Racing: McDonald ready for a bigger stage

Scarlett Lady crosses the line. Photo / AAP

Waikato filly Scarlett Lady's stunning A$400,000 Queensland Oaks victory on Saturday asked the same number of questions it answered.

One of the answers was, yes, it turned the probability of James McDonald landing an Australian riding contract into close enough to a certainty.

What we don't yet know is whether it means Scarlett Lady will back up and try for the difficult, but achievable, Oaks-Derby double.

Or whether the classy filly will spell immediately and be prepared for Melbourne in the spring and a date with something like the Caulfield Cup.

It's a tidy little problem to have to grapple with.

As the Weekend Herald pointed out on Saturday, success breeds success anywhere, but never more so than in horse racing and particularly for jockeys.

New Zealand was never going to be able to hold on to James McDonald. A contract to ride for one of Australia's major stables was a heartbeat away and needed only a group one victory to push it over the line.

Snap.

"Yes, the approaches are starting to get pretty heavy," said McDonald as he flew back into New Zealand yesterday morning to ride the Trent Busuttin-trained juvenile Sangster in the $45,000 Castletown Stakes at Foxton today.

Perhaps appropriately, Sangster is also by Scarlett Lady's sire Savabeel, a son of Zabeel.

Scarlett Lady was a class above the Oaks fillies on Saturday.

Co-trainer Graeme Rogerson was delighted that it was his stable that provided the first group one winner for Savabeel, a horse he won the Cox Plate with and later syndicated to stud.

If Savabeel originally had his doubters as a sire, they have been swept away with a rapidly increasing list of big-race winners.

"He would probably have been a better racehorse had he been gelded, but then, of course, we wouldn't have had this," said Rogerson.

"He was pretty tough [to deal with], but he was top class."

Scarlett Lady certainly hasn't inherited her sire's difficult racing temperament, in fact, it would be difficult to find a more placid filly, according to co-trainer Debbie Rogerson.

"She's just a honey to do anything with," which is doubtless why the filly appears to have kept on improving through what is now a reasonably solid campaign.

The late sprint she produced to easily swamp the opposition this time was simply unstoppable.

McDonald said he at no stage felt pressure during the run.

"We got back a few places further than I would have thought, but I was never worried because there was plenty of pace on.

"I knew that when I pulled her out she would have the sprint she showed."

The decision to back up in next week's Derby will be a three-way affair among Debbie and Graeme Rogerson and owner, Sydney racing administrator Max Whitby.

No one makes next-start decisions immediately after a race, but Whitby's thoughts were to perhaps flag the Derby and aim at the Caulfield Cup, something Debbie Rogerson is not adverse to.

Interestingly, the only filly to have previously won the Doomben Roses-Queensland Oaks double was Ethereal, who later, in 2001, went on to win the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.

The other New Zealand filly, the well-backed Shez Sinsational, finished a very game third.

She got shuffled back along the rail from an inside barrier, but it did not make the difference. Shez Sinsational rallied in the home straight, but she came to the end of her run 200m out.

"The draw was against her, but she got a good run into the race," said rider Opie Bosson.