Horse Racing: Ride on Group One filly up for grabs

La Diosa's successes will be riding on local knowledge of Sydney. Photo/Trish Dunell

The connections of La Diosa will be relying on local riding knowledge to further their chances of success in Sydney next year.

"We haven't heard from any agents and we haven't made any contact yet either," said Matt Brown, who prepares the So You Think filly with his wife Mandy.

"She will be ridden by an Australian jockey - we'll just start at the top and work our way down."

Brown also confirmed that their Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas winner won't race here before she heads to Australia for a four-start campaign.

"We were going to give her a run at Auckland, but with the way things are with the roads after the earthquake we've decided to go straight to Sydney," he said.

"She'll probably have a trial here at the end of January and she's booked on a flight on February 10."

The tentative racing programme for La Diosa will see her Sydney debut in the Gr.2 Surround Stakes over 1400m at Warwick Farm on February 25 followed by the Gr.3 Kembla Grange Classic over a mile.

"Then there's a couple of 2000m races, including the Adrian Knox Stakes at Randwick, as options before the Oaks," Brown said.

The $A1 million Gr.1 ATC Australian Oaks will be run at Randwick on April 8.
La Diosa's trainers and her breeder and principal owner Terry Archer haven't left anything to chance and they have already been on a scouting mission to Sydney.

"We wanted to have a look around Randwick," Brown said. "It's pretty quiet at our place for her, but we're happy to be staying at John Sargent's place."

La Diosa collected Listed victories in the Canterbury Belle Stakes and the Barneswood Farm Stakes before she trumped the northerners Bella Gioia and Sweepstake in the 1000 Guineas in November.

"She had a nice break after that and she's been back for a couple of weeks," Brown said.

"She's doing some light pacework at this stage and she's thriving."

- NZ Racing Desk