Krone ready for Coolmore Classic, Isotope on track for The Galaxy
Krone will be looking to record consecutive Coolmore Classic victories when she lines up in the Group 1 feature at Rosehill Gardens this Saturday.
The Tony Gollan runner was brilliant when winning the fillies and mares classic race in 2021 on a Good 3 surface that usually wouldn’t suit her, so she should relish being on what is expected to be a Heavy 10 in this year’s race.
The six-year-old daughter of Eurozone will jump from barrier three on Saturday under “world-class” rider Chad Schofield with the top weight of 58kg.
Krone had a light summer in Queensland, running fifth in her two starts in the Nudgee Stakes and Magic Millions Fillies & Mares, before heading to Sydney for the Millie Fox Stakes when resuming.
KRONE IS NOW A GROUP 1 WINNER!
SHE WINS THE COOLMORE CLASSIC 🏆 pic.twitter.com/RfE36uIaGo
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) March 13, 2021
Off a slow tempo in the Millie Fox, she worked home well into fourth behind Expat and Belluci Babe, although Gollan said she was quite underdone for that race.
“She’s an exceptionally good wet tracker,” Gollan told HorseBetting.com.au.
“She showed damn good improvement off that first-up run – she went there with plenty of improvement in her.
“It was probably the prettiest she had been to the races in Sydney; she was dappled up and all a bit showy looking, but she’s hardened right up now. She’s spot on for the weekend.”
Although the Queensland trainer admits it will be harder for Krone to go back-to-back in the Coolmore due to a rise in the weights and some high-quality opposition, he is hoping that the good gate can bring her right into it.
Gollan says that Schofield has never ridden for him before, but that doesn’t worry him one bit, given that he has ridden at tracks all over the world in some of the best races on offer.
“He sat on her yesterday morning at Randwick to have a bit of a feel for her,” the trainer said.
“He doesn’t need to do too much riding for me – I train in Brisbane, he’s riding in Hong Kong and in Sydney, so we were happy to get him on.
“We were happy to secure Chad, he’s obviously world-class and the low draw makes it a nice easy ride for him so to speak.
“He’s a professional; he will do all his homework and know what needs to be done, and hopefully the horse is good enough.”
Krone is rated similarly to what she was in 2021, with pricing her at $18, while Chris Waller’s three-year-old filly Fangirl is the $5.50 favourite in an open betting affair.
Gollan is set to start another mare in a Sydney Group 1 in two weeks’ time when Isotope resumes in The Galaxy over 1100m at Rosehill Gardens.
The star four-year-old was a last-start winner in the Magic Millions Snippets at the Gold Coast in January in what was her first race in over six months since suffering a colic attack during 2021.
Dominant display from Isotope to capture the $1 million Its Live in Qld Magic Millions Snippets at @GCTurfClub & take record to 6 from 11. By @NewgateFarm’s Deep Field, Isotope was sold by Daandine Stud for $170,000 – to @tonygollan, John Foote & Black Soil – at the 2019 GCMM pic.twitter.com/0lINH8Hx2M
— Aushorse (@Aushorse_TBA) January 15, 2022
The daughter of Deep Field is yet to win at the highest level, but she will be very well placed to do so on March 19.
“She’s coming along quite nice,” Gollan said.
“With all the rain up here it’s been a little bit trickier. We don’t know how we are going to get her there (Sydney) yet at this point in time.
“We were able to give her a jump-out on the course proper at Doomben this morning. She went through her gears pretty nicely. Had a good blow – that will bring her along nicely.
“Hopefully we can take her down to Sydney – we don’t really know what route we can take – but we’re working through that process now.”
Isotope is the $3.50 favourite for The Galaxy, while Mazu sits on the second line of betting at $5 following an impressive win in the Fireball Stakes.