David Hayes is understandably elated about the arrival of class New Zealand mare Rising Romance into his vast Euroa stable, and the trainer will use Saturday's group 1 Memsie Stakes as an important guide to the five-year-old's spring carnival.
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Rising Romance arrived in faultless condition but Hayes was understandably cautious in how he visualised the mare would perform in the first group 1 race of the Victorian season.
"She arrived in wonderful condition, she looks great, she's strong and she's eaten the house down. In fact she's really thrived, so I go into Saturday's race hoping that she can be competitive with such an appetite," Hayes said.
"But I'd rather her that way, a little on the fresh side than working her really hard and then having to ease off in the middle of the spring."
Rising Romance looked to have pinched a winning break in the closing stages of last year's Caulfield Cup but top class Japanese stayer Admire Rakti grabbed her in the last few strides.
Rising Romance subsequently campaigned in Sydney after which connections contacted Hayes and asked if he would train her for this year's spring carnival.
"Of course I was thrilled, she's a really high class race mare and she's been a pleasure so far to train. My understanding was they wanted her to be trained throughout the spring in Melbourne, so that was the reason for her changing stables," he said.
Rising Romance had been trained by Donna Logan in New Zealand, however in an interesting twist, Logan's all-conquering Volkstok'n'barrell is also lining up for his first start this spring in the Memsie Stakes.
Hayes said he had an open mind regarding Rising Romance's goals this spring.
"First of all, I'd like to see her have a run and then try and size up where she goes to from there. If she's flying against weight-for-age company, you'd have to say, well then, she's a Cox Plate hope.
"And then at the back of my mind I've got that fantastic run in the Caulfield Cup behind one of the world's best stayers, so there's lots to think about. But I must say it's a nice problem having to choose between two sensational races," he said.
Rising Romance has had 18 starts for five wins and six seconds, one of those being in the Epona Stakes at Rosehill during the autumn.
"Originally, Rising Romance was to have started in the Makybe Diva Stakes but I changed my mind quickly and thought I'd rather look at her in the Memsie. And that meant that Dwayne Dunn had already taken another ride and he is committed to her during the spring.
"So Michael Rodd will ride her and then Dwayne will take over for the rest of the spring," Hayes said.
Caulfield Cup winner Faulkner was scratched within hours of acceptance for the Memsie Stakes after drawing dreadfully in gate 18.
