Vandyke has many options with Philia

By Glenn Davis

While Tony Gollan and Kelly Schweida hope to be headline makers in Sydney, Sunshine Coast trainer David Vandyke is looking further afield as his star mare Philia makes her long-awaited comeback at Flemington on Saturday.

Gollan is chasing a Group 2 win with his Doomben Cup champion Antino in the Apollo Stakes at Randwick while Schweida’s promising filly Sunrays tackles the Group 2 Light Fingers Stakes in Sydney.

Vandyke also hasn’t ruled out a possible Sydney campaign with Philia who hasn’t raced since running in the Group 1 Queensland Oaks at Eagle Farm in June last year.

A daughter of All Too Hard, Philia won four of her five starts last campaign.

They included the Group 2 The Roses before finishing eighth, beaten just over two lengths, by the Kris Lees-trained You Wahng in the Queensland Oaks.

Vandyke will see how Philia performs when she returns against her own sex in the Group 3 Frances Tressady Stakes and is not concerned tackling 1400 metres first-up.

Philia has been in work a long time and won a barrier trial at Beaudesert last month before a winning a jump-out at Cranbourne last week ahead of her comeback.

She faces a daunting task against Group 1 Thousand Guineas champion Ole Dancer, who is also on the comeback trail for co-trainers Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman, along with the Matthew Williams-trained Wrote To Arataki, who won the race last year.

“She’s coming along well and her trials have been good,” Vandyke said.

“It’s a hard race, but I’m expecting her to race very well.”

Vandyke has a number of options he can take with Philia who will be ridden by Ethan Brown in her Melbourne assignment.

“It’s her first run away from home and it’s been a long time between drinks for her,” Vandyke said.

“I’ll see how she comes through this race first before we decide where to go next.

“She could run in the (Group 2) Blamey Stakes later this month and the All-Star Mile is a week after that, but she won’t run in both.

“There’s also the option of going to Sydney where she’s nominated for the Doncaster, Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Queen Of The Turf.

“Or she could stay on in Melbourne for the Australian Cup.”

The $2 million All-Star Mile over 1600 metres will be run at Flemington on March 7 while the $2 million Group 1 Australian Cup will be run at Flemington three weeks later.