Novena Rose blossoms

NOVENA ROSE, one of the most impressive qualifiers in Southland this season when trained at Macca Lodge by Tony Stratford, hasn’t taken long to make an impression in Australia.

Sold for big money in December, the American Ideal three-year-old has won her last two starts in Victoria. On 31 December she led all the way over 1720 metres at Melton, posting a mile rate of 1:55 and running her last half in 55.8. And she followed that up with a win over 2150 metres at Bendigo on 06 January, sitting parked out for the last lap and rating 1:59.9.

The new connections include Victorian harness racing enthusiast Harvey Kaplan and big-time NZ owner Trevor Casey (Stent, Waikiki Beach, Lazarus). Novena Rose is trained by Andy Gath and has been driven in her two wins by his wife Kate.