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With his top filly Nechita on ice for another week trainer John Thompson is giving her promising stablemate Roll The Bones her chance to measure up as a spring player at Warwick Farm on Saturday.
Photo by Racing and Sports
Nechita is a dominant favourite for next week's $1 million Golden Rose at Rosehill after she kept her unbeaten record intact with a resounding win in the G2 Silver Shadow Stakes over 1200m at Warwick Farm on August 25.
Thompson kept an option open by nominating Nechita for Saturday's G2 Furious Stakes (1400m) at Warwick Farm but instead has decided to rely on her understudy Roll The Bones in the $175,000 feature for the fillies.
Roll The Bones, like Nechita, has raced just twice for a debut failure last season before resuming with an impressive midweek win over colts at Canterbury on August 29.
The real test of her potential comes on Saturday in the Furious Stakes where the Red Ransom filly will meet a selection of proven Group performers including several beaten by Nechita in the Silver Shadow Stakes.
Meidung (2nd), Dear Demi (3rd), Jade Marauder (5th), Flying Snitzel (6th) and Single Style (7th) were beaten in the Silver Shadow and will need to play big hands on Saturday if Nechita's form is to go unquestioned as the benchmark for the Golden Rose.
Roll The Bones doesn't rate in Nechita's class just yet, but there is no doubt Thompson holds a high opinion of the filly as he showed in March when he started off her career in the G3 Sweet Embrace Stakes after promising trials.
She was out of her depth on a slow track in the Sweet Embrace but showed her true ability in her first-up win over 1250m at Canterbury when she impressed with a dominant performance on a good surface.
It was evident that she was carrying a lot of condition and her rider Christian Reith was quick to remark that there would be "good improvement from her" with the race behind her.
Thompson may hold Oaks aspirations for Roll The Bones as her dam Fleureel is by the champion sire of stayers Zabeel and is a sister to Melbourne Cup winner Jezabeel.
A suspension has cost Reith the ride on Roll The Bones with Thompson handing the mount to apprentice Blake Spriggs, an interesting move in a non claiming Group race.