Brookefield trainer Jeff Galea is confident his star sprinter Scatterbox will regain his ‘spark’ at Ballarat on Wednesday night.
An auto-electrician by trade, Galea says Scatterbox has fully recovered from a bout of canine gastroenteritis which has kept him away from the racetrack for a couple of weeks.
“His blood is back to 100 per cent and he’s jumping out of his skin,” Galea said.
Galea added that Scatterbox figuratively “fell in a hole” at Ballarat at his most recent start, which was over 600 metres. Subsequent tests revealed he was suffering the initial stage of the virus.
A finalist in the Group 1 Australian Cup and Group 2 Cranbourne Cup, Scatterbox (Box 6) reverts to a 450-metre sprint.
“I haven’t trialled him, but he seems to go alright first up,” Galea said. “It’s a pretty tough field, but obviously he’ll be feeling a lot better.”
Galea said Aston Nino – who is undefeated in four starts from Box 4 – would be hard to beat. He also has a healthy respect for Aeroplane Eric (Box 3), who has won four races from nine starts.
“With a vacant box between us, we’ll probably give him (Aston Nino) a nice cart into the race,” Galea said. “He’s going to receive plenty of room.”
Scatterbox is a brother of Run Baba Run who provided Galea, 55, with his first group race finalist earlier this year in the Group 1 National Futurity at Wentworth Park in Sydney.
The littermates were also bred by Galea and are from his brood matron Little Pookie who has produced 16 pups from two litters, all of which have won races.
“I’ve always doubted myself as a trainer, but Scatterbox and his sister (Run Baba Run) have been a real learning curve,” Galea said.
A near-faultless beginner, Scatterbox will line up in Race 7 at 8.58pm.
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