Damask Rose out to defend Te Akau’s Cockram title
Richard Edmunds - Raceform • August 29th, 2025 9:30 AM • 4 min read
Te Akau Racing will attempt to win the Gr. 3 Cockram Stakes for the second year in a row on Saturday, with high-class mare Damask Rose set to make her Australian debut in the Caulfield feature.
Trainer Mark Walker sees the 1200-metre race for fillies and mares as a suitable season launchpad for the stable’s spring four-year-olds. The distinctive tangerine colours took the spoils 12 months ago with 60-kilogram topweight Quintessa.
“We do think the Cockram Stakes is an ideal race to kick off these four-year-old mares in,” Walker told RaceForm this week. “Damask Rose will actually get in a lot better at the weights on Saturday (57 kilograms) than Quintessa did last year. Quintessa had to carry a penalty because of her Group One win in the Levin Classic, so it’s going to be an even more suitable race for Damask Rose than it was for Quintessa in that regard.
“But it is shaping up to be quite a hot field, so it’s going to be interesting to see how she goes first-up and in her very first Australian start.”
Damask Rose has proven her class on home soil, winning four of her seven starts including the inaugural $3.5 million NZB Kiwi and the $1.5 million Karaka Millions 3YO. She also placed in the Karaka Millions 2YO and Gr. 3 Gold Trail Stakes.
Bought by David Ellis for $200,000 from Book 1 of Karaka 2023, Damask Rose has returned more than $2.2 million in prize-money for her syndicate of owners. The fact that she is a stakes-winning full-sister to multiple Group One winner Provence pushes her value well beyond that figure, and any Australian black type will only add further lustre to her pedigree page.
The daughter of Savabeel has had jumpouts over 800 metres and 1000 metres at Caulfield and Cranbourne respectively, and she has pleased Walker with her build-up to Saturday’s return to racing.
“We’re very happy with how she’s been progressing so far in this new preparation,” he said. “Blake Shinn will ride her again on Saturday and we’re looking forward to it.
“All going well and safely through this Saturday, she’ll head towards the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes.”
The Gr. 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes will be run over 1400 metres at Caulfield on September 20. The TAB has a market open for the A$1 million feature, where Damask Rose is on the second line of favouritism at $9. She shares that mark with Evaporate and Pop Award. The $8 favourite is Another Wil, who was a close second in last year’s Sir Rupert Clarke and went on to win the Gr. 1 CF Orr Stakes.
