Co-trainer Steven O’Dea believes that a combinations of fitness and freshness can see the O’Dea/Hoysted team of four Magic Millions Day performers make their mark including Scallopini who as an eight-year-old can fire in the $1 million The Syndicate (1200m).
An easy canter on Sunday and a gallop on Monday is how O’Dea and training partner Matt Hoysted have kept Stroll, Shooting For Gold, Contemptuous and Scallopini ticking over for the delayed running of the three races they’ll compete in on Thursday.
In The Syndicate, the stable will be represented by race favourite Scallopini ($2.40) and Contemptuous ($13).
Bought for $200,000 way back in 2016 at the Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Scallopini has collected four-times that amount over the last seven years.
With four wins and three placings in 11 first-up outings, it appears like this is the gelding’s time to strike.
“The weight-for-age conditions suits him,” O’Dea said.
“He’s high up in the ratings and meets horses really well from that perspective.
“With a really good fresh record he’s prepped up well for it and we’re expecting him to be hard to beat.”
O’Dea adds that despite being rated the longer-priced chance, Contemptuous isn’t without a hope.
“Contemptuous hasn’t run for six week but jumped out quite well at Doomben a couple of weeks ago and from barrier ten we’ll look to be (riding) positively,” he adds.
“He’s going super and I think he’ll definitely be in the race.”
Stroll ($17) lines up in the $2 million Magic Millions 3yo Guineas (1400m) after finishing third behind Fashion Legend ($17) in the Group 3 Vo Rogue Plate (1350m) at Doomben on New Year’s Eve.
“It was obviously a race that we thought she could win,” O’Dea said.
“It just didn’t pan out to suit her when we ended up fifth on the fence and wasn’t a position that wasn’t going to help her in the way that she likes to race.”
Noting that Stroll is a big striding filly, O’Dea says that drawing barrier 10 before scratchings will allow her the space she needs to bring herself into the race sooner, as needed, than the run at Doomben afforded.
Shooting For Gold was purchased for $8,000 at the Gold Coast National Yearling Sale in 2019 and has since amassed more than $570,000 in prizemoney.
The Magic Millions Snippets (1200m) is his next task for a horse where consistency is a characteristic of the five-year-old gelding.
“He ran super first-up but we were a bit disappointed second-up,” O’Dea said of the most recent fifth placing in the Listed Magic Millions Falvelon (1200m) on Christmas Eve.
“It was a bit of ‘second-up syndrome’ but probably was a touch close in that race and we’ll definitely be riding him where he’s comfortable and wherever he’s traveling,” he said.
“If we ride him that we he finishes off a lot better and can bounce back.
“He did win in Melbourne on soft ground but we don’t want it too much worse than that for him.”
Shooting For Gold is rated a $7.50 chance while King Of Sparta is the $1.90 favourite.