John Sargent reckons his Gr.2 Tea Rose Stakes contender Aspect Ratio has snuck under the guard of punters as boom three-year-old Libertini maintains a stranglehold on the market.
The winner of the Silver Shadow and Furious Stakes, Libertini is the $1.85 favourite to add the Tea Rose (1400m) to her resume, despite being untested on heavy tracks and rising 200 metres in distance.
Sargent saddles up rival runners Aspect Ratio and Emeralds who at $81 and $61 respectively rank among the outsiders of the field despite carrying creditable form lines into Saturday's race.
Aspect Ratio proved her wet track credentials with a second to New Zealander Quick Thinker in the Ming Dynasty Quality (1400m).
"I would have thought they'd be shorter in the betting but that's what the market is," Sargent said.
"As long as I'm happy with them, that's the main thing."
Sargent has a knack for producing Classic fillies and in recent years has won a VRC Oaks with Kirramosa (2013) and Queensland Oaks with Quintessential (2012), while Gust Of Wind became the last horse to beat Winx when she claimed the 2015 Australian Oaks.
He has high hopes Aspect Ratio can follow a similar path with the Curraghmore graduate boasting a stout pedigree.
And it is that stamina that could be significant if Saturday's race turns into a slog on the heavy Randwick track.
"Those brilliant horses like Libertini, it (the wet track) can bring them back to the pack, so I'm very happy with that.
"It's probably more in our favour than in the brilliant filly's favour."
Sargent expects Aspect Ratio eventually stretch out to a staying trip and will not be surprised if she ends up on a VRC Oaks path this spring.
Aspect Ration, a daughter of Declaration of War and Group Three performer Poste Restante, was purchased by Sargent out of Curraghmore's 2018 Book 2 draft for $75,000. -AAP
