Speediness will not back-up in the 2014 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick on Saturday and the consistent galloper will head to the spelling paddock before returning for what could be a Cox Plate campaign during the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival.
Speediness will be sent to the spelling paddock before returning to the races in the Bobbie Lewis Quality during the Spring Racing Carnival. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Speediness was unable to record a race win during his autumn preparation, but stamped himself as a genuine contender at weight-for-age level with second place finishes in both the Group 2 Apollo Stakes (1400m) at Royal Randwick on February 22 and the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 29.
The Testa Rossa gelding failed to handle the heavy track and had no luck in the Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday, but Scott told TVN that he was still happy with the campaign of his star galloper.
“He looks great and hasn’t left an oat, but I know him very well and he’s coming to the end of it,” Scott said.
“He’s going home for a break now then we can get him back for the spring.
“He’s done a marvelous job again for us; he didn’t win a race up here in Sydney but he won $250,000 for the preparation.
“You’d love a stable full of horses who could do that and try as hard as he does.”
Speediness performed admirably in Group 1 handicap events during the 2013 Spring Racing Carnival, finishing fourth in the Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m), fourth in the Toorak Handicap (1600m) and third in the Emirates Stakes (1600m), but Scott is eyeing a tilt at the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) later in the year.
The six-year-old has only previously had one race start over 2000 metres, when he finished seventh behind More Joyous in the 2012 Queen Elizabeth Stakes, but Scott believes that the two-time Group 1 placegetter may be suited by the step-up in trip as he gets further into his racing career.
“We’ll start off in the Bobbie Lewis, then work through the Sir Rupert Clark and races like that,” Scott said.
“Then we’ll make a decision whether he goes to the Cox Plate or the Waterford Crystal Mile and Emirates, like he did last year.”
Speediness has now recorded seven wins and ten placings from 31 race starts and should be able to take his career prizemoney to over $1 million in the spring.
