A strong gallop and a smaller than anticipated field convinced trainer Cliff Brown to start La Danseuse Rouge up the straight at Flemington.
Success, or a placing in the Group 2 Bobbie Lewis Quality (1200m) on Saturday, will enhance the broodmare value of La Danseuse Rouge.
A winner of the Listed Lightning Stakes (1050m) at Morphettville in July at her last start, La Danseuse Rouge has two other Stakes race placings, at Group 3 level, including a second in the Red Roses Stakes (1100m) at Flemington, to her credit.
La Danseuse Rouge was scheduled to run in The Heath 1100 at Caulfield on September 2, but a wide draw saw Brown elect to bypass that race.
Brown would like to have given the mare a jump-out in the lead-up to Saturday’s race but instead he had to rely on a solid gallop at Mornington on Wednesday morning to have the mare in order.
“She’s good and she worked well on Wednesday morning,” Brown said.
“I thought looking at the nominations it was going to be a big field, but when it wasn’t I thought it was a race she might be a chance in.
“She’s worked well enough, there’s good speed. She can sit off the speed and hopefully she runs well.
“Being a mare, if she can get a bit more ‘Black Type’, even a placing, being a Group 2, it would be good for her future as a broodmare.
“It’s a good field, but the one thing I do like is the speed in the race and she’s run well up the straight before, which is also a plus.
“I would have liked to have given her a trial, but she’s had a solid gallop, so hopefully it is enough.”
With 53kg, apprentice Wiremu Pinn takes the ride on Saturday.
Brown was in the winner’s stall at Sandown on Wednesday when Von Hauke scored a first-up win.
