Quirindi, Narromine previews: Trainer Scott Singleton eyes 400-win mark

Trainer Scott Singleton is closing in on 400 winners and could creep closer to the milestone with a little help from a rising ten-year-old mare having just her second start today.

Trainer Scott Singleton is closing in on 400 winners Picture: Bradley Photos

Trainer Scott Singleton is on 396 career wins as he prepares to saddle up four horses at Tuesday’s Quirindi meeting.

He’s won bigger races in his time than Tuesday’s Willow Tree Cup Maiden Plate but if successful, it would be a peacock-sized feather in any trainer’s cap.

Singleton’s runner is Closetothinkitover who is herself close to ten.

The daughter of High Chaparral made headlines when she made her debut at Scone a week before Christmas, at the age of nine.

To put her maturity into perspective, she was foaled on September 14 in 2015 which is exactly four years to the day after Winx saw first light at Coolmore Stud.

Not surprisingly perhaps given the circumstances, Closetothinkitover touched $101 at her first start yet ran way above most people’s expectations, finishing fifth of the 14 runners in the 1300m Maiden.

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“She was almost like a three-year-old having her first prep last prep, just because she’d never sort of done a lot but I think she has come back just as good, if not a little bit better, and that would have to have her pretty competitive on Tuesday I’d say,’’ Singleton said.

“Once she gets up towards ten furlongs (2000m), she’ll be better but I think (today) is a winnable distance range for her and I thought she trialled good enough to be very competitive.”

Any chance of winning an Oaks is well behind Closetothinkitover but her classic pedigree makes her a very appealing broodmare for later on.

Aside from being by So You Think’s sire, High Chaparral, Singleton’s mare counts two Derby winners as close relations namely Bde Murray’s AJC Derby winner Universal Prince and Robert Sangster’s VRC classic winner Blevic.

Singleton is forecasting a bold bid from the stable recruit Enterprise Lassie when she steps out for the just the second time since relocating to Scone from Queensland via South Australia.

“I was really happy with that first run we gave her,’’ Singleton said.

“We missed out on a couple of meetings since just with rain and what-not, but she gets there on Tuesday in really good shape and if she goes just as well as she did last start, she’d have to be in the mix somewhere I would think.

“A bit of rain probably gives her a better chance.”

Enterprise Lassie runs away with it in the 5th at the Sunny Coast!@kendrickracing1pic.twitter.com/6rF6Olb1qz

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 26, 2024

There will be few outright faster horses in action at Quirindi today than Too Darn Lovely who is sure to give her rivals something to chase down in the Gowings Toyota Country Boosted Benchmark 58 Handicap over 1000m.

“She struggles to get the 1000m but she has won at Quirindi over the 1000m as a two-year-old,’’ Singleton pointed out.

“And I think if she is ever going to run it, it will be at Quirindi because the last half is downhill.

“She’ll certainly be competitive in that grade of race.”

Singleton can bring it home for his supporters in the last race on the card where he is represented by the three-times winning Shamus Award mare, Insightful Award.

“We missed out on a couple of runs with her since she won at Scone,’’ Singleton said.

“I was happy enough with how she went that last start at the provincials but she is certainly better placed in country grade there on Tuesday.

“She’s also won at the track. You give them a big tick when they’ve been around Quirindi and performed well there because it is a tricky track and not a lot of them want to let down there because it is downhill.”

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Narromine preview: Lundholm’s Diggers Cup contender

The prospect of a wet track at Narromine on Tuesday hasn’t dampened the prospects of Diggers Cup contender Plenitude, according to his trainer Clint Lundholm.

Today’s meeting was due to be conducted on Sunday but was postponed due to heavy overnight rain.

Tuesday will be the first time Plenitude has raced on a heavy track (it was given out as a 10 on Monday) but Lundholm is cautiously optimistic the son of Kermadec will handle the conditions.

“When he won the Silver Goblet as a two-year-old, it was a Soft track,’’ Lundholm said. “I think he’ll get through it not too bad.

“But still in all, the horse is racing well and he’s fully fit. From the soft draw he is going to get every chance.”

A local victory for Plenitude, who just kept on coming. pic.twitter.com/QWGCpLzp74

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 9, 2023

A son of George Ryder and Doncaster winner Kermadec, Plenitude has been on an upward trajectory during his current, high intensity campaign.

“He is a horse that just took a little bit more racing this time,’’ Lundholm explained.

“Obviously we wanted to have him right for the Championships and a few things went against him there. He just didn’t get the perfect preparation leading into it and he probably just went there underdone.

“His run at Orange the other day; he sat in a nice position but it just seems to be an on-speed day and he just couldn’t peg the leaders back.

“I thought it was a good run and he’s come through it well.”

Lundholm is anticipating a forward showing on debut from the well-bred Matilda Of Tuscany who has sent out some positive indicators in her latest two trials in the Central West.

“She is a nice progressive type,’’ Lundholm said. “I think she will get out over a little bit further but she has shown nice gate speed and looks to be a chance.”

Lundholm stable-recruit Willinga Karisma, meanwhile, looks ideally placed on multiple levels to score her first win since her change of address when he contests the Qube Agri Narromine Benchmark 50 Handicap.

“She does look like she gets through alright,’’ Lundholm said.

“She had a long time off, she’s had the two runs back at 1000m, so stepping into a 1300m now she should be near enough to her best.”

A daughter of the Bart Cummings-bred, Mike Moroney-trained All Aged Stakes winner Tivaci, Willinga Karisma’s lone win was at Scone in mid-November on a Heavy 9.

Originally published as Quirindi, Narromine previews: Trainer Scott Singleton eyes 400-win mark