NZ sprinting features on Oakleigh Plate winners radar

[Wandering Eyes]

Group One-winning Australian sprinter Uncommon James could be in line for a trip across the Tasman to contest the Gr.1 Telegraph (1200m) and Gr.1 Sistema Railway (1200m) in January.

Uncommon James is the winner of six of his 16 starts and more than A$1.4 million in prizemoney, headed by a brilliant victory over Lofty Strike and Asfoora in the Gr.1 Oakleigh Plate (1100m) in Melbourne in February of last year.

Eagle Farm trainer Matt Hoysted considered a trans-Tasman raid earlier in the Cable Bay gelding’s decorated career, and the newly increased prizemoney for New Zealand’s summer sprint features, along with the $1 million in bonuses associated with the brand-new Sport Nation Champion Sprint Series, have made it an even more compelling option in 2024-25.

The Telegraph will be run for a stake of $550,000 at Trentham on January 4, with the Railway shifting from New Year’s Day to the Karaka Millions meeting on January 25 and now boasting $700,000 in prizemoney.

“Taking him across to New Zealand is actually an idea that I’ve had in the back of my mind for quite a lot of his career,” Hoysted said. “I was strongly considering it in the prep before he won the Oakleigh Plate. At that stage, I was sort of thinking about all the options we had available to try to give him a chance at that Group One level. It didn’t work out back then, and he went on to win the Oakleigh after that. But it might be more of an option this time around.

“Coming into the twilight of his career now, it might be a nice way to allow him to continue to race and be competitive at that sort of level.

“That new bonus series in New Zealand makes it a more attractive option as well. I train a few horses for Ladbrokes here in Australia, and they’ve been telling me about some of the exciting new initiatives that Entain has introduced in New Zealand. It’s definitely given us something to think about.”

Uncommon James was last seen on a racetrack in June, finishing seventh behind I Wish I Win in the Gr.1 Kingsford-Smith Cup (1300m) at Eagle Farm.

The six-year-old’s New Zealand mission will depend on a pair of Queensland sprinting assignments in November.

“He’s currently building towards his first jumpout here on Tuesday, and then he’ll have another jumpout a fortnight after that,” Hoysted said. “The plan at this stage is to run him in the Swiss Ace (1000m) and the George Moore Stakes (Gr.3, 1200m). We want to make sure that he’s come up well and is going well enough in this preparation.

“If he puts in a couple of good performances and shows us that his heart is still in it, we’ll be pretty keen to take him over to New Zealand.”

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