No filly has won The Rosebud for a decade, but Peter and Paul Snowden are hoping they have the horse to break the drought in stakes placegetter Miss Hellfire.
One of just two fillies in Saturday’s race along with Troach, Miss hellfire will be aiming to become the first of her sex to upstage the boys since She’s A Fox in 2012.
The girls did appear to have the wood on the colts and geldings as autumn two-year-olds, winning four of the five juvenile Group 1 races, and Peter Snowden says it is no more difficult for them to beat the boys at three.
“If you’ve got the right one it’s not,” Snowden said.
“They’re all in the same boat. They are all back from two-year-old preps and you find some improve, some have gone backwards, some have stayed the same.
“You don’t know until know until you try them.
“We are really happy with this filly though. She has been working well, looks very good and we’re happy with the trials she has had so she will definitely be very competitive.”
Runner-up on debut in the Wyong Magic Millions, Miss Hellfire broke her maiden in a Magic Millions lead up at the Gold Coast before finishing midfield in the feature.
She was put in the paddock after missing a place in the Talindert Stakes at Flemington in February and Snowden says where she was “as light as a cork” at two, she has returned a much more furnished horse.
“There has been a big improvement in her physique this time which has got us excited about what she might do this preparation,” he said.
“She is quite forward. She’s had two trials and while there is a bit of improvement left in her, she is certainly forward enough to run well if she’s good enough.”
With True Crime scratched to contest a three-year-old benchmark race earlier on Saturday’s Rosehill program, a field of 11 will tackle The Rosebud, including Group 3-winning juvenile Sebonack and Tulloch Lodge gelding Kibou, the winner of two of his three starts.
Snowden sees the race as a good litmus test for Miss Hellfire and her performance will dictate whether she goes back to a benchmark race or continues on a stakes path.
“I think she is only an 1100, 1200-metre filly so the San Domenico (Stakes), maybe the Furious (Stakes), they are options if she measures up on Saturday,” Snowden said.