New crop shows promise at Randwick trials

Godolphin’s latest crop of Australian two-year-olds indicated they would be well-and-truly competitive in the new season’s juvenile races, turning in some excellent performances in official trials at Randwick on Monday September 19.

The trial winners Jorda, Tiki Bar, Piracy and Astoria stood out among the seven youngsters trainer John O’Shea presented for their public debuts, with other eye-catching efforts coming from the remainder.

Jorda, a filly by Exceed And Excel from the Viscount mare Montmelo showed both speed and tenacity to win her 850m trial in convincing style under minimal encouragement from her rider James McDonald.

The half-sister to the Stakes winner Pursuits cruised to a clear victory in the smart time of 50.98 seconds.

“I was very happy with her, she’s a nice filly and did a good job,” O’Shea said.

Her winning effort was repeated by the Sepoy filly Tiki Bar, a daughter of Sepoy from Key Bar Nights and a half-sister to the Listed winner Barbed.

Tiki Bar showed good gate speed and impeccable racing manners, trailing the early leader and then coming off the fence to score convincingly.

“We’ll see how she pulls up before we make a decision on when she’ll race, but she did a good job,” O’Shea said.

The Exceed And Excel colt Piracy made took control of his heat early and then withstood all challengers to score in good time.

“He’s probably the one with the most improvement to come. He ran well, showed good speed and good ability,” O’Shea said.

Piracy is the sixth foal of his dam Plagiarize, a Stravinsky mare who won the G2 Silver Slipper Stakes, and the G3 Kindergarten Stakes from only three starts and whose first five runners have all been winners.

The fourth of Godolphin’s winners, Astoria, showed impressive acceleration to win his trial, coming from four lengths off the lead with 200m to score narrowly.

Despite the quality of the performance, O’Shea said he didn’t expect to send the son of Medaglia d’Oro to the races until well into the New Year.

“He’s a nice horse, but he’s not a pre-Christmas two-year-old, he’s more of a Guineas colt,” O’Shea said.

The trials also showcased the enduring influence of Darley stallion Exceed And Excel who sired three of the days winners, Khan and the Godolphin-owned pair Jorda and Piracy.