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By Graeme White

Princess De Roca ($2.40 favourite on TAB) will resume racing at Moruya on Thursday with an impressive first-up record to uphold as she heads towards better riches.

The four-year-old has won both times she has been first-up from a spell and resumes on Thursday in the South Coast Retreat At Greenwell Point Benchmark 66 (1010m).

The mare has already won three of her seven starts and it has been at Moruya and the Sapphire Coast where she has looked as if she could go on and reach higher grades.

Princess De Roca (Jeff Penza) holds them all out at Moruya. Image by Bradley Photographers

Trainer Joe Cleary will wait and see how Princess De Roca – a four-year-old by El Roca - performs before finalising plans.

There is a chance the $150,000 Newhaven Park South East Country Championships at Nowra on Sunday February 13, will be on the radar if she can continue her upward spiral.

The inside draw could be advantageous for Princess De Roca who hasn’t raced since finishing fourth behind Philipsburg in a Highway at Kembla Grange on September 11.

The four-year-old captured consecutive races prior to that and also won a trial at Moruya in August defeating the well-performed Kattegat.

“This race will give us a good indication of where she is at. She steps up in grade first-up now so it will be interesting to see how she goes,” Cleary said.

Factorize ($6.50) looks one of the main chances after a fast-finishing first-up second at the Sapphire Coast which followed consecutive victories at the same course.

The mare will improve fitness-wise off the back of that run which was her first race start for almost six months.

Factorize’s trainer Theresa Bateup always has a strong list of winning prospects racing at Moruya and will have four starters on Thursday.

Her best winning hope is the in-form Crackalacka ($3.60) which is attempting to make it three straight victories in the Narooma Sporting Club Narooma Cup Benchmark 74 (1200m).

Crackalacka has only raced twice for Bateup for wins at the Sapphire Coast and despite the rise in class, she will again prove difficult to contain given the finishing burst she has unleashed.

Blaazay ($3.90) is yet to miss a top-three finish in seven starts at Moruya and will be topped off by his first-up third behind Molly Nails at Moruya’s most recent meeting on January 3.

View the final fields with full form & race replays for Moruya here