is also well in contention at $4.80 ahead of last start winner Circular at $6.50 and Turbo Miss at $9.50.

The Shane Nichols trained I Am A Star was able to beat the older mares in the Group 1 $500,000 Myer Classic (1600m) at Flemington during the 2016 Melbourne Spring Carnival and is coming off a third up win in the Group 2 $200,000 Kewney Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on March 11.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.