Racing: Unbeaten filly ready to show Prowess in Soliloquy

Trainers Robert Wellwood (left) and Roger James. Photo / Trish Dunell

If the Soliloquy Stakes had been held a month ago Roger James knows his unbeaten filly Prowess couldn't have won it.

But it is at Te Rapa tomorrow and co-trainer James says a lot has changed in a month.

Prowess is one of the two unbeaten fillies headlining an outstanding field for the $85,000 Group 3, one of the stronger pre-Guineas fillies races put together in New Zealand in recent seasons.

It is stacked with big reputations and the majority are already race winners including two-from-two fillies Prowess and Legarto, daughters of Rich Hill stallion Proisir.

Their formlines are incredibly similar: both won late-season juvenile races before returning with impressive wins in September, Legarto so dominant late in her Te Rapa comeback she opened the $2.80 favourite for tomorrow's 1400m, with Prowess at $4.20.

That opening quote soon became $3.50 and that indication of her winning chances follows the same path as Prowess this campaign, improving all the time.

"A month or so ago she wouldn't have been able to win this," says James, who trains with Robert Wellwood.

"She was looking weak and her coat hadn't turned and she just wasn't there.

"But then she just blossomed. She has really come to it, you can see her maturing and she is like a different filly.

"She is right where she needs to be now and from her good draw she is ready to be ridden to take advantage of that. So she can win."

If she does, then Prowess, like many of her rivals tomorrow, could earn her shot at the 1000 Guineas at Riccarton. Lose and Riccarton will seem just that little bit further to travel.

There is no doubting her talent. She won her debut by nine lengths over Duncan Creek, who has since been competitive in stakes company, so now Prowess is over her winter hibernation she could be a spring star.

But so too could Legarto, who swept past smart rivals here last start like a filly booking her own ticket to Riccarton.

She is drawn wide and would probably appreciate a hot pace, if she gets it she may remain unbeaten, but if she has to come wide with the Te Rapa rail back in the true position the deck is stacked against her. It may not matter.

The chances by no means end there as Rocababy has won her last two in the Central Districts while Stella Splendida clearly has a big motor, one she is still learning how to use.

Any of the other previous race winners in the field could go close without surprising.

Whatever the result it is certain to have a huge impact on the 1000 Guineas market, with four of the five favourites for that classic clashing tomorrow.