Track conditions at Rosehill will determine if Zarakem lines up against popular favourite Via Sistina.
Sydney’s weather and the resulting track conditions at Rosehill will determine whether import Zarakem takes his place in the Ranvet Stakes or waits for another day.
The second highest-rated runner in Saturday’s seven-horse field behind only Cox Plate heroine Via Sistina, Zarakem boasts some outstanding European formlines including a Group 1 second to Auguste Rodin in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (2011m) last year.
However, he was unable to replicate that at his Australian debut in the Verry Elleegant Stakes (1600m) with connections believing he may have struggled to let down on the firm track.
“He was a bit disappointing first run,” trainer Ciaron Maher’s Sydney foreman Johann Gerard-Dubord said.
“The track was very firm so it may have been that and a mile was obviously short of his best.
“The plan is to run Saturday but we will keep an eye on the track conditions. If it’s going to be too firm we will probably wait until next week or go straight to the Queen Elizabeth (Stakes).”
Rosehill was rated a good 4 on Thursday but the Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting the possibility of showers and a storm on Friday.
Via Sistina will be striving to become the first back-to-back winner of the Ranvet Stakes (2000m) since Theseo in 2009-10 and is a prohibitive $1.40 favourite to notch the achievement.
English raider Al Mubhir from the powerful William Haggas yard is regarded as her biggest threat at $6.50, ahead od Via Sistina’s Chris Waller-trained stablemates Lindermann and Full Count Felicia at $9.50 apeice.
Lindermann has two wins from four starts over the course and distance, including a Rosehill Guineas triumph on the corresponding program two years ago.
Full Count Felicia, an American import for Yulong who was a Group 1 winner in Canada in September, is freshly out of quarantine and set to make her local debut.
