Racing: King's Rose heads to Ascot

King's Rose (outer) will accompany her more illustrious stablemate Black Caviar to England. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Superstar sprinter Black Caviar is set to have a mate for her trip to England with group one winning stablemate King's Rose to give leading trainer Peter Moody a second runner at Royal Ascot in June.

The Hong Kong-owned King's Rose will be set for the group one Queen Anne Stakes (1600m) at Royal Ascot on June 19 to begin an extended stay in England and Ireland.

The former New Zealand-trained group one winner will end her racing career in England before she is served by champion sire Galileo at Coolmore Stud in Ireland to Southern Hemisphere time during the northern autumn.

Once in foal, King's Rose will return to Cambridge Stud in New Zealand, said Marcus Corban, the NZ-based racing manager for King's Rose's Hong Kong owner Dr Gene Tsoi.

Moody said the Redoute's Choice mare would resume in the Newmarket Hcp at Flemington on March 10.

"She's in great shape, I'm really pleased with her," Moody said.

"I'm going to run her first up in the Newmarket. I think it will be a great option for her.

"She was a strong winner first up in the Memsie Stakes at 1400m at Caulfield last preparation.

"The 1200m up the straight fresh, big and strong, I reckon it's an ideal target for her."

The 4-year-old will then go to Sydney for the group one Coolmore Classic (1500m) on March 24 and group one Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m) on April 7, both at Rosehill, before making the trip to England.

King's Rose was transferred to Moody after she won the New Zealand 1000 Guineas and was later crowned as New Zealand Three-Year-Old Filly of the Year.

She won the Memsie Stakes and Stocks Stakes, both at group two level, for Moody before a seventh in the Cox Plate and a second in the group one Emirates Stakes at Flemington.

Meanwhile the queen of the stable, Black Caviar, is tipped to start at her longest price since May last year after Hay List accepted for another crack at the unbeaten champion in the Lightning Stakes at Flemington.

TAB Sportsbet opened Black Caviar at $1.10 to win Saturday's 1000m group one weight-for-age feature for the second year in a row but book manager Craig McDonald is expecting her to ease to as much as $1.14.

The last time the super mare started at such odds was when she beat Hay List and Buffering at $1.14 six starts ago in last year's BTC Cup (1200m) at Doomben on May 14.

Hay List has finished second to Black Caviar three times and is $9 for the Lightning ahead of 3-year-old Foxwedge, who McDonald described as having "a little bit of X-factor", at $15 with the rest of the nine-horse field at $51 or longer.

Unbeaten in 18 starts, Black Caviar will equal the Australasian record of 19 wins in a row should she win the Lightning. Last year she won the high-speed sprint by 3 lengths from Hay List.

McDonald said Black Caviar faced a new challenge this week, backing up for the first time in seven days and coming back in distance in a harder race which could inflate her price.

"She could, potentially, go to $1.12 or $1.14," McDonald said yesterday.

"I can't see her firming and being shorter than $1.10 because this is a stronger race and she is back from 1400m to 1000m.

"Hay List is the one that has gone closest to her in recent times and 3-year-old Foxwedge, who nearly knocked off Sepoy last start in the Coolmore at Flemington, will be a lot stronger and brings a little bit of X-factor."

- AAP