The New Zealand stable responsible for giving Australian racing the first insight into the exceptional talent of James McDonald is counting on a reunion with the jockey to deliver one of the jewels of the Melbourne Cup carnival.
Co-trainers Graeme and Debbie Rogerson have secured McDonald to ride Sharp 'N' Smart in the Victoria Derby, a race older than the Melbourne Cup and one that is also the premier spring staying test for three-year-olds.
It was the Rogerson stable which provided McDonald with his first major race win in Australia, and more than a decade later there is no jockey in greater demand than the 30-year-old.
"It's great to have James on. We gave James his first Australian Group One win and that was exciting for us and for him," Debbie Rogerson told the NZ Racing Desk.
While McDonald has collected Group One wins at an astonishing rate since Scarlett Lady's victory in the 2011 Queensland Oaks, it has been lean pickings for the Rogerson stable on this side of the Tasman.
But a return to the Group One spotlight with Sharp 'N' Smart in the Spring Champion Stakes in Sydney has boosted the stable's hopes it can play its part in a potential Kiwi ambush of Derby day at Flemington.
"He's tough and thrives on racing," Rogerson said. "He's super fit, he's a happy horse and we're very excited going into the race on Saturday."
That sense of anticipation is matched by the Rogersons' compatriot Andrew Forsman, who has Mr Maestro chasing a fourth successive win during an almost faultless Australian spring.
Forsman has taken over the stable of retired New Zealand Hall of Fame trainer Murray Baker with immediate success, making a carnival statement with three winners on Caulfield Cup day.
Baker compiled an outstanding strike-rate when he travelled horses to Australia, tasting Victoria Derby success with Lion Tamer in 2010 as Forsman supervised the campaign.
Mr Maestro figured in Forsman's Caulfield treble, winning a principal lead-up race to confirm his Derby claims and stay on course for a long-range goal to be in peak form on one of the signature days of the Australian turf.
"I want to strive towards winning good races, giving owners the chance to target good races and to reap the rewards from that where we can," Forsman said.
"A good example is Mr Maestro, who has pretty much had the Victoria Derby earmarked for him from the day we bought him.
"The starts we gave him as a two-year-old were primarily to get a good grounding into him, and then everything in his three-year-old prep has been with the Derby in mind."
First run in 1855, six years before the inaugural Melbourne Cup, the Derby ranks as the most prestigious of three Group One races on Saturday.
Australia's fastest three-year-old sprinters will contest the $2 million Coolmore Stud Stakes, and fillies and mares will compete under weight-for-age conditions in the $1 million Empire Rose Stakes.
McDonald will ride favoured runners in both races, with the filly In Secret tipped to beat the colts in the Coolmore and La Crique expected to turn an imposing New Zealand record into a winning Australian debut in the Empire Rose.
