Father-and-daughter training combination Ken and Kasey Keys have with a small team of horses always been able to find one to give them hope.
Rich Enuff went close to securing a Group 1 for the stable, while Soul Patch also went close at the highest level.
More recently it was Scheelite who after winning his first two starts, aspirations were for him to be a Group 1 contender.
But in the spring of 2023, Scheelite ran seventh in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) and freshened finished 11th in the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes, before the following autumn finishing around the money, but not quite being able to recapture that winning form.
Scheelite showed glimpses of his form last spring, finishing third at Flemington before finishing fourth over 1200m at Geelong.
It was following that assignment at Geelong the Keys found what was holding back Scheelite from, hopefully, reproducing his best form.
“There’s been plenty of excuses each run, but now that he’s up against the big boys, he has to stand up and prove himself,” Kasey Keys said.
“After that Geelong run, where he looked like he was going to win 100 metres from home, he pulled-up terrible.
“We found he had a lactic acid issue, so we had to change his diet. That has made a big difference and hopefully we all on top of that now.”
Scheelite has had two runs back this campaign and will line up for start number three when he runs in the Carlton Draught Benchmark 74 Handicap (1600m) at Bendigo on Saturday.
The Listed Golden Mile (1600m) on the same program had been the preferred option, but he was too far down the order of entry.
Keys said both runs this campaign had been satisfactory, finishing seventh over 1100m at Flemington then fifth at Moonee Valley over 1200m on March 22.
“We put a line through Moonee Valley on the leaders’ track, but we thought his first-up run was a pass mark and hopefully we’ll see a bit more from him this time,” Keys said.
