Exosphere Ready For G1 Return

John O'Shea is a trainer who generally takes a conservative approach when he talks about his horses.

But there are exceptions, and Exosphere, who returns to racing in the G1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes at Flemington on Saturday, is one of them.

"We love him dearly. I'm excited every time I put a saddle on him," O'Shea said.

"It's a pleasure to train a horse like him .... to watch him work and to take him to the races, it's a privilege, a real pleasure."

As a public trainer O'Shea prepared many top-class gallopers, including the five-time G1 winner Racing To Win, the brilliant filly Private Steer and other G1 winners like Foxwedge, Charge Forward and Sea Siren.

Since joining Godolphin as head Australian trainer, he has demonstrated his abilities with both locally-bred horses along with those from different environments, excelling with the English horses Contributer, who was the star middle-distance performer of the 2015 Sydney Autumn, and Hartnell who won last year's G1 BMW.

As delighted as O'Shea was over their many victories, Exosphere has inspired special pride.

After Exosphere's amazing win in the G2 Roman Consul Stakes at Randwick last October, O'Shea was glowing in his praise for his horse.

"He's a superstar in the making." he said.

"He's so big and strong. Great horses have the best attitude and he has definitely got that."

The reaction had a lot to do with the nature of Exosphere's win, coming from last and giving the leaders a 10 length start and beating them by a couple. What is also pleasing for O'Shea is that Exosphere is a son of the Darley stallion Lonhro.

"It's great to have a super son of Lonhro going so well," O'Shea said.

"We were pretty excited to bring him to the races for the Roman Consul because we knew he'd improved from when he won the G1 Golden Rose, and he justified our belief in him."

The colt's regular rider, James McDonald, echoed the trainer's thoughts.

"He's a superstar," McDonald said.

"He gives me so much confidence, when I let him go he can fly."

"But most of the time I just let the horse do it and I just try to sit there."

For all the superlatives, it will be a nervous time when Exosphere tackles the race named in honour of its three-time winner, the unbeaten Black Caviar.

The Flemington straight course that was the scene of Exosphere's most recent run when fourth in the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes last October still holds some concerns for the team.

O'Shea and McDonald put that result down to a track surface that caused problems for many horses on the day. But O'Shea acknowledges the doubt that exists around Exosphere's ability to handle the idiosyncrasies of Flemington.

"Until you win there you can't be sure," O'Shea said.

"He still needs to tick some boxes and hopefully he'll do that on Saturday."

"But he's come back in good order and we're happy enough with where he's at."

The doubts about the track are countered by Exosphere's two good trials in Sydney in the lead-up to the Lightning, and equally encouraging has been the decision by McDonald to give up important mounts at Rosehill to come to Melbourne to ride Exosphere.

"James was going to stay and ride our good two-year-old Astern in Sydney, but he wants to ride the big horse, so that's no problem," O'Shea said.

In a race that is the first leg of Melbourne's G1 sprint treble, Exosphere will be opposed by such high class sprinters as Chautauqua, a winner of nine of his 18 starts, the most recent the G1 Manikato Stakes, along with the G1 winners Terravista, Delectation and Japonisme.

Exosphere arrived in Melbourne in good order on Wednesday morning.

"Everyone's happy with him. He worked well at Osborne Park on Monday, he's had a good week," O'Shea said.