SCT Syndications praying for breakthrough stakes win
Ten Commandments chasing fifth straight victory when he takes on the Listed Creswick Stakes at Flemington
Unbeaten two-year-old Steparty (Artie Schiller) is the headliner for Paul Preusker but the country Victoria trainer also has another promising horse in his stable who is aiming for five-straight wins.
The Horsham-based Preusker, whose juvenile colt Steparty is favourite to make it four straight victories when he contests the Taj Rossi Series Final (Listed, 1600m) on Saturday, will also head to Flemington with the in-form Ten Commandments (Palentino).
The three-year-old gelding, who won a Swan Hill maiden on April 17 before winning his next three starts at Geelong, Hamilton and back at the Swan Hill carnival on June 9, will run in the $175,000 Creswick Stakes (Listed, 1200m).
While Ten Commandments would be the first stakes winner for Palentino (Teofilo) if he is able to take out the Listed event, it would also be a Saturday milestone success for SCT Syndications, which is operated by husband and wife Stephen Everett and Tash Blakley.
Everett is under no illusions of the task that lies before Ten Commandments.
“Going for five in a row, it doesn’t happen very often, but talking to Paul during the week, he thinks he’s come on from that last run, so we’d thought we’d give [the Creswick Stakes] a go,” Everett said yesterday.
“Paul thinks, eventually, he’ll get over a bit more ground, so anything he is doing now for us is a bonus, really.”
The gelding was well beaten in maidens either side of a spell at his first two starts and this campaign was likely to be make or break for Ten Commandments.
The early signs were positive, despite things going pear-shaped for his first-up run when he was caught wide and ridden to lead at Donald in March.
Everett said: “At the start, Paul was a bit on the fence [about his ability], but he did say he was still immature and quite soft-boned.
“He went shin sore but he thought he was starting to improve and this preparation would tell.
“We brought him back into work and he said he really started working well with Benchmark 70 horses, so he thought he’d turned the corner and started to show something.”
Preusker was proven right and connections have since banked nearly $80,000 from the horse’s seven race starts, five times the gelding’s purchase price, having been selected by renowned agent John Foote.
Despite Ten Commandments being by an off broadway stallion in Palentino, Everett was not perturbed when he presented for sale. The fledgling syndicator owned a share in the Darren Weir-trained Palentino, a 2016 Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) and Makybe Diva Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner, so when Foote flagged the Bucklee Farm-consigned Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale yearling as a potential candidate to purchase, Everett’s ears were immediately pricked.
“[Ten Commandments] is another typical John Foote[-purchased] horse,” Everett said.
“He said when we bought him that he was going to take a bit of time to mature and that he was going to be a three-year-old, so that’s why we took him to Preusker as he gives them that time.
“John just thought he was a nice horse and he thought we’d have to pay between $50,000 and $70,000, so to pick him up for $15,000, he was really happy and so were we.
“Even with Weiry, nine out of ten of his good horses were between $30,000 and $100,000 that Foote was buying for him. He just knows all the families going back further and further and where they match in. He has an eye for type and when John says, ‘I really like that horse’, we just say, ‘yes, that’s what we’ll do’.”
John Allen is expected to ride Ten Commandments, who is the only named foal out of dual winner Hearts And Flowers (Show A Heart), at Flemington.
“He is a tough horse, so if he runs badly it would be a sign that he’s had enough. Ideally, we would have liked to have taken him into a race like that third or fourth up but we were at a maiden level, so we didn’t know how he was going,” Everett said.
“Paul has those training facilities where he can keep them ticking over, putting them in the paddock for a little bit and bringing them back, so they seem to be able to hold their form and condition well.”
A farmer, Everett spells all SCT Syndications horses at his property at Cororooke, near Colac, in Victoria’s western district.
Operating as a licensed syndicator for just two and a half years, SCT has horses with Preusker, Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, Dan Bowman, Andrew Bobbin, Lindsey Smith and Maddie Raymond.
“We’ve had a couple of midweek winners, but nothing on a Saturday as yet, so hopefully this weekend is the stepping stone,” Everett said.
“We’ve got a few good yearlings coming through. Foote bought us a few nice ones this year, so we seem to be going in the right direction.”