3 minute read

Northroza can account for a small field of mares in the De Bortoli Wines Benchmark 70 Handicap at Sale on Wednesday.

Northroza contests the De Bortoli Wines Benchmark 70 Handicap for fillies and mares off running 11th in the Rosemont Stud Stakes at Geelong first up.

While the 0 doesn’t read particularly well on the form guide, the fact is she was only beaten 2.2 lengths after a less than ideal run in transit and now drops noticeably in grade from the run.

Furthermore, Northroza will have taken fitness from the run, has won second up previously and will benefit from the rise to 1400m in the first leg of Wednesday’s quaddie at Sale.

Damien Oliver is a key booking for the daughter of Northern Meteor having ridden the four-year-old in a Cranbourne trial prior to her first up run at Geelong.

He has partnered the mare previously when she placed over 1200m at Flemington behind More Radiant late last season.

While settled last in the Rosemont Stakes, the mare is capable of taking up a position to good effect as seen through her three-year-old season.

Her first up run in the Rosemont Stud Stakes has her rating on top amongst this field with the effort returning a Timeform rating of 88, equal to a master figure initially returned when winning at Sandown last December.

She is favourite for the event as of Wednesday morning and understandably so.

Auckland Beauty shapes as the main danger as she looks to commence her campaign with a third straight win.

Once a stablemate to Northroza, the mare transferred stables midway through her last campaign and for Peter Moody has now recorded two wins and two minor placings from four starts.

The four-year-old is certainly heading in the right direction and anticipating she enjoys all of the favours in transit from barrier 1, the daughter of Redoute’s Choice should be right in the thick of things.

The above mentioned pair of Northroza and Auckland Beauty shape as the main winning hopes, each early in both their career and campaigns.

Topweight Sentfromthestars profiles as the best of the rest.

The Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra-trained mare was closing well late after settling at the tail of the field in a Benchmark 80 Handicap at Flemington a fortnight ago.

She also finished ahead of Northroza when sixth in the Rosemont Stakes.

Sentfromthestars now must carry 1.5kg more than Northroza in this contest.

Furthermore, she doesn’t have the same level of upside as the favourite being deeper into her campaign and having amassed three times the amount of race starts as her.

The De Bortoli Wines Benchmark 70 Handicap shapes as Northroza’s for the taking second run from a spell.