Gary Portelli is counting on a repeat performance when Craig Williams rides Verona Rose in the Coolmore Classic at Rosehill as the mare seeks her initial Group One success.
Williams provided the long-awaited big win for Portelli’s past standout, Kimochi, who had finished third in three elite contests prior to triumphing in the 2024 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes.
Portelli holds immense admiration for the elite jockey’s skills during races, and he values Williams’ contributions away from the track as well.
“We’ve got a good association and I just love being able to leg him on,” Portelli said.
“You don’t have to talk about the race too much. He’s done his homework, he comes out and tells the owners what he wants, where he wants to be, and then we might talk about the Ukraine war or something like that. It breaks up the nervousness.
“Craig is fantastic. I love his business acumen. His word is his word and importantly, he’s a great rider. He is very professional.”
Williams remains undefeated in two mounts on Verona Rose, with victories in the Inglis Bracelet (1600m) at Flemington during spring and the Guy Walter Stakes (1400m) at Randwick most recently.
The mare sits at $10 odds for Saturday’s Coolmore Classic (1500m) at Rosehill, and given the 14-horse lineup, Portelli anticipates a solid pace to enable Verona Rose to deploy her strong closing burst.
Should conditions unfold that way, he feels confident she could place prominently.
“We had a dream that she’d run in a Coolmore last campaign, but we wanted to see something from her that would warrant going around and not making a fool of ourselves,” Portelli said.
“After her last run, we’re now at the reality that we’re a legitimate chance of winning.”
Portelli’s lineup for the weekend features fillies Queen Of Clubs and Long Legs in Friday’s Group 3 Kembla Grange Classic (1600m), an event Verona Rose captured a year earlier.
The former underperformed by not passing a single opponent in the Surround Stakes (1400m) recently, though Portelli reflected that the three-year-old slipped from his control in retrospect.
“She pulled up really fat. She is a gross filly, and she is taking a lot of work to get fit,” he said.
“I don’t work my horses very hard, and it showed up last start.”
He anticipates Queen Of Clubs will benefit from the softer surface at Kembla Grange, rated slow 7 on Thursday, and highlighted a key equipment adjustment.
“If she is going towards the Oaks, she needs to do a lot more this week,” Portelli said.
“Blinkers off, she should run well.”
Long Legs achieved a placing at comparable grade in the Spring Stakes (1600m) at Newcastle last campaign, and Portelli looks forward to another bold showing.
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