Isle Of Rose Chasing Six Straight In Les Darcy Cup

Sensational prospect Isle Of Rose maintained her unblemished record when she won her heat of the East Maitland Bowling Club Les Darcy Cup at Maitland on Monday, taking her record to five wins from as many appearances.

Owned and trained by pro-golfer Troy Macdonald, Isle Of Rose took the lead at the first turn and won easily in 24.92, with the brilliant Nangar Jim, lifting his tally to seven wins from his past nine outings, taking out the other heat in 25.06.

Isle Of Rose was bred by Macdonald's mother-in-law Lorraine Atchison, and is from a litter whelped two years ago by Barcia Bale from Hello Mavis, which won 19 races for her central coast owner-breeder.

“I gave Troy the pick of the litter when the pups were seven or eight months old and he took so long to decide I started to wonder whether he was going to wait until they were broken in," Atchison said.

“But while the whole litter is good he certainly made the right choice.

“Isle Of Rose's siblings include Tarawi Tiger, who has won nine from 20 races and has broken 30 in each of three wins at Wentworth Park, Tarawi Indy, who won in 30.06 at Wenty and Tarawi Maple and Tarawi Moo, who won their Gosford maidens in 29.65 and 29.84 respectively.

“It takes my breath away when Troy tells me some of the times Isle Of Rose can run in trials.

“And she can get 520m because he took her to Wentworth Park and despite slipping on the mat and clocking a steady 5.58 first split, Isle Of Rose covered the distance in a very fast 29.66.”

Troy Macdonald said: “Isle Of Rose comes out nice without lid-pinging but she has super acceleration when she hits the ground.

“I will go a long while before I get another one as good as her.”

Box draw for the Les Darcy Cup will be made on Thursday, with Troy Macdonald offering: “It doesn't matter much where Isle Of Rose draws but if I had a preference it would be for box eight to ensure she had room to move early.”