“I can sum it up in one word – Champion,” Quinton said.

“He’s unique. He showed massive talent from the first time he ever came to Australia and look what he has done since he’s been here.”

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The champion duo will combine for a rare time at Canterbury on Wednesday when Quinton legs McDonald aboard the odds-on favourite Leo.

“James said to me the other day, ‘It’s about time you gave me another ride’. He’s hard to get and I haven’t had horses decent enough for him to ride anyway.”

Enter Leo, Quinton’s stable recruit who went down fighting when trying to raise his Randwick winning tally to five in a fast run 1200m Benchmark 78 Handicap 12-days ago.

“I think the horse that beat him the other day, Maotai, is a pretty smart horse so Leo’s run was full of credit,” Quinton said.

“Leo is quick but that’s his problem. His is basically a 1000 metre to 1100 metre horse, that’s about his limit and he has just to be conserved to run it.”

Leo’s step back to midweek grade is an obvious plus, coupled with the fact that he has drawn barrier one.

Leo races in the same colours as his recently crowned Champion Australian Sire, I Am Invincible.

These are the same predominantly orange colours that adorned Quinton’s beloved mare Mamzelle Pedrille whom he constantly refers to as ‘my first good horse’.

Those same Gall family silks will be worn earlier on the card when Ray Gall’s So You Think replica, Typhoon Ray, makes his debut in the opener.

“He’s a nice-looking horse,” Quinton reported.

“He has only had the one trial this prep but I just thought if I try and get him to another trial, I might have trouble getting him to a race so I have decided that we should just run him and see what happens.

“I think he has got a future.”

The other set of silks in Quinton’s kitbag when he walks onto Canterbury on Wednesday are just as familiar.

Quinton’s booming last start winner, Miss Mya, races in the famous red with white cap of the Tait family.

“I’ve had an association with the Tait and Nivison family going back to the likes of Baguette,” Quinton recalled.

“I had six rides on Baguette and won three on him. The first day he ever got beat was in the Canterbury Guineas and I rode him that day.

“That was 1900m and as it turned it, he couldn’t stay.”

As for Miss Mya, the daughter of Smart Missile earned a crack in the big smoke after a blazing three length maiden win at Kembla on July 30.

“She does jump up to a 72 and she is only a benchmark 68 but Sandy (Tait) was keen to give her a run in town and if you could happen to win a metro race with her, it would be a bonus for her at stud later on,” Quinton said.

CUMMINGS HAS HIGH HOPES FOR PROGRESSIVE STAYER

Of all Anthony Cummings’s achievements in racing, there is one unparalleled highlight that is often overlooked.

He was the one who bought Hong Kong’s highest earning racehorse, Beauty Generation.

It was mid-January in 2014 at Karaka in New Zealand where Cummings was on the lookout for a son of his own hugely underrated racehorse, Road To Rock.

Into the ring walked Lot 835, a bay colt by Road To Rock out of an unraced Bel Esprit mare born and bred at Nearco Stud.

After the bidding stopped at $60,000 the colt was shipped back to Australia.

Named Montaigne but later to be known as Beauty Generation, he was a three-year-old of high calibre, finishing runner-up to Tarzino in the Rosehill Guineas and fourth in the BMW at his final Australian appearance.

Cummings has similar classic aspirations for another Nearco Stud-bred product in My Truth who returns to Canterbury two weeks after his commanding win at just his second outing.

“The thing that ran second came out and won at Kembla so the form out of the race has been fine,” Cummings said.

“Josh (Parr) rode him really well and he was well-rated in the middle but his finishing sectionals were two seconds faster than one of the other races over the same trip.”

My Truth’s decisive win wasn’t altogether a shock for punters given he started $20 off an opening quote of $31.

“He is well built and strong with an efficient action and a nice attitude,” Cummings said.

“He doesn’t put undue pressure on himself and is happy to respond when asked. That’s a pretty good recipe.”

Those ingredients are enough for Cummings to cook up some ambitious plans for the grandson of Choisir.

“He’ll make his way towards the Gloaming and then go to the Spring Champion Stakes then we will see where we go from there.”

My Truth, a son of Proisir, was a much-admired weanling when offered at Karaka in June 2020 selling to Cummings for $107,500.

So highly regarded was he by Nearco Stud, that they retained a share in the son of Listed BRC Spear Chief winning mare, Pennacchio.

Originally published as Canterbury preview: Trainer Ron Quinton is pleased to get James McDonald to help Leo roar