Sires Produce Stakes winner likened to Winx
GROUP 1 Sires Produce winner Yankee Rose has been likened to 2015 Cox Plate champion Winx by Queensland trainer David Vandyke.
The Golden Slipper runner up put in an uninspiring trial effort at the Sunshine Coast on Tuesday, but Vandyke believes, much like Winx, that Yankee Rose puts its best foot forward when the pressure comes on.
“She is a bit like the Queensland State of Origin players, they go to another level in supreme competition and I know that she will do the same,” Vandyke said.
“Once she gets to New South Wales and then onto Victoria and races against the best horses in Australia, she will step up. I have come to expect her to put in an unimpressive performance in her track gallops and her trials.
“She is a bit like Winx – between the two of them they have never won a barrier trial.”
Yankee Rose could be on a path towards the 2016 Cox Plate where Winx is the current $3 favourite at Crownbet.com.au to go back-to-back. The Group 1 Golden Rose on September 10 could also be on the cards with the Flight Stakes also on the agenda in October.
Vandyke did admit he would have liked to have seen more from Yankee Rose on Tuesday, but he’s not worried about his three-year-old moving forward.
“She enjoys being a Queenslander and I think she has blossomed since she has been up here,” Vandyke said. “She will trial again in a few weeks, I don’t want to take her to Sydney too soon as she really enjoys things up here in Queensland. I am a bit like Yankee Rose myself; I am really thriving in the beautiful Queensland environment.”
Yankee Rose would carry only 47.5kg in the Cox Plate with light weight jockeys Dean Yendall and Dean Holland in the mix to ride. Crownbet currently has the filly $21 to win and $6 for the place.