Rival trainers Steve O'Dea and Brian Wakefield left Doomben on Wednesday full of optimism for the Brisbane winter carnival.O'Dea continued to make his mark among Brisbane's training ranks with his second winner following his recent decision to move from Townsville when Stawell Dash scored a commanding 1-1/2 length victory in the Nitto Handicap (1350).Wakefield is eyeing the Group Two Queensland Guineas (1600m) at Eagle Farm in June with Bretonneux following the gelding's fast-finishing win in th
Rival trainers Steve O'Dea and Brian Wakefield left Doomben on Wednesday full of optimism for the Brisbane winter carnival.
O'Dea continued to make his mark among Brisbane's training ranks with his second winner following his recent decision to move from Townsville when Stawell Dash scored a commanding 1-1/2 length victory in the Nitto Handicap (1350).
Wakefield is eyeing the Group Two Queensland Guineas (1600m) at Eagle Farm in June with Bretonneux following the gelding's fast-finishing win in the Jones and Park Handicap (1200m).
O'Dea brought a small team, including star filly Kiss Me Katy, from his Townsville base in north Queensland in January but has since decided to continue his training career in Brisbane after renting 15 boxes at Eagle Farm.
The 32-year-old landed his first win since the move when Go Cart won the Listed Members' Cup (1600m) at Eagle Farm earlier this month after Kiss Me Katy produced two explosive wins at Doomben and Eagle Farm in January and was considered for a Sydney autumn campaign.
However, O'Dea had second thoughts with Kiss Me Katy and scrapped the planned Sydney trip for last month's Listed Widden Stakes at Randwick to concentrate on the Brisbane winter races including the Sir Douglas Wadley (1200m) at Eagle Farm in June.
"Kiss Me Katy is back in work and I'm looking forward to the winter with her," O'Dea said.
While O'Dea has no such ambitious plans with Stawell Dash, he hopes the four-year-old can continue to win through the Brisbane restricted ranks.
O'Dea trained for more than three years in Townsville but has plenty of experience in his background after working alongside Alan Bailey's son Trevor in Melbourne and Singapore while he also worked for Gai Waterhouse and Kevin Moses in Sydney and the Gold Coast's Gillian Heinrich before branching out on his own.
Stawell Dash was a slow maturer after he cracked a sesamoid as a yearling and has taken time to find his potential since making his race debut in Townsville in June last year.
Meanwhile, Wakefield was a keen listener when jockey Larry Cassidy returned to scale on Bretonneux who powered home to score by half a length.
Cassidy told connections the three-year-old was never better than three deep and will learn with every run before the winter carnival starts.
"I stayed three deep because I didn't want to drag him back," Cassidy said.
"He'll learn a lot from this run and will only get better with every start."
Bretonneux, a son of General Nediym, was a $75,000 buy as a yearling at the Magic Millions sales but was having only his second race start after making his debut with a moderate eighth at Eagle Farm in November.
"He's a real nice horse with loads of ability," Wakefield said.
"He gives the opinion he'll run 1600 metres so we're aiming him for the Queensland Guineas."
Wakefield said Bretonneux needed to strengthen up when it was decided to spell the three-year-old following his debut last year.