Every year the worldwide Godolphin operation identifies European horses that could be suited to Australian racing.
The pick of the latest bunch is undoubtedly Spectroscope, who added today's Gr. 3 Doncaster Prelude to his Australian debut win in a benchmark race two weeks ago.
Formerly trained by Andre Fabre in France, where he won two 2000-metre races, Spectroscope was sent out the $3.20 favourite and came from the tail of the field under hard riding from Corey Brown to beat No Doubt ($15) by a length.
Godolphin Australia boss Henry Plumptre said the four-year-old was not certain to back up in next week's Doncaster Mile but there was plenty in store.
"He seems to be the best of the six that came over late last year," Plumptre said. "He is the one who has definitely come to hand a lot faster than the rest, but it will be up to John (trainer O'Shea) if he runs next week."
O'Shea said he would monitor Spectroscope during the next few days before making a final decision.
"We think he is up to the top level, particularly in Australia," O'Shea said. "He's really enjoying it here.
"There's an opportunity for us to run in the Doncaster with no weight. If he happened to have a good week, we'd give good consideration to that. It appears he's going to get in with a nice, light weight so it's an option."
For Brown, who returned to Sydney in January after several years in Singapore, it was his first win in Sheikh Mohammed's royal blue silks.
"From a sticky sort of barrier John said to go back to where I was to find the fence," he said.
"For a fleeting moment around the 700-metre mark I could feel John's hands going around my neck as I was going to come around them.
"We hadn't gone the speed for them to fan out to give him room.
"Lucky enough, the runs came and it's great to have these colours on."
