Scone preview: Time for Lees' gelding to stand up and be counted
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Inaugural Big Dance winning trainer Kris Lees is hoping to fast track one, potentially, two of modern-day string into the 2025 edition via the Listed Scone Cup (1600m) in the nation's thoroughbred capital.
The 2021 Scone Cup was Rustic Steel's ticket to the first Tuesday in November, the Ron and Judy Wanless galloper cashing in and earning the honour of distinction of inaugural Big Dance winner.
Lees' Scone Cup duo, Tavi Time and Loch Eagle, are at different stages of their respective campaigns ahead of the feature, one of them race-fit, the other kept fresh for the occasion.
Tavi Time, the New Zealand-bred son of Tavistock is third-up off a recent 'fading' fifth in the Hawkesbury Cup on a testing Heavy 8 surface.
'I was happy enough with the horse,' Lees said.
'We probably rode him out of his comfort zone for two reasons; how the track was playing and the alley (nine of 10) so we decided to push forward, sit outside the leader and taking on that hard-fit horse (Punch Lane).
'And to be fair to my horse, I think he likes it probably one or two grades firmer than what it presented so the run was okay under the circumstances.
'You would think, third run, he is ready to run to his best with two conditioning runs under his belt.
'It's a strong race but one I think he can figure in.'
Loch Eagle, meanwhile, aims to maintain his compelling fresh record in what will be his first visit to Scone but his 11th run over the mile.
In fact, his record at the 1600m stands up against any, or all, of his rivals.
'He's an Ingham winner and he has run in Doncasters and so forth,' Lees said.
'He is starting off straight at his trip but he's trialled up nicely. He always reacts well fresh over shorter course.
'The only other option was to run in the Luskin Star and I just thought 1300m would find him out, he'd be off the bit chasing throughout.
'So at a mile, he gets a chance to travel deep into the race.'
Lees is down to saddle-up as many as 14 of his Newcastle residents across the two day carnival.
Few of them hold more intrigue and interest than the Irish-born, English-raced gelding Brave Call.
Brave Call boasts broodmare sires the ilk of Camelot, Sadler's Wells, Ile de Bourbon and Vaguely Noble that together account for his 2011m Maiden win at Windsor in England.
That said, his Newmarket mile placing stands him in good stead when Tommy Berry steers him around in the Kia Ora Class 1 Handicap (1600m).
'He's a nice horse,' Lees said. 'He'll be better for the run.
'He'll be strong late if he can come through them and have a bit of luck.'
Lees can end day one of the Scone carnival on a high when the progressive Denman mare strives to build on her tidy resume of three wins and four placings from just 10 runs so far.
'I think she is genuinely city class over the winter,' Lees said.
■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Canberra trainer Todd Smart is as confident about Cashbook's prospects in the rich Inglis 2YO Challenge as he was ahead of his 2023 race winner, Love Shuck.
That's despite Cashbook's Wagga debut last month where he was backed in from $3.20 to $2.35 yet only managed to beat two others to the line but with substantial excuses.
'He did have a pretty hard run, he was three and four-wide the trip, and he got cardiac arrhythmia out of that as well,' Smart revealed.
'So we decided just to give him an easy week and a couple of gallops into a trial.
'His trial was really good. He never left the bridle and he pulled up well and hasn't missed a beat since.
'I am probably more confident in the horse going into this run than I was at Wagga.'
Cashbook is racing for the lion's share of a $200,000 purse in the Inglis 2YO Challenge which is restricted to those bought at the firm's annual HTBA Yearling Sale in 2024.
Smart found Cashbook there among Widden Stud's draft, paying $28,000 to take him home to Canberra with a view to returning to the nation's horse capital.
'As soon as you buy a horse at that sale, we buy it thinking that this is the race,' he said.
'We get up (to the sale) most years and we bought Love Shuck and it won a few years ago and I think this horse is a really good chance.
'From the gate, he will just need to go back and find cover and they can finish off at Scone.'
Cashbook could be one of the bargains of a lifetime for Smart but even a win in the Inglis 2YO Challenge won't see him overtake Love Shuck in that department.
Already a winner of $278,150, Love Shuck was knocked down at the 2022 HTBA Yearling Sale for just $6,000.
Smart, meanwhile, will be a participant on day two on the Scone Cup carnival as well when the barnstorming Gerry Harvey-bred descendant of Skating, Straight Fire, contests the TAB Highway on Saturday.
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