A tilt at the Gr.1 Australian Cup (2000m) is on the cards for Hezashocka (NZ) (Shocking) after his pleasing spring campaign.
The son of Shocking placed in his last two starts of his preparation, including running third behind Zaaki and Mo’unga in the Gr.1 Champions Stakes (2000m) at Flemington last month.
Trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr are excited about the prospects of the New Zealand-bred five-year-old and believe he is capable of a Group One scalp.
“Had he gone straight he may have won the race on the last day of the carnival,” Kent told RSN.
“He is a horse that has really improved and he will go the Blamey (Gr.2, 1600m) into the Australian Cup. He is an exciting horse.”
Hezashocka was initially purchased out of Grangewilliam Stud’s 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock Book Three Yearling Sale draft by Shaun Clotworthy for $18,000.
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 of the horse who carries the silks of OTI Racing.