Trainer Maddie Raymond says Rolls is potentially in better form than last year when he won the Warrnambool Cup however she will wait before making a decision on whether he will contest this year's edition on Thursday, May 2.
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The seven-year-old, trained by Raymond and ridden by jockey Harry Grace, saluted in the Merlin Handicap (race eight) on Monday, April 30, the opening day of the Warrnambool May Racing Carnival.
The John Leek Jr-trained Fengarada finished 1.5 lengths behind in second while Flossing finished third.
Raymond said she was "really confident with him" leading into the race. He finished second in the same race in 2023.
"When the markets opened it gave me a little bit of doubt but I thought his three runs had plenty of merit, I knew I got the work into him leading into today," she said.
"He was a good contender in this race last year, I thought he was going as good, if not better. So (I'm) stoked to get a win."
Raymond said the next 24 hours were "pivotal" in deciding whether to run Rolls in the cup.
"He's got to pull up well, come through well, I've got to be 100 per cent happy tomorrow going into Thursday," she said.
The Group Two-winning trainer said the wet track brought Rolls into contention in last year's Warrnambool Cup, saying he needed "juice in the ground" to do well this time around.
She praised everyone involved with the gelding.
"It was a ten-out-of-ten ride by Harry, great ownership group, great for the team at home," she said.
"Everyone works so hard and it's always a stressful time leading into the carnival so a big reward for the whole stables."
Matt Hughes
Matt is a sports journalist at The Standard.
Matt is a sports journalist at The Standard.
