After missing the A$15 million The Everest (1200m), Lost And Running is on the hunt for a consolation win in the A$3 million Nature Strip Stakes (1300m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
While trainer John O’Shea was disappointed when Lost And Running had to be scratched from The Everest on race morning, he took it on the chin, even finding positives in the subsequent victory of the Clayton Douglas-trained Giga Kick.
“We took the disappointment early in the week and lamenting about what may or may not have been will only depress you, so we just moved on,” O’Shea said.
“But I’ve got to say, I thought the race got the best story out of the result with the young kid winning it.
“From my point of view, there are always positives to come out of everything. It would have been nice for us to have won, we would have been rapt, but it wouldn’t have been as good of a story.”
A minor lameness issue ruled Lost And Running out of The Everest but he recovered quickly and was kept up to the mark with a barrier trial last week.
O’Shea is happy with his health and fitness and said a victory on Saturday, for which Lost And Running is favourite, would be a handy consolation prize.
“It would be deserving for the horse,” he said. “He is improving and we’re really happy with him. We’ve got him as good as we can get him off a setback.”
The son of Per Incanto was bred by JML Bloodstock’s Lib Petagna and raised at Blandford Lodge in Matamata. Petagna retains an interest in the six-year-old gelding, who races in the colours of Carl Holt, with partners including Frank and Christine Cook and O’Shea’s wife Isabel.
