Darling Downs trainer Troy Pascoe is bullish on the chances of a bargain buy providing him with a highly sought after home track feature win in Saturday’s $100,000 Toowoomba Guineas (1200m).
High Prophet, a three-year-old Pascoe snapped up from last year’s Magic Millions Capricornia Yearling Sale for $4500, is set to take his place in the three-year-old feature at the standalone Weetwood meeting on September 26.
“I don’t think he even got a bid at the sales,” Pascoe said.
“I was looking through the catalogue and thought he seemed like a nice type, so I was happy to pick him up.”
High Prophet was spelled after scoring at his home track on debut back in May, and after a solid first-up third in July, he underscored his Toowoomba Guineas potential with victory at Doomben two weeks ago, boosting the gelding’s prizemoney to more than $109,000.
That day, the son of Caulfield Guineas winner Divine Prophet settled in the back half of the field and was in traffic until halfway down the straight before finishing off to win in the third best final 200 metre sectional of the meeting.
“He’s been great since Doomben. He came through the run almost too well,” Pascoe said.
“We will get his bloodwork done early this week and if everything looks good, he will head to the Guineas.”
Jockey Jake Bayliss steered High Prophet at Doomben and Pascoe said the four-time Group 1-winning hoop was likely to again be offered the ride in the Guineas.
“The 1200 metres will suit and hopefully we get some pace on,” he said.
Pascoe, whose biggest win to date was when he prepared Flash Aah to win the 2025 Ipswich Cup, hinted the prospect of claiming a feature race on his home track with High Prophet may be only the beginning of an interesting ride for connections.
“We’ve had some offers from quite a few overseas buyers (since Doomben), all around the same amount, but right now we’re just focusing on next Saturday,” he said.
The Toowoomba meeting will also see the running of the time honoured $200,000 Weetwood, won last season by the then Mark Currie-trained Tavs in track record time, and $125,000 Toowoomba Cup, captured in 2025 by the Chris and Corey Munce-trained Walsh Bay.
