Trainer Brian Smith has taken a swipe at the lack of suitable distance races in Queensland for emerging stayers on the eve of a four-pronged attack on the Jacobs Creek Sparkling Handicap at Doomben.Smith has been forced to back-up his highly-rated Hume who will be joined by stablemates Regal Gaze, Lord Rupert and Brief Me in the 2220-metre class six event on Thursday.Smith is keen to give Hume his chance at a Cups race during the Brisbane winter carnival but has been unable to find a suitable re

Trainer Brian Smith has taken a swipe at the lack of suitable distance races in Queensland for emerging stayers on the eve of a four-pronged attack on the Jacobs Creek Sparkling Handicap at Doomben.

Smith has been forced to back-up his highly-rated Hume who will be joined by stablemates Regal Gaze, Lord Rupert and Brief Me in the 2220-metre class six event on Thursday.

Smith is keen to give Hume his chance at a Cups race during the Brisbane winter carnival but has been unable to find a suitable restricted class race to test the five-year-old's stamina.

"All these horses are in the same boat," Smith said.

"I wanted to run Hume over ground last Saturday but the longest class six race I could run him in was only over a mile (1600m).

"I want to run him in a Cups race of some kind during the carnival but there's no races around to find out if he can stay.

"I've been forced to back-up Hume tomorrow to see if he'll stay and if he does I hope to find a nice Cups race for him somewhere."

Smith said programming staying races for restricted class horses in Brisbane was out of step with the southern states.

"They've just put on incentives in Sydney for four-year-old horses and up to keep stayers going down there," he said.

"Hume is a great example of how difficult it is here trying to find a suitable race over ground."

Hume was a $400,000 buy for Lloyd Williams as a yearling but was sold to clients of Smith for $22,000 at a dispersal sale in Victoria after winning two of his first three starts at Ballarat and Geelong.

Since Hume joined Smith's stables the gelding has won three of his five starts and no excuses were offered for his last-start second to the Rob Heathcote-trained Our Lukas on a heavy track at Doomben last Saturday.

"It was a great run in the conditions but the winner was simply too good for him," Smith said.

"Unfortunately, we can't take our young stayers right through on Saturdays as there's no races programmed.

"Nothing has changed for a few years. I was in the same boat a couple of years back with Scattergun who I had to take to Caloundra before he ran in the Queensland Derby."

Scattergun won his maiden over 1700-metres at Ipswich in April 2006 before winning an 1800-metre class six and 2200-metre class two at Caloundra at his next two starts start prior to finishing fifth in the Group One Queensland Derby (2400m) at Eagle Farm won by Ice Chariot.

Although Smith will saddle up four of the 11-horse field at Doomben he was reluctant to single out his stable's best chance.