Port in a storm should be ideal for mudlark Diva Rouge
Neil Evans
A provincial filly who excels on wet tracks is poised for her third successive win when she steps up to class at Monday’s Port Macquarie meeting.
Red Henno’s four-year-old Diva Rouge is fast becoming a tactical advertisement for her Gosford-based trainer Jake Hull, who continues to handpick the right cross-country races for this sprinter. In fact, it is rare to find a country galloper who has run exclusively on rural tracks since his debut almost a year ago.
But this almost modified approach to finding winnable races is bringing huge benefits to the Hull shipyard.
Diva Rouge is unbeaten in the last nine weeks since starting at Scone at the end of January, making only her third start.
He has since been beaten by a whisker on soft ground at Armidale, before picking up back-to-back wins to get his career off to a flying start.
A dominant maiden victory by nearly four lengths at Armidale was followed by an even bigger win with Heavy 8 leading the Class 1 at Coffs Harbor late last month.
And naturally, with plenty of rain along the NSW coastline since then, connections have their sights set on Class 2 above 1206m at Port Macquarie.
The meeting is likely to be held on very heavy ground and the persistent rain is expected to show no signs of stopping.
The meeting may still be under increasing pressure to go ahead, given forecasts of up to 50mm in the next 24 hours.
Murwillumbah coach Matthew Dunn had a strong hand throughout the meeting; Storm Merchant has strong chances of winning in the Class 2 Handicap over 1206m, Gaylord in the Benchmark 58 (1106m) and recent starter Archie Maximus in the BM 58 (1516m).
Provided by Racing NSW
