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Lepreezy On Target For Brisbane Trip

3 minute read

Central Queensland flyer Lepreezy will be on trial for a Brisbane trip and the chance to give veteran jockey John Stephens another Stakes winner when she tackles the Open Handicap at Mackay on Tuesday.

Lepreezy will be attempting to stretch her unbeaten record this campaign to three in the 1200-metres Open.

The four-year-old daughter of Better Than Ready is unbeaten from three starts in Mackay but has failed at her only two starts over 1200 metres.

Lepreezy is trained by Stephens' wife Angela, who has pencilled in the Listed Ascot Handicap over 1000 metres at Eagle Farm on April 17.

"We've been trying to find a suitable race for her in Brisbane and the Ascot looks a nice race for her," Angela Stephens said.

"If not there's the Bat Out Of Hell over 900 metres at the Gold Coast.

"She's going well this campaign and everything looks good for another Brisbane campaign."

Lepreezy has had two previous Brisbane trips, failing to fire a shot in the QTIS Jewel at the Gold Coast in March last year.

Her only other start was on a heavy track, when she led and weakened to beat one home against her own age at Doomben in June last year.

John Stephens is hoping the stars will align if she returns for a third time to Brisbane.

At 62, Stephens is Rockhampton's oldest jockey and won the Listed Eye Liner Stakes on Leroy's Magic at Ipswich in 1999.

Stephens has been a major player in the central Queensland riding ranks since claiming his first Listed win on Archer Road in the Rockhampton Cup in 1992.

"I've won two Mackay Cups, two Newmarkets and a Rockhampton Cup plus a lot of other Cup races in the Rocky region," he said.

Stephens is on the comeback trail and is riding without pain for the first time in years.

He only returned to race riding in late February after being sidelined for nine months with a broken heel when a horse flipped and rolled on him.

"I normally like to get back riding as quick as possible but this time I let my body tell me when I was ready," he said.

"I had a long time off with a broken heel and while I was recuperating from that I had surgery to fix both my shoulders.

"I had eight screws and a plate removed from a shoulder I smashed up a couple of years ago at Gladstone.

"I also had a reconstruction on the other shoulder but that was just from wear and tear.

"For the first time in years I'm now riding without pain."


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