Steve O'Dea and Matt Hoysted's winter sojourn to Melbourne reaped a further dividend when Shooting For Gold gunned down the favourites Generation and Star Patrol in Saturday's Group III The McCafe Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield.
Ridden by the unstoppable Damian Lane, the 5yo son of Shooting To Win outbattled Generation (Snitzel) by a head with a further one and a quarter length back to Star Patrol (Starspangledbanner) in third.
A protest by Mark Zahra on the runner-up was dismissed.
Shooting For Gold's first stakes success advances his record to eight wins, three seconds, and two thirds from 19 starts with earnings of $535,600.
"The key was the tempo; that's all this horse needs in these races," Hoysted explained.
"You saw him in the Aurie's Star up the straight when they went pretty steady and he overraced with no cover
"It mapped perfectly from a good alley today and a good, strong tempo that looked on paper which transpired as well.
"It was good to see him relax and show that good turn of foot that he's always had.
"We'll probably have to tackle the straight again in a couple of weeks. He'll probably head to the Bobbie Lewis now, that's a nice logical progression for him. Hopefully, we can have a bigger field than he met in the Aurie's Star with a more genuine tempo and see him be dynamic there.
Shooting For Gold follows the success of the stable’s Uncommon James, a runaway winner of the Listed MRC Regal Roller Stakes and is likely to line up in the Chautauqua Stakes at Moonee Valley next week.
A homebred for Joe Rapisarda, Shooting For Gold was reported as sold for $8,000 at the 2019 National Yearling Sale.
A half-brother to Group III-placed River Bird (Epaulette), Shooting For Gold is the best of four winners from the accomplished racemare, Amber’s Crown.
Joe Rapisarda purchased the daughter of Excites for $14,000 at the 2009 Magic Millions National Weanling Sale.
O'Dea/Hoysted Racing purchased a Pride of Dubai colt out of Amber's Crown for $15,000 at the 2022 MM Gold Coast National Yearling Sale. He has been named King Of Dubai and will carry the Rapisarda colours.
After missing in 2020, Amber’s Crown was covered by Too Darn Hot (GB) last spring.
Shooting For Gold is the eighth stakes-winner for former Darley resident Shooting To Win, who debuts at Oakland Park Stud this spring at a fee of $9,000.
