Peter Moody, one of three men to have so far trained a Testa Rossa Group One winner, was heralding the breed again after notching a double at Sandown yesterday.
Moody quinella-ed the MRC So Called Handicap (1800m) with the Testa Rossa three-year-olds Arvan and Star Scream and now plans to tackle the Group One QTC Queensland Derby (2400m) with the pair.
“Both horses have trained on well with nice, steady preps,” Moody said.
“If they continue on an upwards spiral, they will both head towards Queensland.”
Moody said that being Super VOBIS-qualified horses, they would stay in Melbourne for one more run each over 2000 metres, before targeting the lead-up races to the Queensland Derby on June 12.
Both Arvan and Star Scream have won two of their seven starts.
“They are both by the same stallion and have a lot of similarities,” Moody said.
“They will have their next runs here to make sure they qualify for the better races in Queensland in a few weeks time.”
Moody won the 2006 Group One SAJC Derby with Arvan’s full-brother, Testafiable.
Later in the day, another of Testa Rossa’s three-year-old brigade, Testascana, scored his second win taking the MRC Le Pine Funerals Handicap over 1400m defeating The Comedian.
Testa Rossa is currently placed third in the Leading Sire of Winners (2009/10) table, one spot and four wins ahead of associate sire, More Than Ready.
