By Ray Hickson
Josh Parr has been - in order - frustrated, confused and confident when it comes to assessing his three rides on Positive Peace this spring.
It’ll be the latter feeling when Parr rides the Bjorn Baker-trained mare in the Group 2 $500,000 Hyland Race Colours Hot Danish Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill on Saturday after everything finally came together for the pair two weeks ago.
She was luckless in the Golden Pendant second-up from a spell then on face value had her chance in the Angst Stakes over a mile but Parr eventually found an excuse.
Positive Peace was then an impressive winner, dropping sharply in trip, of the Group 3 Nivison (1200m) and, with her wet track ability well known, Parr expects her to hold her form.
“I was very frustrated after the Golden Pendant because I think she should have won,’’ he said.
“I was confused immediately after the Angst with her performance but at the pull up I realised she had the tongue over the bit and that stopped her.
“So I was confident she could bounce back going into the Nivison, I just wasn’t sure about coming back to the 1200m.”
Five of Positive Peace’s nine career wins have come at 1400m and she’s always competitive in rain affected ground, evidenced by her Nivison win on a heavy track at Randwick.
Positive Peace wins at Randwick on October 24
Parr said though they’ve drawn a little tricky in 11 it’s less of a concern with a horse of her on pace racing style.
“She makes her own luck by racing on the speed and she has natural speed,’’ he said.
“You saw that when she was able to go with Sweet Deal for the first part of the (Nivison), and she’s a very fast horse. That natural speed negates the bad barrier.
“At 1400m they go that speed where she is able to travel and with the turn of foot she can show on a wet track she becomes a tough mare to beat.
“She really swum through it at Randwick and if you can handle a wet track at Randwick you’ll handle it at most places. She’s a nice fit mare, in form, and is very hard to knock.”
Positive Peace was a $7.50 chance with TAB in the Hot Danish on Thursday behind Madam Rouge.
Meanwhile, Parr said he’d like to see an improving track for Positive Peace's stablemate Bobby Dee if he backs up in the Kia Handicap (1800m) after failing to handle the very heavy ground last Saturday.
The five-year-old ($23) was beaten 10 lengths by Archanna and Parr said the longer the race went on the more the horse struggled.
“My comment to Bjorn on returning to scale was the horse sunk,’’ he said.
“The further we went the deeper he got into the ground. His run at Canterbury was really good when he was able to lead and dominate the race.
“Things need to go his way leading into Saturday for him to be a strong chance.”
All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Golden Gift meeting at Rosehill