Kiwi-bred gelding Hezashocka will chase a breakthrough Group One win next month.
Following a strong run at Flemington last Saturday for second over 1700m, trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr are looking to return to the Melbourne track to test the five-year-old under Group One conditions in the Turnbull Stakes (2000m) on October 1.
A strong Flemington record, having had four starts for two wins, a second and a sixth makes Price hopeful he can be competitive at a higher level.
“He hasn’t shown the class of a horse that you think you would go straight to a Group One, but the timing, the distance (2000m) and the course suits very well. He loves Flemington, so I think we’ll have a go,” Price said.
Hesashocka, who races in the silks of OTI Racing, lives and trains out of Warrnambool at Matthew Williams’ property.
“It’s just the environment he needs,” Price said.
Hezashocka, who also holds nominations for both the Gr.1 Caulfield Cup and Gr.1 Melbourne Cup, was initially purchased out of Grangewilliam Stud’s 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 3 Yearling Sale draft by Shaun Clotworthy.
The Byerley Park horseman trained the son of Shocking in partnership with his wife Emma to win the Gr.2 Championship Stakes (2100m) at Ellerslie in April last year before his subsequent sale to Australia, however the couple remain in the ownership.
