A horse bred by his co-trainers Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra will make his debut in a stakes race at Caulfield.
Ellerton and Zahra will start two-year-old gelding Schilleraine in Saturday’s Listed Thoroughbred Club Cup (1200m) after scratching him from a maiden at Ballarat on Tuesday, won by stablemate Giroux, when he drew the outside barrier.
Zahra said he and Ellerton ended up as the owners of the mare Choilaine and decided to breed from the daughter of Choisir after her eight-start career.
Schilleraine was her second foal.
“Unfortunately, we actually had to put the mare down about a month ago,” Zahra said, explaining that Choilaine developed laminitis.
Zahra said Schilleraine, a son of Artie Schiller, continued to improve and had shown talent.
“He’s still doing a lot wrong and we’re throwing him in the deep end a little bit on Saturday but he just keeps improving and has some really nice raw talent,” Zahra said.
“He’ll probably be a nice three-year-old for us.
“It’s not a big field so we thought we’d have a bit of a throw at the stumps.”
Schilleraine was second to Giroux in a recent Flemington jump-out and is at $13 in the TAB’s early market with Godolphin colt Dissolute the $3.50 favourite.
David Hayes and Tom Dabernig have last-start Sandown winner Highland Beat and well-bred colt Lionhearted in Saturday’s race.
The Leon and Troy Corstens-trained filly Fromparis Withlove, who struck traffic problems in the straight on debut last Saturday at Caulfield, is in to $9 after being installed at $31 on Wednesday.
The John O’Shea-trained Dissolute finished strongly from back in the field for second to Valliano in the VOBIS Gold Ingot (1200m) at Caulfield earlier this month at his first Melbourne start and the second start of his career.
“He’s run well at his only two starts and last time had no luck from a wide gate, so we’re looking for a nice effort from him,” O’Shea said.
