Champion sprinter Scenic Blast is on course for a return to Melbourne after an impressive gallop between races at Belmont on Wednesday.

The 2008-09 Australian Horse of the Year came through his first serious piece of work in great style.  Jockey Shaun O’Donnell let the gelding cruise to the line with plenty in hand.

Scenic Blast (7g Scenic – Daughter’s Charm by Delgado) will join stablemate Bliss Street who is already in Melbourne for the G1 Thousand Guineas next month.

A son of former Lindsay Park / Durham Lodge sire Scenic, he hasn’t raced in Australia since winning the G1 VRC Newmarket at Flemington in March 2009.  He claimed the G1 King’s Stand Stakes at his next start at Royal Ascot but hasn’t managed to salute in his last 8 starts in England, Japan, Hong Kong and North America.

He was last seen finishing third in a G3 sprint at Hollywood Park in November 2010.

“John Sheriffs did a fantastic job rejuvenating him in the USA,” trainer Dan Morton said at Belmont.  “The plan is to go for the Moir Stakes at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate Day before the Patinack Classic at Flemington.”

Scenic Blast is a younger brother to ill-fated G1 Railway Stakes winner Gilded Venom (Golden Snake).  Their dam Daughter’s Charm was pensioned by Durham Lodge after missing to Brocco in 2007.