G1 winner Magic Hurricane returns at Rosehill

A G1 warrior returns along with a five-year-old who is still on the rise and an Irish import making his Australian debut at Rosehill on Saturday, August 13.

Magic Hurricane (John O’Shea/Andrew Adkins), the winner last Spring of the G1 Metropolitan at Randwick, heads the Godolphin representation in the non-graded Spring Preview, a race in which his trainer’s expectations are conservative, but one that is vital to future plans.

“He’s a bit big and burly as you’d expect a seven-year-old to be, and this race is obviously a bit short for him at 1400 metres,” O’Shea said.

“But it will be good to see how he handles it and how we progress toward another Metropolitan a bit further down the track.

“He had a slight problem last Spring when he knocked a leg and we had to put him out before he got to the right sort of races. He’s obviously a bit older now but he’s been such a good horse for us and he’s still enjoying it, so we’ll be interested to see how he handles Saturday’s race.”

Magic Hurricane is joined in the same race by Shards (John O’Shea/Brenton Avdulla) who is also likely to find the trip too short.

“He’s been quite dour in a couple of trials but I’m expecting him to race with some more zest,” O’Shea said.

Greater optimism surrounds the prospects of Allergic (John O’Shea/Brenton Avdulla) who has the second run of his latest preparation in the non-graded Premier’s Cup Prelude.

“He’s a five-year-old now but the way he raced back in the Summer and early Autumn when he was one of our most consistent performers suggests he still has a bit to offer,” O’Shea said.

“There was a lot of merit in his first up run two weeks ago, he was very gallant and wasn’t beaten far after being wide all the way. He’s trained on well and out to 1800 metres here from a good gate he should be much better suited.”

Another Spring prospect is Salthouse, an Irish-bred son of Teofilo who recorded one win from six starts for his former trainer, Jim Bolger. He runs in the Mounties Group Handicap in which he will be ridden by Tim Clark.

“He’s had two trials just to get him familiar with things and this is likely to be too short for him at 1350 mertres,” O’Shea said.

Saturday’s team is completed by Sarajevo (John O’Shea/Brenton Avdulla) in the Clubs NSW Handicap.

Another who is resuming from a break, Sarajevo has impressed O’Shea in his work.

“He was competitive in the summer in better races and if he runs up to his work and his trials I won’t be surprised if he shows something,” he said.