THE STEVEN O'DEA / MATT HOYSTED TEAM'S TOP RATERS TAKE UP THE CHALLENGE IN MELBOURNE

By Graham Potter | Thursday, August 11, 2022

Three highly regarded runners from the Steven O’Dea and Matthew Hoysted training partnership … Scallopini, Uncommon James and She’sgottheboom, … will fly the flag for Queensland at the upcoming Caulfield meeting and their performances on Saturday will determine where they will go next as the temperature starts to warm up for the Spring Carnival.

Scallopini, who ran a big race in the Group 3 Bletchingly Stakes last time when narrowly beaten by King Of Sparta, will step up to Group 2 company again (he has been there before) when he faces the starter in the P B Lawrence Stakes at Caulfield. He also increases the distance test from 1200m to 1400m which will hold no fears for the son of Snitzel.

“This will be the main target race for Scallopini,” said co-trainer matt Hoysted. “Obviously, he went very well last time and will be better suited at 1400m … and the fact that he has had a look at Caulfield before … which can be a tricky track … all of that is going to help.

“There is a Listed race in maybe a month for him, but regardless of whether he goes there or not this Group 2 is his main target.”

The lightly raced, very smart four-year-old Uncommon James will face his first ‘away game’ test in the Listed Regal Roller Stakes over 1200m.

Since having to settle for second place on debut, Uncommon James has reeled off four successive victories, one of those being a Listed race. Three of those wins were achieved with a winning margin of more than two lengths, so, to a degree, the son of Cable Bay has been racing well within himself while still in the early stages of learning his trade.

With his five career starts to date, Uncommon James is easily the most inexperience horse in the Regal Roller Stakes line-up, which brings a test of its own.

“We are a bit undecided about Uncommon James with what happens after Saturday,” acknowledged Hoysted.

“We’ll see how he performs on Saturday. It is his first start down there. There is another Listed race he can go to in three weeks, but, if he were to win on Saturday and win impressively, we might have to aim up a little bit … but it’s all about not getting too far ahead of ourselves and taking it race by race.”

She’sgotheboom will be defending her perfect record when she steps out in the Group 3 Quezette Stakes over 1100m.

The daughter of Spirit Of Boom won all of her three starts as a two-year-old with that run culminating with a win in the rich $500 000 Aquis QTIS Jewel at the Gold Coast and there can be little to argue about in terms of the way she went about her business as a youngster.

The Quezette will be She’sgottheboom’s first run since that Gold Coast win which was back on March 19, meaning she will come into Saturday’s feature first-up after just shy of five months away from race action.

“Yeah, She’sgottheboom will run in the Quezette … and she could go three weeks into the Atlantic Jewel, which is a Listed race at Moonee Valley … or … in four weeks there is a Group 2 at Flemington down the straight, so there are a couple of options for her,” said Hoysted.

The O’Dea/Hoysted team has one other runner in their Spring carnival pack of cards … namely the seven-time winner Shooting For Gold who like Scallopini, showed to good advantage when finishing third in the Group 3 Aurie’s Star at Flemington last Saturday, behind the more than useful Sirius Suspect, in his first race in Melbourne.

“Shooting For Gold will head to Caulfield in a couple of weeks … for The Heath,” explained Hoysted.
“There is a 1100m race there for him … and possibly onto the Bobby Lewis on the back of that … but, again, it is very much a race by race proposition, but those are his next targets.

“We just want to test where they all are at the moment and see how they will measure up,” added Hoysted.

“We’re glad the first (Shooting For Gold and Scallopini) two ran so well … and we hope we can keep that ball rolling!”

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