Andrew Angelone likes to do things his way.
Eyebrows were raised three years ago when Angelone handed in his notice as Peter Snowden’s foreman at Flemington to chase his own racing dream.
The Snowden job was a coveted one – he helped oversee the careers of some genuine stars – but Angelone yearned for something more.
He purchased a 90-acre farm in Victoria’s western districts and quietly went about setting up a training and spelling farm, Angelone Estate, which remains a work-in-progress today.
Those same eyebrows might also be sitting slightly higher than normal when they assess the Angelone-trained Star Of Omaha’s chances in Saturday’s $500,000 VOBIS Sires Guineas at Caulfield.
The progressive filly jumps straight to 1600m second-up after an eye-catching placing over 1100m first-up at Flemington.
Angelone said it wasn’t the original plan to tackle the race with the daughter of Omaha Beach but he tweaked her program after she exceeded expectations in her second jump out and her first-up run.
“That first-up run was quite good and she’s definitely going to be better once she steps up in trip,” Angelone said.
“I was going to run her in the 1400m VOBIS Gold Distaff and I thought going from 1100m to 1400m was a good step for her.”
“But the original plan was to give her three trials and then go first-up over 1400m but I ended up running her at Flemington after her second trial because she was going so good.”
“She was a little beaten for speed but that last 200m was phenomenal.”
“That gave us the option to go straight to the mile because she had that run under her belt.”
“She’s definitely fit enough for it, that’s for sure.”
An orphaned foal bred by her managing owners, Star Of Omaha broke her maiden over 1200m at Hamilton in October to give the young trainer his first win before defying her $101 starting price when fourth in the G2 Fillies Classic at The Valley.
Angelone has seen improvement in the filly this campaign and is excited about her prospects over further than 1600m – the G1 Australasian Oaks in Adelaide is a ‘pie-in-the-sky’ target if the filly’s form warrants it.
Star Of Omaha is $41 with Bet365 in Saturday’s VOBIS Sires Guineas.
“She’s still mentally getting used to it (racing) and understanding what she’s there to do,” he said.
“It clicked for her when she won and then she really took a big leap forward running on Cox Plate Day in that Group 2.”
“She toughed it out there and ran really well.”
“She was basically lying down for eight weeks in the paddock, literally growing when we spelled her over the summer.”
Star Of Omaha is one of four horses Angelone has in work, although he has an appetite to bolster his numbers sustainably as his training CV grows.
“It’s just a small stable at the moment but I’m enjoying it,” he said.
“The business of a racing stable, especially one in town like the one I ran at Flemington for Peter and Paul, is a great experience and I got to work with some really good horses in the heart of racing at Flemington.”
“But I really do enjoy just having a handful of my own horses in a more relaxed environment like Warrnambool.”
“I train them out of paddocks, they have stables attached to them but they are nice and relaxed in that setting.”
“They go into Warrnambool to gallop and do pace work but we are able to do a lot of the work at home.”
