News

Rostova ready to restart career at Caulfield

11th Aug 2009

Herald Sun - Adrian Dunn - Tuesday, 12 August 2009

AFTER a frustrating end to Rostova's juvenile season, trainer Steve Richards can't wait to open her three-year-old career on Saturday.

While Rostova is entered for the $3 million Cox Plate, Richards said the $500,000 Thousand Guineas was a more realistic target.

Richards realises the landscape can change dramatically from two to three, but said all the signs were positive for her first-up run in the Listed Quezette Handicap (1100m) at Caulfield.

"She looks the best I've ever seen her. She's more forward than she was first-up last prep," he said.

"She trialled nicely at Cranbourne, came through it well and I'm looking forward to her running on Saturday."

After winning the Blue Diamond Preview and Prelude, Rostova swallowed her tongue in the $1 million Diamond and, although she strolled away with the VRC Sires' Produce Stakes at Flemington, nothing went right in Sydney.

Richards said Rostova had not been suited by the bottomless track in the Golden Slipper and had proved her own worst enemy in the AJC Sires' Produce Stakes.

"She just never gave Steve (King) a good ride in Sydney and you just can't afford to do that in Group 1s," Richards said. "Back in Melbourne she will be better. She didn't really relax and didn't really like it in Sydney.

"She threw a plate off and she hung. It was a nightmare, but she has come back good."

Rostova will face formidable opposition in the Quezette with Slipper runner-up Headway, Karrakatta Plate winner Gold Rocks and Noesis.

Part-owner Troy Corstens said Noesis, brilliant winner on debut of the Inglis Plate, had fractured a tibia in her only race appearance.

Corstens said his father, trainer Leon, had given the filly six months to recover and the signs had been encouraging in her two jumpouts at Werribee last month.

"She's come back very well, we're pleased with her, but this is a hot field," he said.YESTERDAY'S Kilmore meeting was abandoned after the third race when jockeys complained about poor visibility because of the heavy track chopping up.

Victorian Jockeys' Association chief executive Des O'Keeffe said the nine hoops who rode in race three felt it unsafe to continue. The meeting will not be rescheduled.NEW Zealander Sculptor, winner of the Saab Quality last year and ninth in the Melbourne Cup, was the only late entry for the Cup.

The oversight cost connections $3300.FIRST acceptances have been released for Sydney's richest race of the spring, the $1 million Group 1 Golden Rose (1400m) at Rosehill on August 29, with 240 hopefuls still on the list.

Big-spending Nathan Tinkler's Patinack Farm has 38 of the contenders. Two of them are Schipper and Trusting, who are both trained by Jason Coyle and entered for Saturday's lead-up, The Run To The Rose at Rosehill. with AAP