It took a while, and some thought he might not get back to his best, but Matt Hoysted is as pleased as he could be at this stage of Uncommon James’ racing return.
Race fitness took a toll in the 2023 Oakleigh Plate winner’s first-up outing at Randwick on March 8, but the Brisbane-based trainer is positive that there is more to come from the now six-year-old gelding, and that could be in the Group 1 The Galaxy (1100m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
Determining it will be a gallop at Rosehill on Monday morning after which Hoysted will decide on a Galaxy start or wait for the Group 3 Star Kingdom Stakes (1200m) a week later.
“As long as he works well there and comes through it, we will accept for The Galaxy and assess after acceptances,” Hoysted said.
“We needed to see him back last start and have that zest for racing, which he did.
“He had almost ten months off and pulled up very ‘big’. They were carving out fast splits and he sustained a good gallop but felt the pinch over the last 100-metres which he was entitled to do,” he added with reference to the fourth placing in the Group 2 Challenge Stakes (1000m).
Uncommon James ran fifth in The Galaxy last year but it was a pair of lacklustre results during the Brisbane Winter Carnival finishing outside of the placings that had him thinking about what could have gone wrong.
“We did start to do things differently with him including giving him a nice break but it had more to do with him not appreciating the shifting surfaces that we had last winter,” Hoysted added.
“They were the worst runs of his career so we gave him a break but still weren’t happy with the way he came up, so we gave him another break and that has been the catalyst.
“He has come back a different horse. It was the best he’d looked for a long time but we still had to take it step-by-step, then his trials and jump outs were impressive.
“We saw him get back that enthusiasm to want to be there. That was the key and he is older now but still has that high-cruising speed and we’ll look to use that over further.”
Should the gelding start in The Galaxy and win, Uncommon James would be the first Queensland-trained galloper to take out the event since the Tony Gollan-trained Temple Of Boom won in 2012.
