O’Shea a stayer
JOHN O’Shea remains Godolphin stable’s trainer – for now at least.
Godolphin has five runners across four races at today’s Kembla Grange meeting and another six starters at the Warwick Farm midweeks tomorrow – all listed as having O’Shea as trainer.
Amid speculation that Godolphin and their trainer have parted ways, Racing NSW chief steward Marc Van Gestel said O’Shea was still officially the stable trainer.
“We have received no notification from Godolphin that there has been a change of trainer,’’ Van Gestel said yesterday.
“It is business as usual at the Godolphin stable as far as the stewards are concerned, although we are aware that John O’Shea is on leave.
“Until such time that Godolphin informs stewards of a change, then the stewards are satisfied that John O’Shea is the stable trainer.’’
O’Shea leads the provincial trainers premiership with 61 wins and has an 11- win buffer over nearest rival Chris Waller.
However, Waller is a runaway lead of the Sydney premiership with 122 wins to O’Shea’s 69 and the NSW premiership is also in Waller’s favour with 172 wins to O’Shea’s 133.
The O’Shea stable also has 10 nominations for the Rosehill Gardens meeting on Saturday, including Alegric, Allergic and Big $ 150,000 ( 2000m).
Godolphin’s Doncaster Mile winner It’s Somewhat has been entered for the Hollindale Stakes ( 1800m) at the Gold Coast on Saturday alongside stablemates Tessera ( Gold Coast Guineas), Regent ( Ken Russell Memorial) and Federal ( Prime Minister’s Cup).
The Rosehill meeting has attracted a bumper 173 entries for the nine- race program, including 21 nominations for the Lord Mayors Cup.
Some of the stayers entered for the Rosehill feature were also nominated for the Listed $ 150,000 Wagga Wagga Gold d Cup ( 2000m) on Friday, in- cluding Astronomos, Danjeu u and More Energy. Blue Lord in the Listed Mayors Cup