Perth’s Plantinum Rocker attempts to emulate Buffering’s WA raid by stealing Queensland’s winter riches
A RARE raider from Western Australia and her trainer are planning to storm the Queensland winter carnival and pinch the prizemoney as payback.
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A RARE raider from Western Australia and her trainer are planning to storm the Queensland winter carnival and pinch the prizemoney as payback for Buffering’s hit-and-run assault on Perth racing last year.
Platinum Rocker, who ran second in her last start in Perth’s Group 1 Railway Stakes, will arrive on the Gold Coast on Tuesday night for a first-up tilt at Saturday’s Listed $150,000 Silk Stocking (1200m).
The mare has won eight from 13 starts, collecting a cool $500,000, and trainer Simon Miller is plotting a path toward the Group 1 Tatts Tiara (1400m) at Eagle Farm on June 21.
However Miller has such a high opinion of the six-year-old that he could be swayed into a throw at the stumps of Queensland’s richest race, the Stradbroke Handicap, which has a first-place booty of $1 million.
Given that one-way flights from Perth to Brisbane for Platinum Rocker have cost $26,000, it is clear the mare is not here to make up the winter carnival numbers.
Miller says he was first tempted to make the long trip when Rob Heathcote took Buffering to Perth to win the Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes last year.
“I have told Heathcote and a few of the Queensland trainers that I am coming to get some of their money,” Miller said.
“My mare keeps improving every campaign and she just got beat in the Railway from an awkward gate.
“It isn’t cheap to get across to Brisbane. But having said that, it’s not as if I am bringing over a maiden horse, so I am sure she will be able to offset the costs.
“The plan is to set her for the Tatts Tiara but if she does something great in the meantime I could always switch her to the Straddy.”
Miller, who has previously been an assistant trainer to John O’Shea and Robbie Griffiths, moved to Perth in 2008 and has been a success in the west for powerful Aquanita Racing.
He has not taken a horse to Brisbane before but thinks Platinum Rocker can be a winter carnival player, with top Perth jockey Peter Knuckey flying to the Gold Coast to take the ride on Saturday.
Miller is keen to use Knuckey at all of Platinum Rocker’s Queensland starts, given that the hoop has ridden her in all of her eight wins.
The mare has arrived in Melbourne and will have a track gallop at Caulfield this morning before flying to the coast. Miller says she will be primed for a big first-up showing on Saturday.
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