Ball Of Muscle – if he lines up – will be the latest to try to break the QTC Cup hoodoo in the $2 million Stradbroke after Glyn Schofield's masterful front-running ride nabbed the group 2 sprint at Doomben on Saturday.

The first three horses home have all had Pride's name attached to them at one stage or another as Ball Of Muscle's former stablemate That's A Good Idea (Peter and Paul Snowden) and current one Kuro filled the minor placings.

But by being at his poker-faced best about a potential Stradbroke start for Ball Of Muscle and Kuro, oddsmakers would be wise to suggest neither will line up if Pride's initial reaction was any guide.

"My early thought is to say, 'no' [with Ball Of Muscle]," he said. "But there's a discussion to be had with the owners. Again [Kuro is the] same deal. I just think they're both maybe 1200-metre horses and their record says that and they do it pretty well."

Whatever the outcome the Stradbroke's second favourite Lumosty is still in no-man's land trying to secure a start.

Robert Smerdon's filly will be leapfrogged by Ball Of Muscle if connections pay up, given he was below Lumosty in the order of entry before winning the Stradbroke-exempt QTC Cup.

They will need to find a new rider for Ball Of Muscle though as Schofield is already committed to the Stradbroke's topweight and Doomben 10,000 hero Boban.

And no one knows the key to Ball Of Muscle quite like the revitalised Schofield.

"He was just coasting," Schofield said. "Look at him at the 200 [metres], he had his ears up and was just coasting. He was just playing with them."

The winning margin of a neck back to the gallant That's A Good Idea, slow into stride, might have suggested otherwise, but Ball Of Muscle's rivals were always going to find it tough running past the front-running four-year-old.

"I was just a little bit worried about Ball Of Muscle having so much pressure put on him from a long way out, but he's such a tough horse," Pride said. "He dug deep all the way down the straight.

"You look at the time [1.08:46] and there wasn't too much of a breather ... but he certainly got things his own way early which made a difference."

Peter Snowden will also ponder plans for That's A Good Idea with his next run contingent on the sun continuing in Queensland.

"He ran super, really well," Snowden said. "They ran 1.08 so they weren't mucking around. He [Ball Of Muscle] has got a bit of fitness on his side and we were only second-up and they weren't mucking about.

"Ground is everything. I don't know what the plans are going to be in the winter, but if the tracks are worse than dead he doesn't measure up."