TRAINER Paul Messara put the finishing touches of Group 1 winning mare Ortensia before she flys out for Dubai in a weeks time with a sterling win at the Randwick trials held last Monday.
The daughter of Testa Rossa is scheduled to leave Australia on March 12 to prepare for her $1 million Al Quoz Sprint (1200m) assignment to coincide with the Dubai World Meeting at the end of the month.
After that, Ortensia will travel to the UK where she will contest the Group 1 Kings Stand Stakes (1000m) at Royal Ascot.
”She looks super,” Messara told the Daily Telegraph’s Ray Thomas.
”She came through the trial really well. The mare seems more relaxed than she has been in the past and we had to give her a bit more of a slap to get going in the trial where normally you just release the brakes rather than press the accelerator.
”But there is still a month to the Dubai race so there is plenty of time to get her up to the mark.”
Ortensia is one of 41 individual stakeswinners sired by Vinery resident Testa Rossa.
She has so far earned over $1.55m, a tremendous return on her $50,000 purchase price at the 2007 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling sale.
