COOLMORE CLASSIC

Run at Rosehill over 1500m, $600,000, quality handicap, fillies & mares three-years-old and over

HISTORY

* First run in 1973 when won by Miss Personality

* Registered race name T A D Kennedy Stakes.

NOTABLE WINNERS

* Princess Talaria (1978); Stage Hit (1980); Emancipation (1984); Bounding Away (1987); Acushla Marie (1992); Skating (1993); Assertive Lass (1997); Sunline (2000 & 2002); Tuesday Joy (2007); Eskimo Queen (2008); Alverta (2010); Plucky Belle (2015), Peeping (2016); Heavens Above (2017)

TALKING POINTS

* The late Max Lees trained five winners - Satin Sand (1986), Quicksilver Cindy (1991), Flitter (1995), Chlorophyll (1996) and Shindig (1998).

* His son Kris will be aiming for his first win with Danish Twist, who finished third in 2017.

* Local trainer Tim Martin's 2017 winner Heavens Above is aiming to be the first horse to go back-to-back.

* Gai Waterhouse, who now trains in partnership with Adrian Bott, will try to equal the record with Prompt Response and Shumookh. Her past winners are Assertive Lass (1997), Bollinger (2003), Shamekha (2004) and Tuesday Joy (2007).

* Ron Quinton has won the race twice with Ofcourseican ( 2012) and Peeping (2016). He has Dixie Blossoms and Daysee Doom this year.

WHAT THE KEY PLAYERS ARE SAYING:

* "We've always thought she (Dixie Blossoms) might run 2000 metres. She's got stamina on the mare's side and the way she races, we think she could probably handle a bit further. There's never been much between them, so the barrier draw will come into play"- Dixie Blossoms and Daysee Doom's trainer Ron Quinton.