Racing: Runaway Rose gets chance to repeat win

Southern mare O'Reilly Rose takes a 13-length victory into tomorrow's $200,000 group one Skycity New Zealand Stakes, but co-trainer Dawn Williams is not taking too much notice of that.

When O'Reilly Rose won by the devastating margin at Matamata last start it was obvious from mid-race she was the only horse in the field handling the wet conditions.

As much as it was an eye-catching performance, it did not indicate how much better than the others she was.

She probably was better - just not 13 lengths better.

Tomorrow O'Reilly Rose has a totally different race to cope with - weight-for-age compared to the Matamata handicap.

"I'm not greatly worried about that because she went a big race at weight-for-age at Te Rapa when fourth behind MacO'Reilly," said Williams.

O'Reilly Rose is looking for a better result than the disaster that marred her visit to Ellerslie last season.

"Things just went wrong that day," says Williams. "She pulled up after choking down."

The horse O'Reilly Rose probably has to beat again is MacO'Reilly, provided the track does not get too wet, in which case things would swing very much O'Reilly Rose's way.

The David Haworth-trained MacO'Reilly capped a string of consistent runs with a fighting win at weight-for-age in the Whakanui Stakes at Te Rapa and has been set for tomorrow's feature.

Southerner Borninthestates also comes into this race well.

He carried 58kg under handicap conditions on the first day of the carnival and was only 1.25 lengths astern of Wednesday's Auckland Cup winner Spin Around.

He was giving weight to the others and this time come in essentially with the same weight.