O’Dea’s day to shine bright
TRAINER Steve O’Dea is sizing up what would be his biggest payday today at the Gold Coast, a little more than a decade after leaving Townsville to speculate if he could make the grade in Brisbane.
O’Dea has only had the one Magic Millions 2YO Classic runner previously – Candika, who was third to Capitalist in 2016. He rates today’s aspirant Gotta Kiss clearly superior.
He also has Reckless Choice out to avenge an unlucky defeat on this day last year when he runs in the $250,000 1800m race, Jami Lady in the $1 million Fillies and Mares event and Scallopini in the $1 million Snippets.
“This is the most runners we’ve had on Millions day. This is the biggest prizemoney day in Queensland racing and it’s good to have, what looks on paper, four live chances,” the Eagle-Farm-based O’Dea said.
“You have to have a lot of things go your way … it all starts off with the sales, buying the right horse, developing them properly and having luck on the day, but it’s pretty exciting going into it.
“Being a Queenslander, I’ve always loved two-yearolds, so the Magic Millions and Golden Slippers are the races that excite me the most and to win a Magic Millions would be huge for the stable.”
O’Dea spent his formative years honing his skills in stables like Gai Waterhouse, Kevin Moses in Sydney and with Alan Bailey and Gillian Heinrich on the Gold Coast.
He returned to Townsville and took over his father Graham’s stables before success with Go Cart and Kiss Me Katy led to an earlier than expected move to Brisbane.
“When I initially moved to Brisbane, it wasn’t something that was planned at the time,’’ he said.
“I had worked in southern stables before and it was something I wanted to get to, but it probably happened a little bit quick when I first got here.”
A partnership with Proven Thoroughbreds’ Jamie Walter has blossomed over the years and three of O’Dea’s runners today – Gotta Kiss, Scallopini and Reckless Choice – race in the Proven colours.