Unbeaten group 1 winner Proxima Dea will arrive at Flemington Racecourse as the favorite for the Nov. 5 VRC Oaks (G1) attempting to extend her perfect record to six.
For breeder Richard Kurland, her rise is also vindication of a long-term philosophy built around patience and staying blood.
No filly has gone to the barriers for the VRC Oaks undefeated since the race attained group 1 status in 1979. Proxima Dea is set to become the first.
Atlantic Jewel came tantalizingly close in 2011. Unbeaten in five starts after a 7-length Wakeful Stakes (G2) demolition, she was expected to start at prohibitive odds in the Oaks before a hamstring injury forced her withdrawal in a race subsequently dominated by Mosheen.
Proxima Dea is now poised to make it to the place Atlantic Jewel could not: the Flemington starting gates, still undefeated.
For Kurland, partner of Carolyn Vincent whose name appears in the Transtasman Breeders ownership alongside Andy Giles and Hugh Docherty, the focus is naturally more on what lies immediately ahead rather than what may be written into the record books.
"She's certainly done everything right thus far," Kurland told ANZ News.
"We expect her to perform tomorrow, notwithstanding the adverse draw (barrier 19)."
The wide barrier in 19 presents Zac Lloyd with an early problem, but Kurland said trainer David Payne would resist tying the jockey down with detailed instructions.
"He's going to leave it up to Zac," he said. "He's riding with so much confidence."
Confidence has become a recurring theme around Proxima Dea.
An AU$51 winner on debut in July at Randwick Racecourse, she progressed through victories at Gosford and Rosehill before making the jump into stakes company for the Gloaming Stakes (G3).
Proxima Dea has already beaten the colts in both the Gloaming and Spring Champion (G1) and will attempt 2,500 meters (about 1 9/16 miles) for the first time, with her unbeaten sequence and a place in Oaks history at stake.
If Proxima Dea takes her place in the VRC Oaks, not only will she be the first unbeaten filly to line up in the group 1 era of the race, but she will also be aiming to buck one of the Oaks' strongest modern trends.
The Wakeful Stakes (G2) remains the race's most reliable traditional lead-up and no fewer than nine Oaks runners came through the Oct. 31 race at Flemington. Proxima Dea is not one of them.
Nor is Yulong's aptly named Quick Finish, who takes an altogether less conventional path after finishing third against the colts in the Victoria Derby (G1) Saturday.
The Derby-Oaks double is rarely attempted, but its record is remarkably strong: since 1924, 21 fillies have progressed from the Derby to the Oaks, with six winning and a further six finishing second or third.
In the group 1 era alone, four fillies have taken that route before Quick Finish, producing two Oaks winners and a runner-up. So, while Proxima Dea is clearly the form horse and the Wakeful remains the form race, the Derby provides an unorthodox but historically reliable alternative pathway into the classic.
