Vandyke confident Philia has taken right Oaks path

By Glenn Davis

Trainer David Vandyke is confident he’s written the right script with Philia to give him a second Queensland Oaks at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

Vandyke claimed the Queensland Oaks for the first time with his star filly Gypsy Goddess in 2022 after his former top filly Arabian Gold went close when second to Queenslander Tinto in 2014.

Both Gypsy Goddess and Arabian Gold had their final lead up runs in different races before their Queensland Oaks grand final.

Arabian Gold won the Group 2 The Roses in her final Oaks lead-up run while Gypsy Goddess finished second in the Gold Coast Bracelet prior to her Oaks victory.

This year, Vandyke will be hoping the ghost of Arabian Gold doesn’t return to haunt him with Philia who has followed the same path by claiming The Roses in her final Oaks lead-up last month.

“Gypsy Goddess and Arabian Gold had different paths because of different circumstances,” Vandyke said.

“I didn’t want to run Arabian Gold at the Gold Coast that year because I preferred the Doomben and Eagle Farm tracks which were playing better than the Gold Coast at the time.”

Vandyke revealed he recently received a call from an interested party to buy Philia who will be looking to extend her winning sequence to five in the Queensland Oaks.

“We had a call from someone wanting to buy her, but the money has to be very big to sell,” he said.

“She’s a progressive filly and hopefully some bigger races are ahead of her. It would take a lot of money for her owners to sell.”

Vandyke is excited about Philia’s prospects despite not having won beyond her 2000 metre victory in The Roses.

“She’s ticked all the boxes so far except 2200 metres,” he said.

“She looks great and is working well but the 2200 metres is our main concern.

“It’ll be a tougher at Eagle Farm than when she won The Roses at Doomben as Eagle Farm is a tougher track than Doomben.”

Vandyke admits he’s not as confident going into the Queensland Oaks with Philia as he was with Gypsy Goddess.

“This filly has gone from winning a maiden at Doomben at the start of the year to the Oaks in one campaign,” Vandyke said.

“I’m not as confident with her as I was with Gypsy Goddess and the 2200 metres is still a big question mark.”

Philia has eased slightly in latest markets to $3.50 favourite after drawing badly in barrier 16 while Benagil and Jenni’s Meadow are $6 second favourites.

Vandyke rates Victorian filly Jenni’s Meadow as the main threat to Philia giving him a second Queensland Oaks.

The Roses is regarded as the traditional led-up to the Queensland Oaks but only three, Ethereal (2001), Scarlett Lady (2011) and Youngstar (2018) have completed the double.