Kitty’s best chance could be in Cox Plate

Kitty Rose could manage only fifth placing in the Sandringham Stakes on Day 4 at Royal Ascot, but it hasn’t dampened her new trainers’ enthusiasm for what she might be able to achieve once she is exported to Australia.

Mick Price said they might just have to deviate from what races he and co-trainer Michael Kent Jnr target with the daughter of Invincible Army, who was beaten four lengths by Soprano in the 1609-metre Sandringham Stakes.

Kitty Rose, who will be classified as a four-year-old in Australia next season, was purchase by a group headed up by Tim Porter with an eye to the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m), but Price said the $5m Group 1 Cox Plate (204m) might be a more suitable spring target.

“I would think, watching it, if you’re trying to win the Golden Eagle, you need something with a very good turn of foot, and she’s a big, strong horse and my first thought was, ‘2000 metres’,” Price, who won the 2021 Golden Eagle with I’m Thunderstruck, said.

“If that’s as fast as she goes over a mile, I’m not sure that she could win a Golden Eagle.”

The Sandringham Stakes was just the fifth start for Kitty Rose, who had her first four starts for Natalia Lupini, winning twice and finishing second twice at Group 3 level.

Kitty Rose has come through the Sandringham Stakes well and may take in the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes (1609m) at Newmarket on July 12 before heading for a spell.

“She’s a racehorse and if she’s well and there’s a suitable race for her – the owners paid a lot of money for her – you’ve got to race them,” Price said.

Kitty Rose does not yet appear in Cox Plate markets but is a $26 chance in Golden Eagle betting with betting apps in Australia.