Ready To Prophet was well beaten in two Queensland starts but co-trainer Adrian Bott says the mare has returned to Sydney in good shape to continue her winter campaign in a stakes race at Rosehill.

Four-year-old mare Ready To Prophet is scheduled to be one of two runners for the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable in Saturday’s Listed Winter Stakes (1400m), with six-year-old gelding Taikomochi to resume from a spell in the same event.

A dual Listed winner as a three-year-old, Ready To Prophet has not won for just over a year with her best result in four starts this campaign a third in the Group Three Dark Jewel Classic three starts ago over the Rosehill 1400m.

Ready To Prophet was 11th in the Listed Helen Coughlan Stakes at Doomben and faded to finish last of 14 runners in the Group Two Dane Ripper Stakes at Eagle Farm last month but Bott said the mare had returned from her Queensland trip in “really good shape”.

“A lot of mares do well up there in Queensland at that time of the year so it was an easy decision to push on with her and she trialled nicely at Randwick the other day,” Bott said.

“She probably just found the tracks up in Queensland a bit too firm for her liking.

“You go back to her run before she went up there, she ran a pretty bold race in the Dark Jewel at Rosehill at odds.

“… She can be a bit inconsistent with her form but she’s capable of running a big race.”

Taikomochi won the Listed Australia Day Cup (2400m) in Sydney during his previous campaign before heading to Tasmania where he was fourth in the Hobart Cup and runner-up in the Launceston Cup (2400m) in February.

“He’s a horse who improves throughout his preparation and obviously he’s going to be better suited once he can step out over further later in his campaign,” Bott said.

“But in saying that, he’s capable of running a nice race fresh.”

Bott said Taikomochi would gradually step up in distance during his preparation.

“We might be able to target races like the Wyong Cups and those sorts of races,” he said.

The Winter Stakes has 15 nominations including last-start Listed Civic Stakes winner Trumbull while Victorian galloper Widgee Turf heads the weights with 59kg ahead of acceptances on Wednesday.

Article from JustHorseRacing.com.au