Portelli Hopes Dane Not Anchored By Weight

{SCPinterestShare href=https://www.virtualformguide.com/racing-news/68468-portelli-hopes-dane-not-anchored-by-weight.html layout=standard image=http://www.virtualformguide.com/aapnews/090916m_RacingGaryPortelli_400x300.jpg desc=Rebel Dane is in good form and is as fit as he's ever been but his trainer admits as the... size=small}

Rebel Dane is in good form and is as fit as he's ever been but his trainer admits as the horse gets older, the races get tougher.

Gary Portelli is just hoping his class can get him an overdue win in Saturday's Group Two Theo Marks Stakes at Rosehill in which the seven-year-old has to give weight to all his rivals.

"He's a Group One winner in a race with no other Group One winners so he's got to carry the weight," Portelli said.

Trainer Gary PortelliTrainer Gary Portelli

"He has earned it and it is what it is, but it doesn't make it any easier with the younger horses coming up.

"I just hope the predicted rain doesn't come and make a lane on the track."

The initial disappointment of Rebel Dane's third in the Warwick Stakes behind Winx and Hartnell has dissipated with the runner-up's devastating win in the Chelmsford Stakes last week.

"I thought he would have run second to Winx but Hartnell has come out and won by many lengths," he said.

"Rebel Dane is back to 1300 metres which he likes. He has held his weight at 495 kilograms which is 15 kilos over what he usually is at the third run of his campaign.

"He is consistent and usually races against genuine Group One horses but it would be nice to get another win in what will be his last racing season."

Rebel Dane has won seven races including the 2013 Group One Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes and has earned his owners almost $1.8 million.

The lightly raced Les Bridge-trained four-year-old Southern Legend is the $2.60 favourite to win his first Group race at his seventh start.

He will carry 53 kilograms, six kilos less than Rebel Dane who is at $9.50.

Browne Makes Return To Saturday Riding

{SCPinterestShare href=https://www.virtualformguide.com/racing-news/68469-browne-makes-return-to-saturday-riding.html layout=standard image= desc=Multiple Group One-winning jockey Damian Browne makes a low key return to metropolitan Saturday racing at Doomben and trainer Robert... size=small}

Multiple Group One-winning jockey Damian Browne makes a low key return to metropolitan Saturday racing at Doomben and trainer Robert Heathcote believes it could be a winning one.

Browne has claimed winners at the past two Sunshine Coast meetings but has not ridden in the metropolitan area for a month apart from a cameo appearance on Wednesday when he took two rides and partnered star sprinter Buffering in a trial at Doomben.

He had all of August off to take his family on a cruise and has not ridden at a Saturday metropolitan meeting since July 30.

Browne has taken just two rides, both for Heathcote, on Silento (Real Milk Handicap) and Brotherly Secret (Class 6 Plate), at Doomben.

Browne said he had deliberately kept his comeback low-key and restricted mainly to his home track at Caloundra.

"I just want to get the body right after a month on the sidelines. There is no use rushing things. You do more harm than good," Browne said.

Heathcote believes both Silento and Brotherly Secret have strong chances on Saturday.

"Silento's run was a lot better than it looks when he was fourth last start at the Sunshine Coast. They walked in front and he is a horse that needs a fast early pace," Heathcote said.

"There is no secret I think Silento is pretty smart and Damian's riding style should suit him."

Heathcote said he gave Brotherly Love a great each-way chance when the gelding was second at big odds behind Land Office at Doomben two weeks ago.

"Naturally they chopped half a second off the class record but my bloke was good," he said.

Heathcote has elected to claim three kilograms with Sarah Eilbeck on sprinter Saluter in the Buy A Bale Open (1050m).

"Saluter has been scratched a few times because of wet tracks and looks a lot better placed at the weights with a claim," Heathcote said.

Browne is the regular rider of Buffering and has ridden him to all seven of his Group One wins including the Al Quoz Sprint in Dubai earlier this year.

Cobalt A Performance Enhancer, RV Vet Says

{SCPinterestShare href=https://www.virtualformguide.com/racing-news/68456-cobalt-a-performance-enhancer-rv-vet-says.html layout=standard image= desc=The science is "overwhelming" that cobalt can act as a doping agent and is performance enhancing for racehorses, Racing Victoria's... size=small}

The science is "overwhelming" that cobalt can act as a doping agent and is performance enhancing for racehorses, Racing Victoria's head vet maintains.

Dr Brian Stewart, the driver behind Victoria's cobalt rule, has not changed his view that cobalt administered under the right circumstances could act as a doping agent in horses.

"The fundamental science is overwhelming," Stewart told a cobalt appeal.

Trainers Danny O'Brien and Mark Kavanagh's barrister Damian Sheales said there was "not one shred of science" to support Stewart's theory that cobalt was performance enhancing, but the vet disagreed.

"There's a mass of scientific evidence that would support its potential to have that effect," Stewart said on Thursday.

Before Racing Victoria introduced its cobalt threshold in April 2014, Stewart told the regulator's board cobalt salts had the effect of a doping agent in horses.

Stewart said that had been unquestionably proven in animal experimentation studies, although there were no equine-specific studies.

"My opinion was under the right circumstances it would act as a doping agent," Stewart told the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

"In specific quantities at the correct time at the right frequency of administration, it is my opinion that it would act as a doping agent."

O'Brien, Kavanagh and Lee and Shannon Hope's appeal against their cobalt disqualifications heard a Racing NSW lawyer had said the regulator no longer maintained that cobalt enhanced performance.

Stewart said that may be a legal proposition but he and his counterpart at Racing NSW, Dr Craig Suann, still believed the science showed it was performance enhancing.

"The science was still held by Craig and I and the rest of the scientific community that cobalt is a very significant potential performance enhancer."

Stewart said the Victorian rule was brought in, ahead of the national threshold introduced in January 2015, to deter people from experimenting with cobalt.

The regulator had a provision to possibly do out-of-competition testing.

"The cobalt that will be used in out of competition won't be administered close to the time of racing, so only the very stupid or very arrogant trainers would get caught on raceday," he said.

Stewart admitted the regulator made a mistake in not warning the industry in 2014 that commonly-used products such as injectable vitamin supplement VAM could push cobalt levels over the threshold.

Asked if there should have been warnings, he said: "With the benefit of hindsight, yes."

There were warnings about such products when the national threshold was halved, to 100 micrograms per litre of urine, from September 1 this year.

Entirely Platinum Fresh For Makybe Diva

{SCPinterestShare href=https://www.virtualformguide.com/racing-news/68457-entirely-platinum-fresh-for-makybe-diva.html layout=standard image= desc=Although Entirely Platinum hasn't won a race for more than two years, his co-trainer insists he is in career-best form.Wayne... size=small}

Although Entirely Platinum hasn't won a race for more than two years, his co-trainer insists he is in career-best form.

Wayne Hawkes, who prepares the gelding in partnership with his father John and brother Michael, says the seven-year-old has held his form since his last-start third in the Group Two P B Lawrence Stakes on August 13.

Entirely Platinum ran third behind Fawkner and Rising Romance in last year's Makybe Diva Stakes after having a torrid run from a wide draw.

This year Entirely Platinum has drawn the inside barrier in Saturday's Group One race which should allow Dwayne Dunn to negotiate a better passage.

"He probably should have won this race last year after drawing wide," Hawkes said.

"He was always three-deep and almost did the job.

"He's in just as good form and while he might not have won for a while he's been oh so unlucky and oh so close on a few occasions.

"He's in career-best form but hasn't won for two years."

The gelding's last win came at Rosehill in August 2014.

He was scheduled to run last week in the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes at Moonee Valley but missed a start as an emergency.

Hawkes says the extra week between runs shouldn't pose a problem as Entirely Platinum races well fresh.

The only concern for Hawkes is the five to 10mm of rain predicted on Friday.

"Our biggest plus is that we're racing at Flemington," Hawkes said.

"It will take a hell of a lot of rain to stuff Flemington up.

"It's the best wet weather track in Melbourne so if it's going to pour on Friday we're racing at the right track."

The Darren Weir-trained Memsie Stakes winner Black Heart Bart is the dominant $2.30 favourite to capture his second Group One win of the season ahead of stablemate Palentino at $6.

Rising Romance is the $8 third pick with Entirely Platinum at $15 on Thursday.

Dry Track To Help El Divino Hit New Gear

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Adrian Bott is not taking his first opportunity to add to the hundreds of Group One winners produced from Tulloch Lodge for granted.

Gai Waterhouse has trained more than 130 elite level winners, following in the footsteps of her father Tommy Smith who finished his career with a record 279.

Winx's younger half-brother El Divino and Thronum make up the stable's two-pronged attack on the $1 million Golden Rose.

El DivinoEl Divino

The 28-year-old Bott has the first of a raft of opportunities during spring to win his first Group One on Saturday following his promotion to co-trainer at the start of the season.

"I don't take for granted the pressures and responsibilities that are there," Bott said.

"But I'm really excited more than anything and that's what's driving us at the moment.

"The lucky position I'm in is that we've got a stable full of good horses going into the carnival but importantly we've got the right support around us."

The stable's trademark confidence is shared by Bott when it comes to El Divino.

He was fourth in the Run To The Rose behind Godolphin colts Astern and Impending who he will meet again at Rosehill on Saturday but that defeat hasn't dampened Bott's spirits.

"We certainly haven't lost any confidence in the horse from his last start," Bott said.

"It was a very good run in fairness to the horse.

"He stuck on well and gives every indication that he'll run out a really strong 1400 metres."

El Divino's three starts have all been on wet tracks.

Bott believes he can reach an as yet unseen top gear if the Rosehill surface, rated soft on Thursday, keeps improving.

"He's a horse with such a brilliant turn of foot and those horses you like to see them be able to use those assets on top of the ground," Bott said.

Temperatures are set to remain in the mid-20s on Thursday and Friday but up to 10mm of rain is forecast before the Golden Rose jumps.

The stable's other runner Thronum has excelled in heavy going but Bott believes he is more than just a wet tracker.

"I wouldn't rule him out on top of the ground," Bott said.

El Divino is a $15 chance to win the Golden Rose while Thronum is at $35.

Omei Sword is the $3.50 favourite while Yankee Rose has been supported throughout the week from $11 to $7.