AN EXCITING PROSPECT LOOKS TO EXTEND HER WINNING SEQUENCE TO FOUR-IN-A-ROW IN THE GROUP 2 ROSES

By Graham Potter | Thursday, May 22, 2025

The David Vandyke trained Philia will be taking aim at a fourth successive win when she tackles The Roses, a Group 2 contest over 2000m at Doomben on Saturday.

Philia has won her last three races in a row after kicking off her career with two runner-up finishes, and that overall record of three wins and two second places has shown the right amount of progress to suggest she deserves her shot at a bigger target with another step up in class here.

Philia’s three wins have come in Maiden company over 1350m, in a Three-Year-Old Handicap over 1600m and in the Listed Princess Stakes, also over 1600m … with that hat-trick of wins all being achieved by a decisive margin.

Now the step up is to Group 2 level where, significantly, Kerin McEvoy retains the ride after scoring aboard the filly in the Princess Stakes. (Cejay Graham had been in the saddle in Philia’s first two wins).

There are a host of sub-plots in the Philia tale.

Vandyke, of course, has mastered this measured step-by-step route before, most particularly with Gypsy Goddess, who went from a Maiden win to a Group 3 success in a four-race winning blitz at the start of her career … before ultimately going on to claim Group 1 glory in the Queensland Oaks later in the season.

Then there is the fact that Vandyke knows the family of Philia very well.

Philia is by All Too Hard, who was the sire of the now retired Alligator Blood, who Vandyke enjoyed so much success with while Alligator Blood was under his care, including a Group 1 win in the 2020 Australian Guineas at Flemington.

Philia’s dam is Meerlust, who also produced Baccarat Baby, who won the 2019 edition of the Princess Stakes for Vandyke, six years before Philia joined her on the Princess Stakes honour roll. Baccarat Baby went on to win the Sunshine Coast Guineas, finish second in the Fred Best … and also claimed a highly creditable runner-up finish in the Queensland Guineas behind Kolding.

And if you want to find an extra plus in Philia’s pedigree, Meerlust is also the dam of the 2021 Queensland Oaks winner Duais, who would go on to put wins in both the Group 1 Australia Cup and the Group 1 Tancred behind her name, as well as a fourth place finish in the Cox Plate when only narrowly beaten by Romantic Warrior, Mr Brightside and Alligator Blood.

So, there is plenty to enthuse about with regard to Philia … both pedigree and performance-wise … and we will know even more after The Roses is run on Saturday, but, until now at least, the stars have certainly been aligning for her marking Philia as a very exciting prospect moving forward.

More articles