Rogerson confident in Dating

Debbie Rogerson has a hot date.

But it’s got nothing to do with her husband, Racing Hall of Fame trainer Graeme Rogerson, being away in Melbourne on Saturday with A$2.25 million The BMW hopeful Scarlett Lady.

Debbie Rogerson’s focus on Saturday is a domestic Gr I race, the $200,000 New Zealand Breeders’ Stakes (1600m) at Te Aroha, where she will saddle O’Reilly mare Dating.

”I’m really happy with her. She worked really well this morning. Now we’ve just got to draw a nice barrier,” Rogerson said yesterday.

Bred and raced by Waikato Stud, Dating has won five of her 19 starts and proved herself up with the best of her age and sex over the past three seasons.

She was a stakes-winning two-year-old in the Ryder Stakes (1200m) at Otaki, going on to win the Gr III Desert Gold Stakes (1600m) at Trentham and finish a luckless fourth in the Gr I New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at the same track.

This season she won the Gr III Taranaki Breeders’ Stakes fresh-up at Hawera in October and finished third to Mufhasa in the Gr I Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) at Trentham.

Since then she has ran a gallant second to Floria in the Gr III Cuddle Stakes (1600m) at Trentham.

Lisa Allpress takes over the reins on Saturday, with last-start rider James McDonald aboard Scarlett Lady in The BMW.

”I was really happy with her run at Trentham,” Rogerson said.

”It was really just the bob of her head. Our horse had the wrong stride at the wrong stride and she got beaten a long head.

”She was third to Mufhasa in the Captain Cook and she’s shown she’s right up there with the best fillies and mares.

”The track conditions won’t worry her either. It can rain, it can be dry – she goes pretty much on anything.”