Australian Team In Form Ahead Of New Season Start

The highly promising three-year-old Chetwood did his best to grab some of the limelight from a group of Godolphin's proven Australian stakes performers on a most encouraging morning of pre-Spring trials at Randwick on Friday, July 29.

On a day when G1 winners Hartnell and Magic Hurricane and the talented young stayer Tally stretched their legs in advance of major new-season targets, it was Chetwood who showed he was ready to step up with a five-length trial victory that greatly impressed trainer John O'Shea.

"He bounced well out of the gates and got into a nice rhythm," O'Shea said.

"His mind wasn't racing which is a good sign and was manageable in his action and handled the speed of the trial."

As impressive as the son of Exceed And Excel may have been, the major interest was in the G1 prospects Hartnell, Magic Hurricane and Tally who, as expected, didn't get into the finish of their 850m trial, but nevertheless came through the exercise in encouraging style.

Hartnell, the winner of the G1 BMW in 2015 and who is on the comeback trail after missing last Autumn, pleased O'Shea.

"We were very happy with his trial doing everything right. He hit the line under full steam and jockey Blake Shinn was very impressed with the way he performed," he said.

Tally, who scored a pair of G2 wins in three-year-old company during the Autumn showed he had returned in good order.

"He was a little bit fresh having a good sweat. He will benefit from the trial and has pulled up well," O'Shea said.

In the same trial the veteran sprinter Generalife showed he remains a prospect in the right races this Spring.

"He had a nice easy day out. The first half of the trial he was in a good rhythm and he brushed home nicely to finish off well in the last 100m. Was a pleasing trial and has pulled up very well," O'Shea said.

Other Godolphin triallers to impress included Sarajevo who won nicely over 1050m and the two-year-old colt Impending who finished a good second in his heat.

The 2016-17 Australian season begins next week with the G2 Missile Stakes the feature at Randwick with the first G1 of the season, the Memsie Stakes at Caulfield in Melbourne on August 27.