Trainers John O’Shea and Tom Charlton will bring several of their key carnival performers back to the track at Randwick trials this week as they look to build on a breakout season and target a lucrative spring.
In their first full year as training partners, the pair celebrated three Group 1 wins – Linebacker in the Randwick Guineas (1600m), Schwarz in the William Reid Stakes and Maison Louis in the Queensland Derby (2400m).
They also finished seventh in the Sydney trainers’ premiership with 37 metropolitan wins, which Charlton said was most pleasing due to the stable’s consistency.
“All the horses raced consistently throughout each period of the season. There wasn’t a lull period for us and they raced well through the carnivals,” Charlton said.
“We had three Group One winners over a range of distances. A sprint, a mile and also a Derby where we ran one-two. They were also all in different states so that’s a credit to the staff and the processes of what goes into preparing those sort of horses for those races.
“We’ve had lots of winners and our strikerate has been solid. We can only hope to keep building the quality.”
The stable’s spring preparations kick off on Tuesday when a number of their better horses trial at Randwick, led by Group 1 winner Linebacker.
He will make his first public appearance for the new season in a 900m heat, with Charlton bullish about his prospects.
“He is probably the flag bearer,” Charlton said.
“If you were to pick the classiest horse, he had an excellent latter stage of his autumn preparation. His run in the Doncaster was without luck but still huge in the circumstances.”
Stakes-class mares Snow In May and More Territories are also set to trial, along with Roselyn’s Star, who was a late scratching from Rosehill due to the heavy track on Saturday.
Charlton is also looking forward to unveiling a promising group of three-year-olds across the 17 heats.
“We’re looking forward to seeing a few horses that might work towards those staying three-year-old races like Scoop The Pool, O’Sheamus, One Step Closer,” Charlton said.
“Napoleonic is a nice Wootton Bassett colt. Burn The Sky was a nice debut winner on the Kensington track and she might end up in the fillies’ (Princess) series.”
Import Quietness, who ran second in the Grafton Cup, has had a brief freshen-up and will return to work this week with the Metropolitan in mind.
Punters keen to follow O’Shea and Charlton’s spring runners can find the best odds and markets at top Australian betting sites.
