Flaming Rose Still Flawless at Ipswich

IT took just 25.11 seconds at Ipswich last Friday to confirm Flaming Rose was a top contender for the Ipswich Auction Sprint series (431m).

Trained by Jason Schmidt, Flaming Rose extended her record to 10 wins and two seconds from 12 starts with her slick heat victory.

On Saturday night the daughter of Aston Dee Bee thunders into the semi-finals as one of the major chances with her trainer confident that she's capable of going even quicker.

"This series looked pretty good for her given the success she's already had over the 431 metres at Ipswich," Schmidt said.

"But I was relieved to get through the heat. She'd had a very light week after pulling up a bit sore from her 500 debut – I'm happier with her going into Saturday and if she gets through to the final she'll be even better again."

Flaming Rose has started her career in a blaze of glory, winning at Ipswich, Albion and Capalaba over varying distances to assemble her fantastic record.

"We certainly weren't expecting her to go ten from twelve with a couple of seconds but she did always stand out as a pup," Schmidt said.

"During break-in she was running times that were race dog times and was the pick of the litter.

"Myself and my brother Craig (Schmidt) along with my nephew all helped out in breeding the (Aston Dee Bee-Jay Bay Queen) litter, we sold four to Victoria, one to Western Australia and kept Flaming Rose and Borneo Bandit."

Flaming Rose will look to cap off her short course career in style by winning the Ipswich Sprint Series with a return to 500 metre racing imminent.

"I gave her a couple of post to posts at Albion Park before her five 500 debut when she won in 30.03," Schmidt said.

"There's great money on offer in this series but the big dollars come in the 520 metre Auction Series which we're aiming towards."

And while more than happy with his exciting prospect, Schmidt has a healthy respect for his opposition.

"Little Byrnes is a deserved favourite for the series," he added.

"He's run some serious time around Ipswich and we need to be under 25 seconds to compete. Same goes for Borneo Bandit for my brother Craig (Schmidt) which went 25.07."