Kiwi G1 winner She’s A Dealer testing the Randwick waters
New Zealand champion trainer James’ 4YO mare flies to Sydney for a crack at JRA Plate
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The Roger James and Robert Wellwood-trained She's A Dealer (Sam McNab) winning the BM75 race (1,500m) at Te Rapa on Dec 13, 2025.
PHOTO: SKY RACING WORLD
SYDNEY – The Group 3 JRA Plate (2,000m) might seem a modest one-off Australian target for a last-start Group 1 winner, but co-trainer Roger James sees multiple reasons why it is a good option for She’s A Dealer.
The daughter of Ace High will put a full stop on her campaign in the A$250,000 (S$227,000) event at Royal Randwick in April 18.
The four-year-old won the Group 1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1,600m) at Trentham at her most recent appearance on March 28.
James, who trains the mare in partnership with Robert Wellwood, said the 2,000m event was the most suitable option for her at this stage of the campaign.
“She’s done well this campaign and she’s crying out to go 2,000m,” he said.
“There was an option here (New Zealand), but we thought the Australian ‘black type’ had more of an appeal and the timing was right, so here she is.”
The JRA Plate will be She’s A Dealer’s seventh run of a campaign that stretches all the way back to a 1,400m Benchmark 75 win at Ellerslie on Nov 4, 2025.
She backed that up with a 1,500m win at Te Rapa on Dec 13, and has since raced exclusively in Group company.
She’s A Dealer finished fourth in the Group 2 Rich Hill Mile (1,600m) and the Group 3 Aotearoa Classic (1,600m), and second in the Group 2 Cuddle Stakes (1,600m) before her Group 1 win at that trip.
James is comfortable sending her to Australia for just one run given she crossed the Tasman in 2025, having one run in Sydney before a fifth placing in the Group 1 Queensland Oaks (2,200m).
“She’s very accomplished with her travelling,” he said.
“She arrived over late Monday night. She travelled very well and settled in very quickly.”
James hopes to plan future preparations around trips to Australia and thinks the JRA Plate will assist in working out where She’s A Dealer fits in.
“I think we will be visiting Australia a bit more regularly with her from here on in,” he said.
“We’ll just put our toe in the water this prep and then she’ll have a spell and we’ll plan out from the result of Saturday as to where we head in the spring and summer of next season.
“I don’t doubt her ability. She’s a good mare.”
The five-time winner will have the services of Jordan Childs in the 14-field JRA Plate, in which she drew barrier 14 but will come in two spots if the emergency acceptors, Bear On The Loose and Flying Bandit, do not gain a start.
SKY RACING WORLD
