Shoot Out has emerged as the horse to beat in this Saturday’s G1 TJ Smith Stakes after the exciting son of Windsor Park stallion High Chaparral blitzed his rivals with a stunning win in the G2 QTC Sires’ Produce Stakes at Eagle Farm on the weekend.

Ridden back near the tail of the field, Shoot Out (2g High Chaparral-Pentamerous by Pentire) produced a blistering finish, flashing past his rivals in a matter of strides to win by more than a length. The win took his record to two wins from as many starts and gained the gelding automatic entry into this Saturday’s G1 event.

Trainer John Wallace has had a big opinion of the galloper from day one and is expecting even further improvement.  “He’s a pretty good horse,” Wallace said.  “He’s very tough and he could be a VRC Derby horse for the spring.  “I’ve had some good horses over the years but this bloke is the best of them.  He’ll stay all day and he’ll only get better when the races get longer.  From the time he beat the older horses easily in an open trial, I knew we had a special galloper on our hands.”

A regular shuttler to Windsor Park Stud in New Zealand, High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells) is the sire of nine stakes-winners in the Northern Hemisphere including this year’s exciting three year-olds Golden Sword, Above Average and Redwood.

His oldest Australasian bred progeny are two year-olds and Shoot Out becomes his first stakes-winner in the Southern Hemisphere.

Shoot Out was a $15,000 purchase at the 2008 Magic Millions Yearling Sale and is the second stakes winner for his dam Pentamerous, joining G3 WATC Oaks winner Cassandara Shadow (Johannesburg).  Pentamerous was no slouch on the track either and is a winning half sister to G2 VRC Craiglee Stakes winner and G1 Adelaide Cup runner up Native Jazz (St Hilarion).

Pentamerous has a weanling filly by Oaklands based sire Ferocity and was bred back to the son of Lion Hunter again last season.