Racing: Shoot Out well primed

When Queenslander Shoot Out won the Sires' Produce Stakes in Brisbane last May, trainer John Wallace already had his eye on the AJC Australian Derby.

Shoot Out's half-sister had only recently won the West Australian Oaks and Wallace was confident enough in what he had seen to predict the gelding had the potential to be a top-line 3-year-old.

At Randwick today Shoot Out will start one of the favourites in the A$1.3 million classic at Randwick, and Wallace is convinced he is the right horse to deliver him the biggest win of his training career.

"When he won the Sires [at his second start], we were thinking about it [the Derby] then," Wallace said.

"We didn't want to go to Melbourne in the spring for their Derby because he wouldn't have had enough of a spell. That's why we decided to come here."

After Shoot Out's fourth to Zabrasive in the Rosehill Guineas (2000m) two weeks ago, it was decided to press on to the Derby.

"To win would be the absolute achievement of a lifetime," Wallace said.

- AAP