On any other day, trainer John Salanitri would be saddling up Royal Island in the Civic Stakes at Rosehill.

But he has a pressing reason to stay in Melbourne on Saturday with two-year-old Madonna Lily making her debut on her home track at Caulfield.

Salanitri has a high opinion of the filly and hopes she can live up to her Oaks pedigree in the spring.

"Her mother is a sister to Serenade Rose so she is bred to be an Oaks filly," Salanitri said.

"The 1100 metres on Saturday will probably be too short but she is ready to go to the races and has to start somewhere.

"I'd like to see her hitting the line.

"If she does what we expect then we can set her for races like the Thousand Guineas and the VRC Oaks.

"That's what she is bred to do."

Madonna Lily will be ridden by in-form apprentice Michael Dee and is a $26 chance.

The more experienced Green Card is the $3.80 favourite ahead of Northkape ($4.50)

Green Card broke his maiden with a 4-1/4 length win at Bendigo at his third start while Northkape was an all-the-way winner on debut at Cranbourne.

Royal Island is a $12 chance in the Listed Civic Stakes (1350m) with Salanitri sending him north in search of a wet track.

The winner of the Wangoom Handicap, the feature sprint at the Warrnambool carnival in May, Royal Island has won five and run second twice on soft or heavy tracks.

Despite fine weather in Sydney, Rosehill remained in the heavy range on Friday with heavy dews and cold temperatures playing their part.