Trainers John Sargent and Gary Portelli are hopeful, rather than confident, that they can spring an upset when the outstanding Treasurethe Moment (Alabama Express) makes her Sydney debut in Saturday’s Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) at Rosehill.

Sargent saddles Powers Of Opal (Ocean Park), who’s already felt the sting of Treasurethe Moment’s class when second to her in November’s Wakeful Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m) and VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m), by 1.75 and 1.25 lengths respectively.

Portelli brings a new challenger, the latest contender by burgeoning young sire Castelvecchio (Dundeel) in Verona Rose, who while costing a mere $40,000 at Inglis Classic steps up to Group 1 unbeaten in three starts, the latest being the Kembla Grange Classic (Gr 3, 1600m).

Neither trainer is underestimating the size of the task of toppling Matt Laurie’s filly.

Amid an exceptional crop of three-year-old fillies – which also includes the unbeaten Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun), the five-from-seven Lady Shenandoah (Snitzel) and the triple-winning Aeliana (Castelvecchio) – Treasurethe Moment has become one of the most exciting horses of any description in the land.

The Yulong homebred has continued where she left off in the spring with two imperious victories over shorter trips this campaign, taking the Angus Armanasco Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) by a length and Flemington’s Kewney Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) by 2.25 lengths. That’s given the Victorian seven wins from nine starts, the last six in succession.

With a mark of 103, Treasurethe Moment is the only filly in the Vinery rated above 90, with Powers Of Opal’s rating at 86, while Verona Rose’s is 76.

Treasurethe Moment a $1.60 favourite for Saturday, and a $2.50 popular elect for her campaign grand final of the ATC Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m), where she’ll likely meet the other two fillies again.

With Treasurethe Moment stabled at Randwick, Sargent has had a sneak peek at her this week. Possessing a master’s eye at assessing staying fillies, and knowing Powers Of Opal has developed physically since their spring meetings, Sargent would love to have detected a chink in the armour of the much vaunted visitor.

“I saw her work this morning and she looked enormous,” Sargent said on Wednesday. “She’s looking very well, so we’ll just play it by ear and see what happens.”

As with anyone taking on a horse of preeminence, all a trainer can do is show up and hope. Sargent does have form of a sort in this department. He was the last man to beat Winx (Street Cry), when Gust Of Wind (Darci Brahma) defeated her into second in the ATC Oaks of 2015. To be fair though, that came in what was Winx’s last run before her 33-win streak, not in the middle of it.

Still, in terms of looking after his own backyard, Sargent is pleased with Powers Of Opal after two runs back from a spell, over unsuitably short trips.

Carrying the famed black and white checks and gold sleeves of his key clients Think Big Stud, Powers Of Opal resumed with a 12th in Randwick’s Surround Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) before a sixth of eight in the Phar Lap Stakes (Gr 2, 1500m) at Rosehill.

Coincidentally, Sargent is preparing Powers Of Opal’s two-year-old sister for Yulong in Cavallo Park, who was bought at the NZB Ready To Run Sale for in October.

He’s hopeful Cavallo Park will be his Oaks horse of next spring, but for now he’d be happy to upset Yulong this Saturday – and he believes it’s not impossible, despite Power Of Opal being rated an $18 shot by bookmakers.

“I’m not running up the white flag, by any means,” Sargent told ANZ Bloodstock News.

“It looks like we’ve got our filly up to her distance. From Saturday and then to the Oaks, she’ll be at her peak.

“Her two runs back in have just been below her best, but they were walk-sprint affairs that haven’t suited. I’m not too worried until we get into this distance [2000m].

“She’s come back bigger and stronger, and is just taking a shade longer to hit her form. It takes a bit more work to get her condition off. Now she’s out to 2000m, there shouldn’t be any excuses.

“Hopefully now we’re out to this trip we’ll see the best of her, because she’s a good staying filly.

“I’d like to see her go close, hitting the line and showing she’s back to where she was in the spring. Obviously Treasurethe Moment is a very good filly, but they’re there to take on, aren’t they?”

Sargent has a couple of strands of optimism to cling to. One is that Sydney’s traditional autumn carnival rain – mysteriously absent so far – is forecast to arrive on Friday and Saturday.

“A bit of rain about would be interesting,” Sargent said. “I know a few Ocean Parks can handle the cut in the ground. This filly’s had two unplaced runs on soft, which I’m not worried about because they weren’t at her peak distances. She gets through the wet in trackwork OK.”

That said, Treasurethe Moment has raced just once on rain-softened ground, winning a 1312-metre maiden at Geelong on a soft 5 by four lengths.

Sargent’s other ray of hope comes from the venue. Treasurethe Moment has never raced clockwise, whereas Powers Of Opal has had eight of her ten races in her home direction.

“We had to travel down to Melbourne and Treasurethe Moment was too good for us. Now she has to travel up here. She hasn’t been this way around, whereas we’re on our home home ground, and I think my filly is better off racing this way around,” Sargent said.

With a fine record with training staying fillies, Sargent is also hoping for a genuine tempo for Powers Of Opal.

However, with only eight runners lining up to take a shot at Treasurethe Moment – after nominations were extended to Tuesday – and a shortage of obvious leaders, Sargent’s desired tempo might not be there.

“Hopefully we’ll get a genuine pace on, and she’ll get to the right bit of the track and hit the line well,” said Sargent, who’s also adding blinkers to Powers of Opal, who’ll be ridden by globe-trotting Englishman Tom Marquand.

“A lot of Ocean Parks wear blinkers. We need to sharpen her a bit for Saturday, and they’ve sharpened her up a bit in her work.

“We’ll find out on Saturday, but the main thing is we’ve got her fit and well and everything’s going to plan.”

Sargent and Think Big Stud’s Duncan Ramage paid $130,000 for Powers Of Opal at Karaka 2023. Yulong then paid $210,000 for Cavallo Park at last October’s NZB Ready To Run Sale, and after the subsequent Flemington deeds of Powers Of Opal, Sargent, Ramage and Spicer Thoroughbreds went to $700,000 to secure her Proisir (Choisir) half-sister at Karaka this year.

“Powers Of Opal looked like a typical New Zealand staying filly as a yearling,” expat Kiwi Sargent said. “She was nice and scopey, and I thought she could be an Oaks filly and she’s proved that. She’s typical good New Zealand stock. They take a bit of time but if you’re patient you’ll get results.

“Plus I’ve had a few Ocean Parks and I reckon he’s a great sire.”

While Powers Of Opal has been exposed through ten starts – for still only one win in a 1600-metre Hawkesbury maiden – Portelli feels Verona Rose (below) has something different on her side.
“If I was Matt Laurie, coming to Sydney and seeing this filly won at Kembla last start, you’d think ‘How’s this horse going to beat me’?” Portelli told ANZ.

“But the thing we have in our favour is we don’t know where the ceiling is with Verona Rose.

“She’s jumped in unbelievable increments, winning her maiden at Kembla, winning at Wyong against older horses, then winning the Kembla Classic. She just keeps doing things you hope to see from a young horse.

“She knows how to win, she sees the opposition in front of her, and for a horse who’s hardly had any racing, her race-craft is unbelievable. She spots her opposition, knows where the winning post is and knows what she has to do to catch them.”

Verona Rose has come from the back in her past two wins. Kerrin McEvoy partnered her for the first time when she came from what looked an impossible position on the turn to win a 1350-metre Wyong benchmark 64 first-up two runs ago.

McEvoy locked in for her autumn campaign, and was aboard when Verona Rose swooped from 14th at the 400-metres to take the Kembla Classic by 0.2 lengths, at $14.

However, Portelli said circumstances had shunted Verona Rose to the back in those two runs, and that she had the versatility to be closer on Saturday.

“The rain might come, and we’ve got to work out where we want to be, based on how the weather plays,” said Portelli, whose filly won the Kembla Classic on a soft 5, and has handled a choppy soft 6 in a barrier trial.

“Her action looks conducive to handling bad tracks. She really gets down low and she really strides out, although you never know until you race on it.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of speed in the race, and I don’t know where that leaves us in the run. But horses that are really good can overcome bad barriers and tempo. They’ve usually got a good turn of foot and a will to win, and I think she’s that sort of horse. She can run an incredible last furlong.”

Noting this would be Treasurethe Moment’s first clockwise run, Portelli said he was cautiously optimistic his filly could spring an upset.

“It’s a big ask to take on something that’s pretty well unbeaten,” he said. “But, sometimes they go the opposite direction and things can happen.

“It’s hard to be confident against that horse. I’m confident I’ve got the horse who can do it, but until they do it, there’s still that question mark there.”

Verona Rose was on the fourth line of Vinery betting at $12 on Wednesday. Second-favouritism at $7 was shared by Chris Waller’s pair Declichy Boulevard (Snitzel) and Movin Out (Staphanos) – another who wears Yulong’s green and white.

Powers of Opal was purchased by DGR’s Duncan Ramage & John Sargent Racing for $130,000 from Curraghmore’s Karaka 2023 draft. They recently purchased the Proisir half-sister to Powers Of Opal at Karaka 2025.

Article c/o ANZ Bloodstock News