Fireburn looking red hot for Queensland Oaks

Fireburn
Fireburn looks the one to beat in the Queensland Oaks at Eagle Farm this weekend. (Photo: Lisa Grimm)

Fireburn will be out to set the Eagle Farm course ablaze as heels turn for home in the Group 1 Queensland Oaks on Saturday.

She is a two-time Group 1 winner who has amassed over $4 million in race earnings, and trainer Gary Portelli will have her ready for the 2200m contest.

The race has attracted a field of quality fillies with Fireburn a $3.50 favourite on the top betting sites off the back of a tight victory in The Roses at Doomben a fortnight ago.

In work yesterday she ran over the 1200m and ran the last 200m in 10.1 seconds, which is sure to have put her rivals on notice.

In the way of Fireburn taking that third Group 1 is Affaire A Suivre ($6.50), trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.

She comes into this contest off the back of three victories including the Group 1 Australasian Oaks at Morphettville last start, where she beat home She’s Fit and stablemate Jennilala.


2023 Australasian Oaks replay

Winner: Affaire A Suivre


Affaire A Suivre will be looking to build on her $361,600 in prize money while taking her second Oaks to add to the war chest she has collected over the past three months.

“She’s very much on track, she has come through the trial well and she is up here in Queensland now,” Maher said.

“She won’t be doing too much work because she is right to go, the fitness is there and she is a big, scopey filly who looks very healthy in the skin.

“I don’t think she has to improve really, she was big in Adelaide, she was wide, went early and sustained a strong gallop.

“If she can repeat that effort on Saturday, she will be right in this.

“To the eye and everything she has shown me at home, there’s no reason she can’t repeat that effort again.”

Maher and Eustace are in hot form after winning The Goodwood with Royal Merchant, leading the Victorian trainers’ championship table as they hunt for their first win of the Queensland carnival on Saturday.

Of the local hopes, Madame Odette ($26) leads the charge having not won since last September in the Toowoomba Guineas.

She will be looking to build on her second-placing in the Listed Princess Stakes two starts ago at Doomben.

“We have been struggling to draw a barrier with her, the plan was to roll forward the other day and she couldn’t sustain it,” trainer Tony Gollan said.

“I’m realistic about where she sits in the Oaks scheme, there are two or three fillies there that are really good apart from the rest.

“She is part of the rest.”


2023 Queensland Oaks final field

No. Silks Horse Trainer Jockey Barrier Weight
1 Silks
Fireburn
Gary Portelli
Jason Collett
16
56.5kg
2 Silks
Affaire A Suivre
Ciaron Maher & David Eustace
John Allen
13
56.5kg
3 Silks
Renaissance Woman
Bjorn Baker
Joshua Parr
6
56.5kg
4 Silks
So Dazzling
John Sargent
Craig Williams
11
56.5kg
5 Silks
Tyresa
Kelly Schweida
Larry Cassidy
12
56.5kg
6 Silks
Noah ‘N’ A Deel
Les Kelly
Sean Cormack
10
56.5kg
7 Silks
Sakura Girl
Ben Foote
TBC
21
56.5kg
8 Silks
Super Chilled
Chris Waller
James McDonald
18
56.5kg
9 Silks
Madame Odette
Tony Gollan
Ryan Maloney
3
56.5kg
10 Silks
Let Me Reign
Lee & Cherie Curtis
James Orman
14
56.5kg
11 Silks
Divine Purpose
Clinton Taylor
Ben Thompson
4
56.5kg
12 Silks
Proscenium Arch
Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young
Tim Clark
8
56.5kg
13 Silks
Original Glaze
Trevor Lambourn
TBC
2
56.5kg
14 Silks
Cheval D’or
Tony Pike
Michael McNab
20
56.5kg
15 Silks
Reo
Richard Laming
Martin Harley
5
56.5kg
16 Silks
Yankee Hussel
Kris Lees
Andrew Mallyon
9
56.5kg
17 Silks
Amokura
Kris Lees
Damien Oliver
1
56.5kg
18 Silks
Caring Lass
Matthew Smith
Rachel King
19
56.5kg
19 Silks
Fireflies (1E)
Brett Cavanough
Jake Bayliss
15
56.5kg
20 Silks
Kalea (2E)
Renita Beaton
Chad Schofield
22
56.5kg
21 Silks
Rockbarton Road (3E)
Joe Cleary
TBC
23
56.5kg
22 Silks
California Grass (4E)
John Thompson
TBC
17
56.5kg
23 Silks
Artful Girl (5E)
Kevin Kemp
Marnu Potgieter
3
56.5kg

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