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By Ray Hickson

Roger James is no stranger to Group 1 success in the Sydney autumn but he’s guarded about the chances of star Kiwi filly Prowess in her Australian debut at Rosehill on Saturday.

Trainer Roger James (Pic: Trish Dunell).

There’s no doubt he has a high opinion of the three-yar-old, a winner of six from eight, and while she’s favourite at $2.60 with TAB on Wednesday in the Group 1 $600,000 Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m) the trainer says it’s up to Prowess to do the talking on the track.

When asked how he thought the filly will measure up in Sydney, James said it’s a question he can’t answer but he has plenty of respect for his local rivals.

“We haven’t touched that territory and were going to find out a lot,’’ James said.

“There looks to be some good fillies around and we’re going to take another step up but she’s done nothing to disappoint at home at this stage. She’s a good filly.”

James, who co-trains with Robert Wellwood, won the Vinery back in 2002 with Sixty Seconds and his classy mare Silent Achiever won the Ranvet and Tancred Stakes in 2014, beating It’s A Dundeel and Fiorente in the latter.

Prowess comes to Rosehill with four wins on end including a Group 1 against older horses in the Bonecrusher Stakes (2050m) at Pukekohe on March 11 where she took the lead on the home turn and fought hard when challenged.

She was originally to be ridden by James McDonald but, with the champion rider suspended, Mark Zahra has picked up the prized mount and she's drawn ideally in barrier four.

“She’s got above average ability, that helps any trainer,’’ James said.

“She’s pretty durable and adaptable she can go forward or go back.

“She was vying for favouritism for the New Zealand Derby and I just wasn’t happy she would get the mile and a half so we decided to pull out and go for the weight-for-age 2050m. It ended up quite a masterstroke in the end.”

Given those comments about tackling a staying trip, James said it’s highly doubtful that Prowess will remain in Sydney for next month’s Australian Oaks.

James and Wellwood have the lightly raced Mark Twain headed for next week’s Group 1 $2m Australian Derby (2400m) at Randwick and James said he wasn’t keen to run the gelding in Saturday’s Tulloch Stakes simply to ensure he makes the field.

Mark Twain ran fourth in the New Zealand Derby behind current Derby favourite Sharp ‘N’ Smart at just his fifth race start and is on the $11 line with TAB.

“He always gets back and he just got tied up back in the field but his sectionals were enormous,’’ James said.

Prowess draws barrier 4 in Saturday's Vinery! Here she is winning the Bonecrusher in NZ earlier this month 👇pic.twitter.com/7WTCdgDvXK

— TAB (@tabcomau) March 22, 2023

“He ran nearly a second quicker than the three in front of him for the last 600m but he was just too late in getting clear.

“We’ve done as much homework as we could, because he hasn’t won a lot of money, and all the experts have us making the field.

“I didn’t want to run him this week because it’s not really his style. We’ve rolled the dice and hopefully we’ve made the right move.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Rosehill meeting