Colin Scott knows his horse has what it takes and he can reasonably assume his jockey is as good there is.
And even if he doesn’t say so himself, his record as a trainer makes him look right at home on the impressive list assembled for Saturday’s Bobbie Lewis Quality (1200m) at Flemington.
Scott trains a team of six horses at Bunyip in Gippsland and the best of them is modestly-bred but well-performed Speediness.
In Saturday’s Group Three race, Speediness, with Craig Williams in the saddle, takes on the multiple Group One winner Mosheen, the fast-improving Shanghai Warrior, the brilliant We’re Gonna Rock and the Sydney sprinters Ahdashim and Title.
But Scott is far from overawed.
“I’m happy enough to take them all on,” Scott said.
“He’s a pretty good horse this fella.”
Speediness is certainly good enough to have justified two trips to Sydney where he accounted for himself capably.
On his first trip north the best of his two runs was a second in the Scone Guineas to Sincero who is now one of the top fancies for the Cox Plate and on his second he was runner-up to Fast Clip in the Group Three Doncaster Prelude at Randwick in April.
Before that Speediness put in perhaps his best run of the autumn in the Group Two Blamey Stakes at Caulfield when an unlucky fourth to Green Moon.
Scott’s assessment of his horse’s race performances is enough to put Speediness in the picture in the Bobbie Lewis.
But it his effort in a recent barrier trial that has sharpened his keenness for Saturday’s contest.
“He trialled the best he’s ever done the other day,” Scott said.
“If he ran up to it he’s going to be right in the race.”
Speediness led up in the 1000m trial at Cranbourne and on the line was holding the boom horse Shanghai Warrior.
“It’s possible Shanghai Warrior wasn’t pushed right out, but we were going alright on the line as well,” Scott said.
“Craig Williams rode him in the trial and he seems happy enough to be on him again.”
Scott said Speediness could return to Sydney for the Epsom Handicap before tackling Melbourne’s major “mile” races, the Toorak Handicap, Waterford Crystal Mile and Emirates Stakes.
The resuming We’re Gonna Rock was favourite at $4.60 on Friday with Speediness at $13.
