Having spent three years in the wilderness courtesy of a cobalt ban, Lee & Shannon Hope were back in the winner’s circle at Flemington courtesy of unbeaten filly Scillato in the Good Friday Appeal Plate (1100m).
Scillato scored on debut at Seymour and then at Bendigo and had to dig deep to land victory under Caulfield Cup winning rider Cory Parish.
“She’s quite easy to train,” Shannon Hope said.
“She doesn’t take a lot of work, and today was just the next step after the maiden and the 64, beating the open horses.
“It’s hard to get Blake (Shinn) home (to ride work). He’s flying and we probably don’t have enough horses for him, but Cory does a lot of work behind the scenes.
“He’s a dual Group 1 winning rider and to be honest that was a 12 out of 10 ride.
“I’d like to thank Kilmore and Benalla Race Club, as the Seymour track is under renovation at the moment, and we’ve been traveling around using the grass facilities, so we’re very grateful.”
Hope said a Stakes race could be on the agenda for Scillato depending on how she pulls up from her third start for as many wins.
