Lightweight rider Dean Holland will partner Melbourne Cup hopeful Tralee Rose (NZ) (Tavistock) in Saturday’s Gr.3 Bart Cummings (2520m), with the winner of the Flemington race guaranteed a spot in the Cup.
The staying mare has been ridden by Craig Williams in her runs in Victoria this year, but with Williams out of action this weekend through suspension, connections had to search for a replacement rider.
“We were just looking for a rider that could commit to coming down to ride her,” trainer Symon Wilde said.
“We wanted someone hungry, that was able to stick with her right the way through.
“He can also ride extremely light with ease, Dean, that was another consideration, if she did happen to make the Cup field, he can ride at 51 or 52 (kilos) quite easily.
“We didn’t want to take any risks with not knowing whether the Sydney jockeys can come down or international jockeys, and all that sort of stuff, we just thought it might have been a better bet to get someone like Dean that can gallop her and then follow her right the way through if she’s good enough.”
The winner of the Listed Bagot Handicap (2800m) and Gr.3 Lord Reims Stakes (2600m) earlier this year, Tralee Rose is currently 36th in the order of entry for the Melbourne Cup and has been allocated 51kg.
The five-year-old mare has put in two good runs for third in both the Listed Heatherlie Handicap (1700m) and Gr.3 Naturalism (2000m) this campaign.
Tralee Rose was purchased by Cameron Cooke Bloodstock for $50,000 out of the Cambridge Stud draft at the 2018 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale.
