The Rosebud Tips Preview

The Rosebud: tips and preview

THE ROSEBUD - 1100m, Rosehill R8

The Rosebud is an early season sprint race for the new three-year-old’s. Half the field is first-up, so we get to see how they have progressed from their juvenile days, and most of them showed something at Group level last season.

The Instructor, Tiz Invincible, Fire Lane and Introducing are the first-up runners, and all of them have had two trials in readiness for this assignment.

The Instructor won his first two races, including the Blue Diamond Preview, and jumped $9.50 in the Blue Diamond itself before running well enough. He led the field that day, setting a strong enough pace that it ended up being a swooper’s race, and being beaten less than three lengths was a useful performance. The 1100m of this race is likely to suit him more than that six furlongs did.

Stablemate Introducing also had three runs in his debut campaign, with his most notable performance being fourth in the Pago Pago, beaten just under two lengths by the eventual Golden Slipper winner Shinzo.

Both horses are trained by Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott, and are the two natural leaders in the race. Does the fact Tim Clark is on Introducing suggest that he may be the outright leader, and the more fancied chance with a little weight swing?

Tiz Invincible is the ruling favourite, part of a dual prong attack from the Maher/Eustance yard, along with Griff.

Tiz Invincible had some raps on her before her debut in the Black Opal, jumping favourite but having very little go her way. Her second in the Percy Sykes was good too, on a heavy track. She is yet to race on firm ground, and being by I Am Invincible you’d expect it to be more to her liking, but she does have to carry 58kg’s here and give most of the boys weight.

Griff is the despised outsider of the field, off a let-up after winning his maiden back in June. It was a decent enough field though, and we’ll see how he measures up here. The star training duo don’t tend to just want to make up the numbers with their precocious types.

Fire Lane was around the fringes of the good two-year-old’s last season, racing in the Magic Millions before tackling Group company in Sydney. She didn’t make much of an impression in those races, and will need to have both improved and progressed.

Cigar Flick was competitive in good races both in Melbourne and Sydney during the summer and autumn, and you get the sense Chris Waller has a bit of time for her. She won a four horse race to kick off this prep, and we have already seen that form franked to some extent.

Infatuation and Roussillon round out the field.

Infatuation didn’t have things go her way last time out, but has shown erratic glimpses of ability in her short career to date. Roussillon has also accepted at Moonee Valley, where he raced last start – it was not a day to be settling back in the field as he did, when leaders were heavily favoured. He is more than capable of winning if here.

Selections: 1.Introducing 2.Roussillon 3.Tiz Invincible 4.The Instructor