A petite three-year-old filly coud be the horse to spearhead the rebuilding process of a Group 1-winning stable with a win at Flemington on Saturday.
Unbeaten filly, “Scillato” could prove herself to be the best horse trainers Lee and Shannon Hope have had since the pair resumed training after controversial cobalt suspensions in 2019. The father and son duo spent three years on the sidelines after copping the most severe penalties as the first of several cases tried under new cobalt rules in a saga that started in 2015.
“These days, cobalt cases largely attract a fine to trainers that present horses to race with elevated levels of the element in their system, now widely acknowledged and accepted as a non performance enhancing drug, hence the lighter penalties.
Shannon Hope said the camp had no option but to rebuild after a tough period and said he would always be grateful for the support of owners such as Alpara Lodge owner, Greg White for whom they trained their sole Group 1 winner, Fenway.
“I’ve been very fortunate that they (Alpara Lodge) are not only a client, they’ve become a great friend” Hope said “When we were out for three years, he kept in touch and they were one of the first people that had a horse with us and came back into the stable when we opened up”
“Life’s not easy, we had to regroup and start again and things are ticking along nicely again”
The camp has had 31 winners since reopening for business but Scillato could provide the stable with its second winner at Flemington in more than six years in the Good Friday Appeal Plate over 1100m.
Scillato has won her two provincial starts in emphatic fashion, scoring at Seymour on debut last month before successfully stepping up to Benchmark level 64 at Bendigo. She will tackle open three-year-old fillies grade at Flemington.
Hope said the American Pharoah filly would give away size to her opposition but would also give connections a guide to her talent.
“She’s a really nice progressive filly but how good? We really don’t want to put a limit on it yet” Hope said. “We’re just going through the grades with her. She’s not ovely big and she’s got a lovely sweet head but we would love her to have a better constitution because she doesn’t eat a lot.
“She’s very petite but has got a bit of an aura about her”
“How good she is? I’ll tell you at 2.35pm on Saturday afternoon”.
Brad Waters – Racenet