When it comes to horses, trainers don't normally like surprises. John O'Shea, the Godolphin trainer in Australia, is no exception, but the gutsy win of Tessera in Saturday's G3 Canonbury Stakes at Rosehill, Sydney, is an example to all that pleasant surprises can occur - and are welcome.
When it comes to horses, trainers don't normally like surprises. John O'Shea, the Godolphin trainer in Australia, is no exception, but the gutsy win of Tessera in Saturday's G3 Canonbury Stakes at Rosehill, Sydney, is an example to all that pleasant surprises can occur - and are welcome.
With Astern, Calliope, Souchez and company creating headlines for Team Godolphin already this season, fellow juvenile Tessera has managed to get under the guards of many. But his second successive victory, up against a much-publicised contender in Defcon, has marked him as a colt you just cannot ignore.
His gutsy win in the Canonbury, to fight back after being headed by Defcon in the home straight, was eye-catching and further enhanced his prospects for the G1 Golden Slipper at Rosehill in late March.
O'Shea admits that Tessera has taken him a little by surprise with his performances on the racecourse. "But it doesn't matter what we think, he keeps telling us where he sits. He is very professional," the trainer added in glowing praise.
Tessera is a son of Medaglia d'Oro, sire of last year's Golden Slipper winner Vancouver. He is out of the Flying Spur mare Chatoyant, who previously produced the useful Montsegur, by New Approach.
Somewhere along the way, the Godolphin colt is likely to meet smart filly Honesty Prevails, who overcame her lack of experience by making a winning debut in the G3 Widden Stakes, also at Rosehill. This daughter of prolific sire Redoute's Choice ran a faster time than the colts in the Canonbury.
Racing loves a comeback story, and there are very few better at present than that of seven-year-old Our Boy Malachi, who returned after an absence of eight months (having bled in the Doomben 10,000 last May) to win the G2 Expressway Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday.
For the one-time country galloper from Rockhampton, Queensland, this was a remarkable 18th win from 22 starts, and now he is destined to meet his celebrated stablemate Chatauqua in top-flight races such as the G1 Newmarket Handicap at Flemington. Both horses are trained by Team Hawkes.
To make it even a little more tricky for the father and sons training combination, another stablemate Headwater returned to top form in Melbourne by winning the Listed Kensington Stakes, over 1,000m, and he could be targeting the same races.
Headwater is an interesting prospect. He is a son of the successful Darley shuttle sire Exceed And Excel out of speedy sprinter River Dove. "He is a son of a Newmarket Handicap winner out of an Oakleigh Plate winner. There are not many with bloodlines like that," Wayne Hawkes said.
The Newmarket and Oakleigh Plate are the two highest-profile handicap sprints run in Melbourne, and reputations are created and destroyed in these high-pressure races.
Headwater, the winner of the G2 Silver Slipper last year and then fifth in the G1 Golden Slipper, struggled to find his best form last Autumn, but he appears to be back to his best.
His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum has a major contender for the G1 Kentucky Derby in Mohaymen, who maintained his unbeaten record by landing Saturday's G2 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park, Florida.
Mohaymen scored a most convincing win, drawing clear of Greenpointcrusader by three and a half lengths, with two and a half lengths back to Fellowship in third.
This victory means the son of Tapit has now amassed 20 points in the qualifying rounds for the Kentucky Derby. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said: "He's a special horse, and he makes it easy for us to train and ride him."
The last horse to complete the Holy Bull-Derby double was Barbaro in 2006.
One of the major races in the South African racing calendar, the J & B Met at Kenilworth, Cape Town, has been won by the Alec Laird-trained Smart Call, who proved too strong for Legal Eagle and Captain America.
