Talented filly Tigroni is slated to debut in the opening race at Rosehill, but co-trainer John O’Shea is quick to stress that the assignment was never his preferred option.
Saturday’s Schweppes Handicap (1100m) is very much Plan B after O’Shea had originally targeted a juvenile race at Wyong on Wednesday, only for Racing NSW to scrap the event due to insufficient acceptances.
Fellow trainer Gai Waterhouse publicly voiced her displeasure over the cancellation, and O’Shea echoed those concerns.
“We had her in on Wednesday and that was our preferred option,” he said.
“Racing NSW cancelled the race because it had six acceptors, but what they’re forgetting is that it’s a lead-up to the Magic Millions at Wyong in two weeks’ time.
“Fair enough that race was light on acceptors, and they said a couple of horses were dual nominated. We were one of them.
“The reason we were dual ‘nomed’ is we don’t trust Racing NSW to hold the race, so you have to have a back-up plan. We wanted to go around on Wednesday.”
Timing is at the heart of O’Shea’s frustration, with the Wyong Magic Millions 2YO Classic scheduled for December 10 and the Rosehill run potentially coming too close.
If Tigroni takes her place on Saturday, the quick turnaround will almost certainly force her to bypass that Wyong feature.
Putting the programming issues aside, O’Shea is upbeat about Tigroni’s ability and hopes she can force her way into contention for the Magic Millions Classic (1200m) at the Gold Coast in January.
The filly impressed when bounding away from her rivals in a recent trial after racing greenly at her first official hit-out, and O’Shea says she has the early pace to offset barrier nine.
“She has been a delight the whole way through,” he said.
Adding extra interest to Tigroni’s debut is a familiar ownership group, which includes O’Shea’s wife and the wife of co-trainer Tom Charlton.
“More importantly, Tom’s mother-in-law, Mrs Camillieri, is involved,” O’Shea said.
“He might not get fed on Saturday night.”
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