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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Matthew Dale has a firm hand on the type of horse you need to be a chance in The Kosciuszko so it’s significant he’s electing to run promising mare Rose Aye in the Toyota Forklifts Handicap (1200m) at Randwick on Saturday.

Trainer Matthew Dale (Pic: Bradley Photos).

The Goulburn trainer, who won the Kosciuszko with Front Page in 2023, felt the 1000m Highway with 60kg wasn’t the best option to kick her off even though she’d drawn a lot better there than in the Benchmark 78.

But a couple of early scratchings made the benchmark race more appealing and the wide draw less a factor, so he’d expect a forward showing first-up.

“To be solidly competitive in a Kosi you’ve got to be Sydney metropolitan or black type grade so I don’t mind running her in this kind of race,’’ Dale said.

“She’s against her own sex and Tommy (Berry) knows her, so it looks a decent kick off point on paper.

“When the barrier draw came out it had me having to properly assess things. Then the scratchings came out and that’s where we’ve landed.

“It started to look a bit more like she could slide across and sit outside lead or something like that.”

Dale already has So You Pence, an impressive winner two weeks ago, on The Kosciuszko trail and he confirmed that mare, assuming she is selected, won’t be seen again until the $2 million race on October 17.

Rose Aye, $5 with TAB on Thursday, set a new record winning margin for a TAB Highway in her runaway 7-1/4 length win back in February but, while she has a handy first-up record, Dale warned not to use that win as a blueprint for her resumption.

On that day it was her fourth run in, she was fired out from a wide barrier at Rosehill and didn’t look back.

She'll be first-up since finishing unplaced as favourite in the Country Championships at Sapphire Coast but Dale said the five-year-old has had a couple of jump outs at home and is ready to go to the races with room for improvement as the campaign goes on.

“She’s different to So You Pence in that I can have her first-up and very fresh whereas Rose Aye needs a bit of racing, her peak run last time was after a couple of runs in,’’ he said.

“I’m happy to get her underway and get a couple of runs on the board.

“Her coat is starting to move now, we haven’t clipped her so she will present a little bit wintry but she will continue to come on.

“I’m going to wait and see how the day is transpiring with pattern and how she parades before I tighten the screws on that.

“All in all she has the ability when she gets it really right, like she did in that Highway, to be highly competitive.”

Stablemate West Of Dalby has some runs on the board with a close second to Big Red Tequila two starts ago and Dale said though she’s well into her preparation she’s not to be forgotten.

He said she hasn’t appeared to be as comfortable on heavy ground so he’s happy to forgive the last start where she was only beaten two lengths by Sword Of Legacy.

“The run at Rosehill the other day she didn’t get a great deal of room but we thought on the heavy 9 when she did get room she didn’t fully let go,’’ he said.

“It appears her wheelhouse is that soft range. She’s well exposed and deep into he preparation but she’s there to run well again.”

Rose Aye's runaway Highway win in February

Matthew Dale on Ready To Rush (race 2): “She never showed us a great deal until we got her to the races. She’s become a competitive little mare and she’s continued to improve. She’s had a good base put into her for the preparation because of the chips removed from the knees. Right down in the weights from a low draw she should be right behind the speed. It’s a long way from Cootamundra and Gundagai to a Highway but she can run a cheeky race.”

On Bombay Boom (race 2): “I would have liked to have kicked him off in something a bit softer but he’s drawn well and he gets down in the weights. I want to see him put in under pressure, he’s been a bit disappointing last preparation for mine. He’ll be ridden right on speed and I think Tim Clark is the right jockey to get the best out of him.”

On Satin Stiletto (race 2): “She didn’t go on that heavy track, she couldn’t show her usual speed to get up on the speed. She dipped and dived and did not travel at all. I just don’t know how I’m going to ride her, whether we ride her where she’s comfortable or be aggressive.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday’s Randwick meeting