Conners’ trio ready for battle

Fresh from producing Willaidow for a strong victory at Rosehill last weekend, Marc Conners will take a trio of runners to Randwick, hopeful of continuing the stable’s Saturday metropolitan success.

It will be Conners’ largest representation for some time and he says his three runners – Rebel Rama, Danish Prince and Winning Verse – are all going well and capable of surprising.

“They’re probably a bit wider in the market than Willaidow was, but in saying that they’re all horses that are in the right races and there to do something on Saturday,” Conners said.

Conners’ originally had a squad of four to take to Randwick but has scratched two-year-old Shezasiren from the opening race.

Rebel Rama drops back to benchmark grade after finishing midfield in the Listed January Cup, won in track record time by Naval College.

While she excels on rain-affected ground, which she won’t get on Saturday, Conners is happy she is in a good space.

His only reservation is another wide draw in barrier 10.

“The race last start, they don’t run that fast,” Conners said.

“I’m sure it upset a lot of the horses and I don’t think she ran badly. She finished seventh and she didn’t drop off, she held her ground, so I was happy enough with her run.

“She drops back to a benchmark 88 now, which is probably where she needs to be at the moment.

“I just wish she’s drawn a barrier. We keep drawing bad barriers and that forces us to go back so we’ll have to decide what we do Saturday.”

Danish Prince contests the Toyota Forklifts Handicap (1200m) after resuming with a tough effort from a wide gate at Rosehill and he has only missed a top-three finish once in five second-up runs.

But it is the stable’s final runner, Winning Verse, who Conners regards as his leading chance after a fighting first-up effort at Rosehill.

“It was the first time we’d run her over 1200-metres first-up, they ran pretty fast time and at the 75-metre mark she was still in front,” Conners said.

“With that solid run under her belt, she is going to improve lengths.”