Co-trainer Lance O’Sullivan admits this is less than ideal but even if the track remains heavy Molly Bloom will be starting.
“She is over here with her main aim being the Queensland Oaks in a month so she needs some racing,” explains O’Sullivan.
“So we want to start her this Saturday, then step up to 2000m in two weeks and then 2200m of the Oaks two weeks after that.”
Molly Bloom is on a farewell tour for O’Sullivan and training partner Andrew Scott, with the exciting filly likely to join the Chris Waller stable from next season after a half share was purchased by an Australian syndicate, meaning she will wear new colours tomorrow.
While her preparation has been unorthodox O’Sullivan says Molly Bloom looked ready when he paraded her on Wednesday.
“She has had three trials and she is such a good doer, about 10 days when we loaded her on the plane I was worried she was too big.
“When she got on the plane to the South Island in November, where she won the 1000 Guineas, she was 486kg but when she got on the plane to come here she was 493kg.
“She had a long trip as she flew to Sydney then stayed a couple of days and then trucked up to here [Brisbane].
“That can knock some horses but what has really helped her is she loves eating.
“The night she flew, she licked the feed bin clean.
“Worked the next day, same thing.
“Then every day since she has been here.
“That has helped her get over the trip but the travel helped trim some weight off her too so put all that together and I think she can win.”
Tomorrow’s race will see a rare feature when two of New Zealand’s greatest-ever jockeys combine, with Opie Bosson to ride the filly for O’Sullivan.
Molly Bloom is also aided by most of Australia’s top fillies not being in tomorrow’s race, many having headed to the paddock, but even then Molly Bloom’s $3 favouritism sounds short enough.
The O’Sullivan/Scott stable also have a strong hand at Rotorua tomorrow including a three-year-old who could join Molly Bloom and fellow filly Tomodachi in Queensland.
“We have Geriatrix in the first race at Rotorua and he is likely to come across here for the Derby if he goes good enough,” says O’Sullivan.
The stable has two chances coming off very different backgrounds in the $100,000 Rotorua ITM Stakes tomorrow.
Both Karman Line and I’munstoppable are good enough to rate as at least place chances but one has been set for the race, for the other it is a bonus.
“We have had this race in mind for Karman Line for a while whereas I’munstoppable won so well last start we have added this race in for her.
“The question for her is whether she will be quite as good over 1400m.
“But really, with La Crique in there, we all should be running for second if she brings her best form.”.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
