Leading jockeys James McDonald and Blake Shinn will on Saturday be tasked with revealing which of former New Zealand fillies Molly Bloom (NZ) (Ace High) and Scarlet Oak (Kermadec) is best equipped for next month’s Gr.1 Queensland Oaks.
Shinn takes the ride aboard Molly Bloom and McDonald will partner Scarlet Oak in the G.2 Doomben Roses (2000m) on Saturday in a race which will likely sort out the leading chance for the 2200-metre Oaks, according to their part-owner Ozzie Kheir.
Kheir, who has bought into both fillies who began their racing lives in NZ, said that although the three-year-old fillies are at different stages of their development, he finds it hard to lean either way when looking ahead to the Oaks.
“Saturday’s race is the best race for both of them at this stage and it will tell us a lot about our Oaks chances,” Kheir said.
“Molly Bloom, she is seasoned and is a big, strong girl and she loves her racing, whereas Scarlet Oak, she has done it all in her first prep.
“We’ve thrown her into the deep end and there is not a great deal of her. She’s really just doing it on pure talent and raw ability.
“We have been thinking about whether to put her out, but she won so well last start she’s forced our hand to give her a chance.
“She’s gone from a maiden to a Group race at her next run and then beat the older horses third start pretty convincingly.”
Sportsbet too has had trouble splitting the pair, with both Scarlet Oak and Molly Bloom equal at $4.60 for the Group One classic on June 8.
Molly Bloom has won four of her nine starts, including the Gr.1 NZ 1000 Guineas (1600m) last November. She ran a fast-finishing second in her Australian debut earlier this month in an 1800m Listed race on the Sunshine Coast.
Scarlet Oak won her maiden over 1400m at Matamata in March, before being transferred to Chris Waller’s yard, where she followed a black-type placing at Randwick in April over 1400m with a Newcastle Benchmark win (1600m) against the older horses.
