Tara Hughes
The Steven Ramsay and Julia Ritchie-trained Maison Roxanne is set for a step-up to stakes company after a strong win at Te Aroha last week.
The three-year-old filly is raced by Sir Peter Vela and cruised to victory over 1200m under leading Sydney rider James McDonald, who gave a glowing report of the filly.
“We’ve got quite a lot of time for her and James (McDonald) got off and gave her quite a big push,” Ramsay said.
“He doesn’t get carried away but he said she would be very capable of measuring up in Sydney, so we’re going to roll the dice with her and run her in the three-year-old 1200m race (Gr.3 Mongolian Khan Trophy) on Karaka Million night.
“She is by Snitzel out of a nice mare, so hopefully we can pick up some black-type.
McDonald will once again partner the filly at Ellerslie on January 26, with the leading hoop returning to his homeland to ride Long Leaf in the Karaka Million 3YO Classic (1600m).
The well-bred son of Fastnet Rock is trained by David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig and finished second behind Social Spin over 1400m at Flemington on New Year’s Day.