A Highway win is often considered a highlight of a country trainer’s season, but for Stirling Osland the trip to Rosehill with Prada Miss cannot match her previous metropolitan road trip.
The Armidale trainer took the filly to Brisbane in April and she ran second on her black-type debut in the Listed Princess Stakes at Doomben.
Based partly on that performance and her last-start second at Grafton, Prada Miss is the early $3 favourite for Saturday’s Highway Plate (1500m).
“We looked more towards trying to make a broodmare out of her rather than coming to Sydney so that second gives her a bit of black-type on her breeding page,” Osland said.
“She’s been running in tough company the last three runs and she’s never really disappointed all that much in them either.”
Osland broke Prada Miss in before she went to the Chris Waller stable but after five trials for Sydney’s premier trainer, she returned to Armidale where she won on debut in December and has progressed to win three of her 10 starts.
“When you’re training in the country it’s not very often you get chances to pick up really nice horses that can run in town and be competitive as well,” Osland said.
Booking Hugh Bowman is another positive as the Sydney jockeys’ premiership leader starts the meeting with 2-1/2 wins clear of Brenton Avdulla.
“I was talking to the owners and said realistically there’s two blokes you want to be riding her on the last day of the season,” Osland said.
“We’ve got one of them.”
