Race fans will likely have to wait until next year before Lindsey Smith brings his gun Perth galloper Scales Of Justice to the eastern states with a possible Australian Cup 2018 bid at Flemington pending in the autumn.

Scales Of Justice was narrowly beaten home in last year’s Kingston Town Classic by Stratum Star (pictured at Caulfield). Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

To date the four-year-old son of Not A Single Doubt has enjoyed a stellar start to his career with seven wins, seven seconds and a third from his 15 runs so far.

That perfect 100% Place Rate was kept intact with a narrow loss first-up last weekend when Scales Of Justice went down a nostril flare to veteran Rock Magic as the beaten favourite in the Group 3 Belmont Sprint (1400m).

“He was a little bit softer in condition than I thought he was first-up – he knew he’d been around, so he’ll benefit quite a bit from that,” Smith told the media this week speaking of the Belmont Sprint run.

It was the first run for the $1.17 million earner since his also devastatingly close second to interstate visitor Stratum Star in the Group 1 Kingston Town Classic (1800m) at Ascot from barrier 15 of 15 in December.

The Kingston Town Classic loss has been attributed by many to a poor ride by hoop Douglas Whyte.

Prior to that Scales Of Justice enjoyed three Ascot wins on the trot including most notably a nearly three length effort over Good Project (2^nd) and Perfect Reflection (3^rd) in the Group 1 Railway Stakes (1800m).

Second-up this time in Casuarina-based Smith is eyeing a return to Belmont on June 17 for a shot at the weight-for-age Group 3 Hyperion Stakes (1600m) before stepping up in distance for a Group 3 Strickland Stakes (2000m) run on July 1.

“The plan at this stage is to go to the Hyperion Stakes over 1600 metres and then on to the Strickland Stakes over 2000 metres two weeks later,” Smith confirmed.

“He hasn’t been tried over 2000 before but I’m starting to think he’s going to run the journey.

“We’ll really know what we’ve got after those runs.”

Should Scales Of Justice show a liking for the 2000m distance that would likely see him head over to Melbourne next autumn to target the Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m) in March of 2018.

Smith is no stranger to Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival success having helped prepared Old Comrade to victory in the 2002 Australian Cup.

“He’s not as good as Old Comrade but his racing pattern of getting up on the pace means he makes his own luck,” Smith said of Scales Of Justice.

“I think the best way to get there would be to go for the Railway and Kingston Town again [this Perth Summer Racing Carnival] and then get ready for the Australian Cup.”

There’s also a chance Scales Of Justice could head overseas over a trip to Melbourne with Smith vaccinating his stable ace for December’s Hong Kong International meeting just in case.

“He’s had his needles just in case. That might be a bridge too far but we’ll see what happens after the Strickland Stakes,” he said.

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