Scarlett Lady Bound For Queensland Oaks

Leading Sydney owner Max Whitby was trackside at Te Rapa yesterday to witness another outstanding win by top Queensland Oaks contender Scarlett Lady in the $85,000 Travis Stakes.

"I've had the pleasure of racing horses with Graeme (Rogerson, co-trainer) for the past 25 years and I love to coming over here to New Zealand especially when you win these Group races," Whitby said.

"Graeme and I had a big thrill when we won the Cox Plate together with this filly's sire, Savabeel, and we are racing a lot of that stallion's progeny," said Whitby.

Another major race win for Whitby, a prominent stock broker and a director of the Australian Turf Club, came when the Rogerson-trained Econsul won the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas in Melbourne.

"She (Scarlett Lady) is clearly a very smart filly and Graeme and Debbie (Rogerson) encouraged me to come to see the race," Whitby said.

Rogerson confirmed his huge opinion of Scarlett Lady after yesterday's commanding performance which was her fourth consecutive win.

"She had an operation to remove a bone chip from a back leg after she had finished fourth in the Royal Stakes and is unbeaten since then," Rogerson said.

"She is one of the smartest fillies I've had in the stable for some time," Rogerson said. "Next season I think she is good enough to win the Caulfield Cup but in the meantime she is going to Brisbane on Wednesday," he said. "She is versatile and can handle ground wet or dry and that was a great win today from her against the older horses at weight-for-age."

Scarlett Lady will contest the Gr III A$175,000 Doomben Roses (2020m) at Doomben on May 21 and then a fortnight later she will line up ikn the Group 1 A$400,000 Queensland Oaks (2400m) at Eagle Farm.

Scarlett Lady's winning sequence began at Ellerslie on March 12 and was followed by success at Tauranga on March 26 and then a further victory in the Listed Manawatu Breeders Stakes at Awapuni three weeks ago.

Rogerson was full of praises for McDonald's winning ride on Scarlett Lady although he admited a race earlier he had not been so happy with the way the country's leading jockey had ridden Endor in the previous race. "I gave him a bagging for his ride on Endor because he went too soon but this ride was perfect and he's a world-class rider," Rogerson said.

"I hope New Zealand racing gets to keep him (McDonald) for another couple of years," Rogerson said.

Scarlett Lady was one of three winners at yesterday's meeting for McDonald with the others being Worthing and Pussy O'Reilly.

McDonald has ridden 171 winners this season and is on target for a New Zealand record. Lisa Cropp holds the current record of 197, set in 2004-05, with McDonald now needing an achievable tally of 27 wins to achieve the new mark.

Scarlett Lady won yesterday's Group 2 2000m fillies and mares' feature by one and a quarter lengths from Dancing Jess while third home, a further short neck back, was Floria.