The 2024 Group 1 New Zealand Oaks trifecta will make their Australian debuts together at Morphettville on Saturday, in the 2000-metre G1 Australasian Oaks.
Run over 2400m at Trentham in March, the NZ Oaks was won by Chad Ormsby’s Pulchritudinous, a three-time winner from seven starts by Irish stallion Wrote.
This win fuelled speculation about the filly’s potential sale abroad and before long she was with Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, after a controlling interest was purchased by Yulong.
Following a soft trial third placing at Randwick, Pulchritudinous is an $8 chance for Saturday’s contest under Tim Clark, when she will again face the gallopers she defeated last month.
Both Andrew Forsman’s Positivity (second) and Te Akau’s Qali Al Farrasha (third) have also made the journey across the Tasman and will be looking to turn the tables on the Waterhouse-Bott galloper.
By Almanzor, Positivity will be ridden by the red-hot Michael Dee on Saturday and is currently paying $26 as Forsman hunts his first Australian Stakes winner of the season.
Qali Al Farrasha, by the same sire, has jumped out at Cranbourne twice since her shift to Australia, with her second effort much better than her first.
She is a slightly shorter $21, despite finishing a length behind Forsman’s galloper at Trentham and will be partnered by Billy Egan at Morphettville.
