Allergic has a special place in Australian team

He isn’t the stable’s highest achiever, but Allergic is a horse for whom Godolphin’s head Australian trainer John O’Shea has special respect and admiration.

Allergic runs in Saturday’s Listed Parramatta Cup at Rosehill, a race in which he finished second in 2016, and one he seems sure to again run well in 12 months on.

“Horses like Allergic are the backbone of the stable,” O’Shea said.

“They always do their best and when you ask them, they step up. They might not win the big ones, but you can depend on them.”

Allergic heads up Godolphin’s team of older horses at Rosehill, the group being completed by Bryneich in the G2 Hobartville Stakes and Circular in the G2 Millie Fox Stakes.

O’Shea gives Allergic (Ben Melham) a strong chance of adding to his record of seven wins and nine placings from 27 starts.

“I’d probably like it a bit softer, but he’s in great order, I’m very happy with him,” he said

“He’s got a great second-up record and he ran a nice race first-up.”

The best of Allergic’s seven wins came in last Spring’s G3 Colin Stephen Handicap, a race that earned him a start in the G1 Metropolitan Handicap.

“His Metrop run was typical of him, he ran third and was beaten just over a length,” O’Shea said.

Allergic also finished third in the 2015 South Australian Derby, not far behind Werther who went on to become Hong Kong’s Horse of the Year.

The trainer likens Allergic to another of the stable’s great workhorses, Tally, who finished third at G1 level to his stablemate Hartnell last Spring and resumed this month with a third in the G3 Carlyon Cup at Flemington.

Both horses were placed in Derbies at three, both have won around A$600,000 and both are by Darley’s magnificent but ill-fated stallion Street Cry, also the sire of the world champion filly Winx.

Allergic’s stablemate Circular (Brenton Avdulla) has good prospects in the Millie Fox after an encouraging first-up fifth in similar class at Randwick two weeks ago.

“She’s gone on since and I expect her to run well,” O’Shea said.

“There are some nice races for her during the Autumn, she’ll probably go to Group 3 over the mile at Randwick next start which should really suit her.”

Bryneich has blinkers added for his Hobartville run, a move his trainer is hoping will encourage a return to the form that resulted in a runaway win at Canterbury in January.

“He lacked a little focus last start so I’ve put blinkers on him to try and turn him around,” he said.

“His win at Canterbury before that was very good and he’s trained on nicely and he gets a good gate.”

In Melbourne on Saturday the stable will be represented by Platinum (Craig Williams) in the Listed Talindert Stakes and Morton’s Fork (Craig Williams) and Malaise (Andrew Mallyon) in the G3 CS Hayes Stakes.

Platinum, a son of Animal Kingdom, has been gelded since his only start and has trialled fairly since.

“The straight track should suit him because he’s a big horse who will appreciate bit of room,” O’Shea said.