There’ll be a cross-border raid on Saturday night’s Haras Des Trotteurs NSW Trotters Oaks at Menangle.
All but two of the 12 runners (including emergencies) are prepared in Victoria, and one person hoping to snare a big slice of the $75,000 prize pool is Kialla trainer-driver Rebecca Bartley.
Bartley will gear up three-year-old squaregaiter Worth Waiting, with the daughter of Volstead having placed in all four starts including a win at Cobram in March.
“She has come up really good and she had a good hit-out on Friday at Bendigo, so she is ready to go,” Bartley said.
Worth Waiting is expected to be a cool customer when it comes to interstate travel.
“I will head up Thursday and usually stay at John and Errol McCarthy’s. She is usually a pretty cruisy filly and she will go up on her own. She likes her own company,” Bartley said.
“I don’t think it will worry her too much (the travel). When she first came up here, she settled in pretty good.”
The juvenile trotter has already exceeded expectations ahead of her maiden Group 1 start.
“When I first got her from John Nalder, the part-owner, I said to him ‘I think we will just win one race with her and put her out because I don’t think she is an Oaks filly’,” Bartley said.
“About a month ago I said to John ‘I know she’s not an Oaks filly, but let’s go for it’. We were pretty happy to nominate and we are keen to get there.”
Worth Waiting has drawn seven for the $75,000 feature, which isn’t ideal according to the 32-year-old trainer-driver.
“I was kind of hoping for a little better draw. She will need a bit of luck, she will need a lot of luck really. You kind of hope you draw good in these races,” she said.
The familiarity of the field gives Bartley a taste of things to come.
“She raced two of them (The Priestess and Pinnie) at Bendigo the other night. She had a better run than them, so it just goes to show how strong three-year-old fillies are,“ she said.
Unbeaten in her first two starts, Keayang Zahara has opened $2.60 favourite for Margaret and Jason Lee while Worth Waiting is a $23 chance with the TAB.
