Tally Ready For Derby Test

A "sleeping giant" is ready to be roused when the Godolphin colt Tally lines up in the G1 Australian Derby at Randwick on Saturday, April 2.

Tally (John O'Shea/James McDonald) is joined in Australia's premier classic by Etymology on a day when the stable has strong prospects in each of the four G1 races on Day 1 of The Championships.

"Tally is a bit of a sleeping giant. He's done his racing in Melbourne and hasn't been seen here in Sydney," said trainer John O'Shea.

"He was a bit backward last Spring so he didn't run in the Derby in Melbourne, but he's really matured nicely over the Summer and has come into his own now."

Tally has won his past four starts, the most recent the G2 Alister Clark Stakes over 2040m at Moonee Valley, scoring by more than two lengths in a style that suggested the step up to the 2400m of the Derby would pose no problems.

The same can be said for Etymology (John O'Shea/Sam Clipperton), the runner-up in the G1 Victoria Derby in the Spring and a staying-on sixth in the G1 Rosehill Guineas earlier this month.

Godolphin also has strong prospects in the G1 Doncaster Mile with the former English "miler" Bow Creek (John O'Shea/James McDonald) despite coming up against Australia's top-rated racehorse Winx.

"He is a freaky horse that on his day, if things go his way, he could do anything. He would be the one out of all our Godolphin horses to be able to upset Winx," said jockey James McDonald.

If Tally is a sleeping giant, the three-year-old sprinter Exosphere is simply a monster who is wide awake and ready to assert himself in Saturday's G1 TJ Smith Stakes.

The son of Lonhro returns on Saturday to the scene of his most recent win and O'Shea says he is set to put his Melbourne "anomalies" behind him.

"We just have to forget about his last two runs at Flemington and trust in what he's shown us at home - and that's been outstanding. He's blossomed over the past week or so," O'Shea said.

The G1 quartet is completed by Telperion (John O'Shea/James McDonald), who runs in the ATC Sires Produce Stakes, following on from his eye-catching fourth in the G1 Golden Slipper Stakes.

"He only has to repeat his Golden Slipper run to be right in the finish here," O'Shea said.