Toowoomba trainer Tony Sears has increased his winter carnival firepower with the addition of stakes-winning Melbourne sprinter Hard Stride.
Sears trains Pillar of Creation, who has won more than $150,000 since being moved to Queensland, for Hard Stride’s owners, David Moodie’s Contract Racing Syndicate.
Hard Stride has won four races in Victoria with his best win in the 2014 Listed Regal Roller Stakes.
Among his stakes performances for Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra are placings behind subsequent Group One winners Flamberge and The Quarterback.
“David sent me Hard Stride last week for the Brisbane winter. At this stage he will start off in the Weetwood,” Sears said.
“I plan to have Hard Stride, Pillar of Creation, and Choice Bro in the Weetwood and possibly I Am Boss if he can get in.
“I am a Toowoomba trainer and I have always wanted to win the Weetwood. This might be the year.”
The $150,000 Listed Weetwood on April 16 marks the opening of the Queensland winter carnival and is likely to draw a capacity field.
Another Toowoomba trainer, Ben Currie, is tossing up whether to pursue a staying campaign with Col `N’ Lil after her first-up win at Doomben on Saturday.
Col `N’ Lil raced against top class fillies last winter and was placed twice in stakes races won by Bohemian Lily before running down the track in the Queensland Oaks (2200m) won by Winx.
During a spring/summer campaign she was placed four times at distances between 1650 and 2200 metres.
“She is only small but tries very hard,” Currie said.
“Her form is good around the 1350 to 1600 metre range and it is tempting to keep her there at this stag.
“But Col `N’ Lil did race well against older stayers last time and she was not at her top, so it is a puzzle we must work out.”
The mare is raced by Toowoomba dentist Kim McCasker who has had many good horses including the 1999 Doomben 10,000 winner Laurie’s Lottery.
