Tralee Rose (NZ) Confirms Melbourne Cup Bid

The first Tuesday in November beckons for Tralee Rose (NZ) (Tavistock), who won Wednesday’s A$400,000 Group Three Geelong Cup (2400m) to confirm her place in the field for the A$7.75m Group One Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington.

Bought for $50,000 from Cambridge Stud’s Book 1 draft at Karaka 2018, Tralee Rose has won six of her 15 starts and earned over $750,000 in prizemoney. Now, on November 2, she will take on Australasia’s most famous race.

The winner of last season’s Group Three Lord Reims Stakes (2600m) and Listed Bagot Handicap (2800m), the Sir Patrick and Lady Hogan-bred Tralee Rose headed into the Geelong Cup after placing in all of her three previous spring starts – the Listed Heatherlie Handicap (1700m), Group Three Foundation Cup (2000m) and Group Three Bart Cummings (2500m).

The five-year-old was a clear favourite for Wednesday’s feature and lived right up to expectations. After settling in third spot, she surged forward under jockey Dean Holland and outstayed her opposition, holding out a determined challenge from Dr Drill (Dansili) down the straight and scoring by half a length. The rest of the field finished almost three lengths behind the first pair.

“I’m rapt – it’s just good to get an opportunity on a horse like this,” Holland said. “She was ultra tough today. She was the best horse in the race.

“I thought I was beaten at the 200, Dr Drill put a head on me, but she was tough. In the end, she was always going to draw away. The hardest part of my job was pulling her up, and that’s a good sign going into the Melbourne Cup.”

Tralee Rose is trained and part-owned by Warrnambool-based Symon Wilde.

“It’s dawning on us now that we’ve got a genuine, live hope in the Melbourne Cup,” Wilde said. “She’s a horse that we found in New Zealand as a yearling. You look at them and think, ‘Can this be the one?’

“She had her first start here at Geelong, and to be coming back a bit over 12 months later and winning the Geelong Cup, and being a live hope in the Melbourne Cup – it’s what you dream of.

“We were grappling with whether or not to run today, and I’m glad we did. It will top her off beautifully. It’s not like she’s falling in – she’s getting stronger late as the races go on. She was there to be beaten, and she toughed it out. She had the other horse’s measure, I think. From a Melbourne Cup point of view, it was very pleasing.

“Onwards and upwards. It’s just a dream. It’s very, very exciting. It is amazing for everyone involved. There’s a lot of Geelong boys that are in the horse, some great friends, and I think the team at home will be absolutely ecstatic.”

Tralee Rose provided the second leg of a remarkable double at Geelong on Wednesday for the former Cambridge Stud stallion Tavistock (NZ), who also sired the Listed Geelong Classic (2200m) winner Tutukaka (NZ).

Tralee Rose’s dam Star Of Tralee (NZ) (Zabeel) has a yearling colt by Russian Revolution that will be offered by Cambridge Stud at Karaka 2022, and she is due to foal to Kermadec (NZ) in the coming weeks.

Vendor	Cambridge Stud
Purchaser	Cameron Cooke Bloodstock / Symon Wilde Racing (Victoria)
Breeding	Tavistock – Star Of Tralee
Sale	Lot 623, Karaka 2018 Book 1, $50,000
Bred by	Sir Patrick & Lady Hogan