Trainer John O’Shea has withstood the urge to tackle the A$7.5 million Golden Eagle (1500m) at Rosehill on Saturday with Lion’s Roar in favour of the A$750,000 Rosehill Gold Cup (2000m) on the same card.
The Gr.1 Randwick Guineas (1600m) winner has taken plenty of work this season, but O’Shea was buoyed by his last start performance when finishing third in the Gr.3 Craven Plate (2000m) at Randwick earlier this month.
“His run the other day was fantastic, it just topped him off. He has been a bit above weight because of an extended break,” O’Shea told SENTrack.
O’Shea has opted for a softer preparation this spring with the son of Contributer after a lucrative autumn which resulted in his Guineas victory as well as placing in the Gr.1 Australian Derby (2400m).
“I didn’t want to give him an overly torrid spring, I think he had a pretty strong autumn, so we have just been keen to have a nice spring and not overtax him,” O’Shea said.
“He is going to be very competitive on Saturday, he is well weighted (56kg), he loves Rosehill, he ran really well (fourth) in the Rosehill Guineas (Gr.1, 2000m) last season.
“He worked beautifully this morning, so we are really looking forward to Saturday.”
O’Shea, in conjunction with good friend Jason Abrahams of Champion Thoroughbreds, purchased Lion’s Roar from the Book 2 draft of Bill Gleeson’s Wellfield Lodge for $65,000 at the 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling sale.
O’Shea will also line-up fellow Kiwi-bred Lost And Running in the A$1 million Classique Legend Stakes (1300m) after his fourth placed run in the A$15 million The Everest (1200m).
“He is probably going to run his best race of the preparation on Saturday,” O’Shea said.
“All along I felt this is the one race where he could win. Early in the season he probably wasn’t ready and they were unsuitable races in terms of the way they were made up.
“Fourth up, 1300m, Rosehill, probably not as much tempo as the previous race, and going in with an opportunity to control – I think this is an opportunity for him to win a race this prep.
“His best piece of work this preparation was this morning. He is doing everything we want him to do in terms of improving each time we have asked him to do something.
“He is a really, tough, hardy, Kiwi gelding. He takes plenty of work and he loves getting into a scrap. He is just coming of age nicely.”
