Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart will be cheering on more than one outsider this weekend.
Stuart will be in New Zealand where the Raiders are a $51 chance to win the Auckland Nines which begin on Saturday, the same day the horse he part-owns runs at Rosehill.
Emmalene is at $35 on TAB fixed odds in the Group Two NSW Thoroughbred Breeders’ Classic (1200m) with the mare making her fourth trip to Sydney as she chases more black type before a stud career.
If successful, the Raiders-Emmalene double would land punters a $1700 return for a $1 outlay.
Emmalene faces a small but select field, including star mare Streama.
The daughter of Jet Spur, Emmalene, has always attracted attention because she is part-owned by some of the biggest names in rugby league.
They include Stuart, NSW Origin coach Laurie Daley, former Queensland Origin player Darryl Brohman and player manager Steve Gillis.
The omens are right for Emmalene as some of her other owners are in Wednesday’s winners Time To Plunder (Eagle Farm) and Intimate Moment (Randwick).
Trainer Liam Birchley has never wavered from his opinion Emmalene is up to Group standard and 12 of her 18 starts have been in stakes company.
Emmalene has been a good money spinner for connections having won $251,000 including a win in the Listed Gucci Stakes at Flemington in 2011.
She has been to Sydney on three previous occasions without winning but showed she was up to better company with an unlucky fifth in the Group Two Light Fingers Stakes (1200m) two years ago.
“Emmalene is a five-year-old mare now and we really have to chase the black-type races before she goes to stud,” Birchley said.
“I know we have struck a top-class field … she won’t disgrace herself.”
