Rose blooms at Ballarat

Rose Tycoon overcame a slow start and track kick back to score a brilliant on the Ballarat Synthetic on Tuesday, August 30.

Her win gave trainers Tony & Calvin McEvoy a running double as they had prepared Pegasi to win the previous event. It also gave winning jockey Dean Holland a double for the McEvoys but a treble on the day.

While Pegasi had a great run and a dream rails opening, Rose Tycoon had to come down the outside to win the Hygain Winners Choice Benchmark 58 Handicap (1000m).

Despite drifting from $2.50 to $3.70, Rose Tycoon powered home to score by a half-length from Didier ($21) with Cadboll ($6), three-quarters of a length away third.

The lightly raced five-year-old mare was slow to jump and settled at the tail of the field of nine.

Holland went to go inside turning for home but quickly switched to the outside, and once he did, the mare lengthened and quickly gathered in the leaders.

Trainer Tony McEvoy said he had not been confident of victory until the final stages.

“It was a hard watch,” McEvoy said.

“She just stepped slow and was back there at the tail.

“Dean (Holland) showed a lot of his experience, just took his time, didn’t rush it.

“Even coming to the 400 (metres), I thought we just had too much work to do here.

“It was a fabulous win with 59.5kg on her back, it was a really good effort.

“Coming off a flat run in Adelaide we couldn’t quite work out what it was.

“I think the ground at that Murray Bridge meeting was very tired and rough and she just lost her balance and didn’t run well.

“She came back here (Ballarat) and has been absolutely fine. So, it was really nice to see her bounce back to the winner’s list today.”

Winning jockey Dean Holland had always been confident despite the slow start.

“She stepped a tad slow early,” Holland said.

“Bearing in mind they took the blinkers off to try and get her to relax.

“I just left her alone and tried to ride a race.

“The only time she did didn’t travel, and the only time I wasn’t confident, was when I tried to cut the corner.

“I went back in, and we got that kick back, but I always felt when we got to the outside she was going to present and use that really good turn of foot.

“She got the job done.

“I thought she was a better horse than these, and like I said, the only time she dropped the bridle was when I did go back in, and she got that bit of kick back.

“I was always confident she was going to pick them up.”