By Ray Hickson
We won’t be seeing a whole lot more of promising gelding Yorkshire as the spring carnival approaches but trainer John O’Shea is adamant he’s a horse with a bright future.
Yorkshire, $1.90 with TAB on Tuesday, has his third race start in the Exceedance @ Vinery Stud Handicap (1300m) at Kensington on Wednesday.
Forces beyond O’Shea’s control saw the now four-year-old thrown in the deep end a bit sooner than planned on the back of his maiden win but he was impressed with how he stood up in running third in a Benchmark 72 behind Invader Zim and Kerguelen.
“That was the only race in the calendar that suited him,’’ he said.
“He’s a good horse. We’ll just let him get through his grades and over the next 12 months see where we end up.
“He can get out to seven (1400m), we might give him one after this and then he can go to a break.”
Issues dealing with being a colt, which resulted in him being gelded, prevented Yorkshire from making his debut until the final month of his three-year-old season but he gave a sample of his talent with a runaway four length win at Hawkesbury.
The form out of that race stood up with both placegetters winning at their next starts and O’Shea, who co-trains with Tom Charlton, stepped him straight into Saturday company where he was gallant in defeat.
“The horse that annoyed him up on the inside ran second last so he ran well,’’ he said.
“He was only second-up, that will toughen him up for Wednesday and see what he’s got to offer.”
Imported galloper Start Line steps up in distance into the PKF Global Handicap (1800m) after an encouraging second placing at Hawkesbury two weeks ago.
O’Shea said while only a Class 1 over a mile it was a positive sign and he hopes the six-year-old can build on it.
“He’s a European horse we’ve had a bit of trouble getting settled in but he gave an indication the other day at Hawkesbury that the penny’s starting to drop,’’ he said.
“He’s a really nice staying horse and he’ll run very well.”
Nash Rawiller has the ride on Start Line who will jump from near the outside of a field of no more than 12.
All the fields, form and replays for Wednesday’s Kensington meeting