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Gai Waterhouse; Jet Away; International Action; John Thompson; Junoob; Scream Machine; Kirramosa; Queensland Oaks

GAI’S NEXT FIORENTE?

Gai Waterhouse rolls out the horse she hopes will be her next Fiorente at Randwick on Saturday.

Excess Knowledge, purchased late last year by Round Table Racing from the UK yard of John Gosden in Newmarket, will be under close scrutiny when he lines up in the BM90 event over 140om that closes the program.

A son of the top German staying sire Monsun, Excess Knowledge raced only six times in the UK for one win and three placings up to 2400m including a second in the G3 Gordon Stakes at Goodwood.

His last start for Gosden was in the G1 St Leger over 2900m at Doncaster in September where he finished 10th of 11 runners behind Leading Light.

While his future in Australia obviously lies as a stayer Excess Knowledge showed enough dash to win a 1050m barrier trial at Randwick on May 9 to suggest he is cap[able of running a bold race first-up for Waterhouse despite a wide barrier draw.

Round Table Racing’s Bruce Slade says Excess Knowledge, a striking 16 hands near black entire, fits a similar profile to Waterhouse’s Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente.

Both are by Monsun, both finished second in the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood and both achieved a Timeform rating of 116 as three- year-olds.

JET AWAY TAKES OFF

While on the subject of imports, David Hayes is reported to be thrilled with the progress of the injury-troubled Jet Away, one of the boom horses of last spring.

Jeyt Away has not been seen since he suffered a tendon injury when unplaced in the G1 Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington on October 31 two weeks after his luckless fourth in the Caulfield Cup.

He made huge impact last autumn when he won his first two Australian starts in the Golden Mile at Bendigo and Easter Cup at Caulfield.

Jet Away is now back in work at Hayes’ Lindsay Park base at Euroa and is expected to be ready for the early weight-for-age races that start the Melbourne spring,

“He’s been doing rehab and he’s got the all clear to do normal training,” Hayes reported.

“He’ll probably be running in the Memsie or the Liston (Lawrence Stakes), and then he’ll head towards the Caulfield Cup.”

The challenge for Jet Away is his age as he is a rising eight-year-old, but the age factor is becoming less relevant at the top level in Australia due to big number of imports that now dominate our racing as many were sparingly raced as young horses in the northern hemisphere.

Jet Away won six of his first 16 starts in the UK – including a win over Fiorente in the 2012 Festival Strakes at Goodwood- but didn’t start racing until he was three and had only five starts in that first season.

SPRING WATCH ON OVERSEAS RACES

Further afield the spring focus will be widespread over the weekend. In the UK former Australian-trained stayers Kelinni and Gatewood taking on potential Caulfield and Melbourne Cups contender Pether’s Moon in the Listed Tapster Stakes at Goodwood.

Several of Europe’s leading weight-for-age horses including Cirrus Des Aigles and Olympic Glory tackle Sunday’s G1 Prix d’Ispahan at Lonchamp on a program that also features some likely spring entries in the Prix Vicomtesse Vigier, led by last start G3 winner Montclair, trained by Andre Fabre for Terry Henderson and Simon O’Donnell’s OTI Racing.

Racing Victoria’s international recruitment officer Leigh Jordon is keeping a close watch on the overseas form and wil also have his eye on Hong Kong and Ireland this weekiend as well as the races at Goodwood and Longchamp.

At the Curragh the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup field includes Aidan O’Brien’s Magician, who won the G1 Breeders Cup Turf last year and a G3 race first-up earlier this month, Mukhadram, second behind African Story in the G1 Dubai World Cup in March, Irish Derby winner Trading Leather and the evergreen globetrotter Red Cadeaux.

Jordan says any one of the four would be a catch for the Melbourne spring.

In the Champions and Chater Cup at Sha Tin, a race carrying ballot exemption for the Caulfield Cup, his focus will be on Dominant as trainer John Moore indicated a spring trip to Melbourne was on the agenda following his win in the G1 Hong Kong Vase last December.

THOMPSON PRESSES ON FOR PATINACK

It will be business as usual for trainer John Thompson at Doomben on Saturday when he sends out three horses in the Patinack Farm colours.

Just how long Thompson will continue as the retained trainer for Nathan Tinkler’s Patinack operation is anybody’s guess despite this week’s announcement that Tinkler had finally struck a deal to sell all his racing and breedding interests to Asian investors.

Like most things involving Tinkler the contracts are yet to be signed, sealed and delivered. Until the deal is finalised Thompson can only press on with what is left of the once massive Patinack racing team.

Thompson will send out classy mare Peron, last start winner Pretty Pins and good sprinter Metallurgical at Doomben on Saturday in the hope of picking up at least one more big win for Tinkler.

Thompson is a training talent and deserves decent support from owners and breeders to help him establish his own stable when the Patinack curtain finally comes down.

DESERVED SPELL FOR JUNOOB

Trainer Chris Waller has sent the classy import Junoob for a well earned spell after his third in last Saturday’s Doomben Cup that gave him a deserving G1 placing.

Junoob began his first Australian campaign at the start of the current season and he has since contested 13 races with just eight weeks the longest break he has enjoyed between starts.

His thrived on his testing campaign, winning four times with five minor placings to prove that not all imports need to be cuddled through light preparations. He should be one of Chris Waller’s brightest staying talents when he returns next season.

Waller has kept another of his toughest imports Moriarty in work as he pursues a second successive win in next month’s G2 Brisbane Cup. He may be joined by two or three of his stablemates running in Saturday’s McKeIl Cup at Randwick.

SCREAMING TOWARDS THE STRADBROKE

Scream Machine has been overlooked in most Doomben Ten Thousand assessments as the distance and weight-for-age conditions are against him, but it’s all a means to an end for trainer Jason Coyle.

The $1 million Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm on June 7 is the prize Coyle is chasing with Scream Machine and he’ll be happy if he gets a solid finish from the gelding in the Ten Thousand on Saturday.

Coyle set Scream Machine for the Stradbroke three months ago and the five-year-old’s first-up third over 1350m at Rosehill was all he needed to confirm his Brisbane plans.

"He pretty much did what we wanted him to do,” Coyle said of his Rosehill third.

“The Ten Thousand is the perfect fit to give him the race he needs before the Stradbroke. We are happy," Coyle said.

KIRRAMOSA RETURNS TO RANDWICK

A farm near Wyong on the NSW central coast has been the base for VRC Oaks winner Kirramosa’s recovery from the fetlock operation she required in January.

The winner of the Wakeful Stakes-Oaks double at Flemington in Melbourne Cup week missed the autumn after she underwent an operation to remove a small bone chip from a fetlock.

“It needed to be dealt with and the operation was followed by a long recovery,” said trainer John Sargent.

“She went to a farm that specialises in rehab at Wyong and they did all the right things for four months.”

Kirramosa’s rehab included being boxed for a month and a month of hand walking.

Now back in Sargent’s Randwick stable, Kirramosa has bloomed into a big, big filly.

“I’m looking it at as a blessing. She’s really developed and is 60 kilos heavier – she looks like a mature mare,” he said.

“She’ll be entered for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, but she’ll kick off in Sydney and we’ll take it from there.”

Sargent has another classic in his sights with a Queensland Derby start on the agenda for the fast improving Elusive Runner if he wins at Randwick on Saturday.

“If he can run first or second I’d be keen to take him to Brisbane for the Derby,” Sargent said.

Sargent has also added the handy four-year-old Fancy Dress, the winner of four races for John O’Shea, to his Randwick team.

OAKS LATE ENTRIES

Victorian filly Khutulun is one of three late entries added to the strong list of first acceptors for the $400,000 Queensland Oaks at Eagle Farm on May 31.

The connections of the Luke Oliver-trained filly paid $11,500 to put her in the classic, joining the local pair Navelina (Darren Bell) and Execute At Dawn (Desleigh Forster) as late entries.

Khutulun adds to the depth in the Oaks field as she ran home strongly for second behind Queensland Derby bound colt Sonntag over 2000m at Caulfield last Saturday.

Oliver has booked Ben Melham to ride her in the Oaks.

Whether Kiwi filly Hera runs in the Oaks will not be decided until Tuesday with trainer Kris Lees waiting until after she gallops to decide if she is an acceptor or goes for a spell.