Rosehill may be wet and gloomy for
final day of Autumn Carnival
From
Deane Cummings: March 2018
Sydney's
Rosehill Racecourse will conclude its 2018
autumn carnival this weekend with an
impressive lineup of races.
There
will be eight races of Group 3 and above, so
some of the finest in NSW will be out for a
gallop on Saturday, March 31.
Rosehill
will not be wasting any time on meaningless
preliminaries | Free Bets. The first race will
be the Group 1 The BMW, or, as they might
prefer us to call it, the H E Tancred Stakes.
It covers 2400 metres under weight-for-age
conditions, making it the premier distance
race for the Rosehill autumn carnival. The
race was won last year by Jameka from Humidor
and Exospheric.
This
year's field has Melbourne Cup winner
Almandin, but Darren Weir's Gailo Chop would
have to be considered the favourite. Almandin
is a tough one to pick. The eight-year-old
German does not do much racing and he has won
nothing other than a Listed race since his win
in the 2016 Cup.
Gailo
Chop on the other hand, recently took the post
in the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes (2000 m) at
Rosehill, so the only question is if he has
had enough rest.
Chris
Waller plans to field Libran and Who Shot
Thebarman.
Eight
of the 10 horses in the field have won Group 1
races. There Is Aus-tralian Cup winner Harlem
and Single Gaze in addition to the ones
men-tioned earlier.
Next
up is another Group 1, the 2000 metre Vinery
Stud Stakes, or the Storm Queen Stakes, if you
prefer. It is run under set weights and is
restricted to three-year-old fillies. It was
won last year by Montoya's Secret from Nurse
Kitchen and Harlow Gold. This year's field
will include top liners, such as Aloisia,
Alizee and several others.
The
Group 2 Tulloch Stake (2000 m) is one of two
Group 2 races for the meeting. It is the
equivalent of the Vinery Stud, but for the
fact that it is for the male three-year-olds.
Jon
snow won in 2017, from Prized Icon and Captain
Duffy.
Some
of the horses from this race will go on to try
the Group 1 Australian Derby the following
week. The last horse to fill a Tulloch -
Australian Derby Stakes double was Starcraft
in 2004.
The
other Group 2 at Saturday's Rosehill
Racecourse meeting is the Emancipation Stakes
(1600 m). Like the Vinery, it is restricted to
female horses, although it is not age-limited.
Zanbaugh
won from Daysee Doom and Dixie Blossoms in
2017. Fillies and mares that do well here
might be seen at Randwick for a jump in the
Group 1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes at Royal
Randwick on April 14.
Group
3 races at the meeting will be the T L Bailieu
Handicap, the Doncaster Prelude, Star Kingdom
Stakes and the Neville Sellwood Stakes. At the
time of final acceptances, the Rosehill track
was rated a soft 5, with the rail in the
four-metre position for Saturday's action. It
may dry out, but not from sunshine, as the
Bureau of Meteorology is calling for cloudy
days for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
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