O’Shea, Appleby mount multi-national Godolphin G1 challenge

An in-form local and a pair of proven English stayers are primed to add another Australian Autumn feature for Godolphin in Saturday’s G1 Sydney Cup at Randwick.

Tally from the John O’Shea team and Polarisation and Penglai Pavilion, trained by Charlie Appleby, each has a specific claim in the A$2-million race that seems certain to be run on a heavy track.

O’Shea has chosen Tally (Tommy Berry) to represent the home side on the strength of a last start win in the Listed Mornington Cup, a victory that followed a string of top-level placings.

“It’s his first run at two miles but we’re optimistic that he can run the trip,” O’Shea said.

“He drops down nicely in weight off a strong performance in the Mornington Cup where he had 59kg.”

“He’s been very effective at Randwick and very effective on rain-affected ground.”

For Appleby and assistant trainer James Ferguson, the appearances of Polarisation (Corey Brown) and Penglai Pavilion (Kerrin McEvoy) follow a series of frustrations on their latest Australian visit, the latest when Polarisation had to be scratched from a lead-up engagement last Saturday after suffering a minor injury.

Ferguson said the problem had completely cleared up and Polarisation was ready for action on Saturday.

“He’s 100 per cent, he just had a little nick, horses do that,” Ferguson said after watching his horses work together on Tuesday morning.

“The plan was always to go to the Sydney Cup, so there was no harm in not running in the Chairman’s ... it might have impeded his chances in the Sydney Cup.

“He’s not an unknown, but there’s improvement in him and if he gets a clear run I think he’ll go really well.”

Four of Polarisations five wins have been at distances between 2400m and 2800m and Ferguson believes that gives him ideal credentials for the 3200m of the Sydney Cup.

Penglai Pavilion hasn’t run since October, but Ferguson is confident he is ready to produce his best.

“The boy who rides him every day says he’s the best he’s felt in a long time,” Ferguson said.

“All these horses we’ve brought over thrive in this different environment over here.”

Penglai Pavilion has a similar hurdling background to the team Appleby and Ferguson campaigned with so successfully in Melbourne last spring when they won five races.

The seven-year-old has three wins over hurdles, although his latest victory was over 3600m on the flat at Newmarket.

Ferguson expects both to be in front or near the lead.

“I’d like to see them go on and try and make it a staying test, we know we can stay, whereas some of the others don’t necessarily.”