New stable acquisition Rising Romance is progressing nicely for the Lindsay Park Team as she prepares to have a second attempt at winning the Group 1 $3m Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield in October.
Australian Oaks winner Rising Romance is being aimed at the 2015 Caulfield Cup. Photo by Steve Hart.
Rising Romance ran a gallant second to Japanese star Admire Rakti in the 2014 Caulfield Cup while under the care of New Zealand trainer Donna Logan and new trainer Tom Dabernig said the rising five year old mare would be given another chance in the Spring Carnival feature.
“She’s a lovely pick-up for the stable and I think she’s a very exciting horse to have in the yard,” Dabernig told Racing.com’s Racing Ahead on RSN.
Dabernig trains in partnership with his uncle David Hayes and is pleased with progress of Rising Romance who is in the early stages of her Spring Carnival preparation.
“She’s just at the early stages of her preparation and is around a week away from having a proper gallop,” Dabernig said.
Logan opted not to run Rising Romance in the Group 1 $6m Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington last Spring and sent her to the spelling paddock following her sixth to Happy Trails in the Group 1 $1m Longines Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) on the Saturday prior to the ‘Race That Stops The Nation’.
Logan then prepared Rising Romance for a first up win over 1500m at Ellerslie on February 14 before the mare ran second to Saklee’s Soldier Group 1 NZ$200,000 Ronald McDonald House Charities New Zealand Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie on March 7.
Rising Romance then arrived in Sydney and ran second to Scratchy Bottom in the Group 3 $150,000 Hertz Epona Stakes (1900m) at Rosehill on March 21 but was then forced to abandon her Autumn Carnival plans because of a hoof injury that saw her head back to New Zealand.
After a mixed Sydney Autumn Carnival campaign that saw Rising Romance miss the major Group 1 staying evets because of the minor setback, connections decided to switch her to the Lindsay Park Team to prepare for the upcoming Spring Carnival.
“Donna Logan has done a fantastic job and the decision was a hard one,” owner John Carter said in a statement in the The Informant.
“However, on balance this is her best chance of winning some more Group Ones before she is likely to be retired.
“Donna is still training other horses for us.”
Rising Romance is already a winner at Group 1 level when she beat Zanbagh and Lucia Valentina in the 2014 Group 1 $1m Seven News Australian Oaks (2400m) at Randwick.
In early Caulfield Cup betting Rising Romance is currently marked as a $34 chance with Ladbrokes.com.au and no doubt will also be nominated for the Melbourne Cup for which she is marked at $51.
