Cox Plate ambitions for Yankee Rose
Any jockey looking to ride a three-year-old filly in the Cox Plate is on notice to start the diet now.
Trainer David Vandyke has Cox Plate ambitions for Yankee Rose but wants a strong rider, not one who is struggling in the days leading up to the race in October.
If she makes it to the weight-for-age championship at Moonee Valley, Yankee Rose will carry 47.5kg.
“I’d like to get her to the Cox Plate but I don’t want a jockey who is wasting to ride her,” Vandyke said.
“So perhaps if I give them plenty of time, someone might think about it and start getting ready now.”
There is a long way to go before the Cox Plate but Vandyke has mapped out a program identical to the one followed by Samantha Miss in 2008.
The Kris Lees-trained filly won all four races in the Princess Series on her way to her third in the Cox Plate.
“Yankee Rose is still in the spelling paddock but will be coming back in soon,” Vandyke said.
“The plan is to go through the Princess Series to the Flight Stakes and then to the Cox Plate.”
Vandyke has completed his move from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast with Less Is More, fifth in an 1800m-race at Rosehill on Saturday, the last runner out of his Warwick Farm stable.
“I’ve been travelling horses to Queensland from Sydney for the past few years so it’s not too hard to go the other way,” he said.
In the immediate future, Vandyke will be looking for his second Group One winner when he saddles up Brazen in Saturday’s Queensland Derby.
Brazen is a $26 chance after his fifth behind $4 equal favourite Mackintosh in the Grand Prix Stakes.
“He over-raced a bit in the Grand Prix so we will change the gear on him,” Vandyke said.
“He will wear ear muffs and winkers instead of the blinkers.”