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Pelosa poised to kick-start campaign for O'Shea at Wyong

Pelosa poised to kick-start campaign for O'Shea at Wyong

A promising Randwick-based filly is on a payback mission, and a potential trip north for bigger targets if she salutes at Thursday's Wyong meeting.
Pelosa, a smart three-year-old daughter of prolific sire Russian Revolution in the John O'Shea and Tom Charlton yard, tackles a benchmark 64 handicap for fillies over 1350m.
It comes after she was very stiff not to win on Anzac Day charging home late from well back to miss by a whisker third-up on the Kensington track after being well backed from a high of $4.40 into $3.50.
Pelosa took a long time to hit top gear that day, and stewards later confirmed she had begun awkwardly and lost valuable early ground.
She now returns to provincial company nearly five weeks after announcing her potential by thrashing a handy maiden field at Hawkesbury.
Sparingly raced since debuting at Kembla more than a year ago, Pelosa draws wide with Andrew Adkins in the saddle, but has a natural liking for settling off speed and getting to the outside late.
She opened a narrow $3.20 favourite in early betting ahead of Super Nui ($3.50) with a big gap to the next runners around $8.50 and longer.
Connections will also be buoyed by the drying track, with a Soft 6 rating through Wednesday likely to reach a Soft 5 by the time the meeting gets underway.
The O'Shea-Charlton stable will be hoping Pelosa is the first half of a double winning strike to close the meeting.

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Shayne O'Cass' Canterbury previews: Payne's prized pair primed to parlay his success
Shayne O'Cass' Canterbury previews: Payne's prized pair primed to parlay his success

News.com.au

time3 hours ago

  • News.com.au

Shayne O'Cass' Canterbury previews: Payne's prized pair primed to parlay his success

FRESH from his Saturday win at Royal Randwick, trainer David Payne aims to carry over his success into Monday's King's Birthday meeting at Canterbury via two of the stable's mid to long term prospects. Two-year-old duo Cosmonaut and Funky Tilda were both selected and purchased by Payne at the Inglis HTBA Yearling Sale in 2024. They were the only two lots which Payne signed off on the day. Whereas Cosmonaut was a bargain at $17,000, Funky Tilda was a much-admired filly at the sale. So much so that her $115,000 price-tag made her the third most expensive yearling of the 162 sold. 'She is quite well bred,'' Payne said. 'She's by Hellbent who is doing well out of a quite a nice damline.' Funky Tilda was the seventh foal of her Flemington-placed dam, Another Sunday, whose best performer to date is the Magic Night runner-up Blanc de Blanc who happens to be a daughter of Hellbent's famous father – I Am Invincible. Funky Tilda also boasts Flight Stakes winner Oohood as well as crack two-year-olds King's Legacy, Zizou and Not A Single Doubt as relatives. Despite the presence of so many precious horses on her family tree, Rory's Jester, Redoute's Choice, Canny Lad, Snippets and Rory's Jester among them, Payne is playing a longer-term game with his blueblood miss. Though quietly confident she will hold her own on debut in Monday's ATC Chase The Dream Maiden Plate (1250m), an awkward draw coupled with a lack of experience may hold her back for now. 'She will need a race,'' Payne said. 'She'll have that run then she'll most probably go to the paddock. 'She is still a bit of a baby but just from what she has shown me in work, she'll most probably run 1600m.' 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Kyle Chalmers reaping rewards of changing training methods as door ajar for two more Olympic berths
Kyle Chalmers reaping rewards of changing training methods as door ajar for two more Olympic berths

7NEWS

time5 hours ago

  • 7NEWS

Kyle Chalmers reaping rewards of changing training methods as door ajar for two more Olympic berths

Six months after thinking he'd never race again, Kyle Chalmers is taking the biggest gamble of his fabled swimming career. And the risk is already being rewarded to the extent Chalmers has put the Brisbane 2032 Olympics on his agenda. Last December, the champion freestyler was retiring. 'I had my Christmas break and honestly I thought I wouldn't come back after Christmas,' Chalmers said on Sunday. The 26-year-old had just found out his fiancee, Norwegian swimmer Ingeborg Loyning, was pregnant. 'I didn't really know how that was going to go with swimming,' he said. Chalmers and Loyning, based in Adelaide, had created a swim academy serving clients in person and online. 'The only reason I got back in the pool was because we had some Japanese swimmers coming to train with us and also Matt Wilson was coming from NSW to train with me for a few days,' he said. 'So I felt I owed it to them to be at training because they had come to train with me. 'And then I came back and just absolutely loved it. 'I'm not associated with ... a high performance program. I'm there with people that are paying to be there, they love swimming.' Chalmers shelved retirement and, with Adelaide-based sports physiologist Jamie Stanley, took a gamble. They changed the training program that propelled Chalmers to the pinnacle in a career reaping nine Olympic and 12 world championship medals. Chalmers has halved his training distance in the water in favour of cycling and running. 'It's a bit of a gamble changing what I know works,' he said. 'I have done the same thing for the last 13 years so to actually change so much is a bit of a risk. 'It's not about training harder, it's about training smarter ... it's very different to what anyone else is doing because it's based around two other sports that are very different to swimming.' The first test of Chalmers' new regime came in April when he raced in Norway. The result stunned the man who has won gold, silver and bronze medals in the 100m freestyle at the past three Olympics. Chalmers clocked 47.27 seconds in his pet event in Norway — his fourth-fastest time ever and quickest outside of major meets. He followed with a personal best, 21.78, in the 50m freestyle. A week later in Sweden, he set a PB in the 50m butterfly, 22.89. 'It was a massive shock for me,' Chalmers said. 'It's nice to be swimming personal best times at almost 27 years old.' Chalmers, who turns 27 on June 25, will race at Australia's world championship selection trials in Adelaide starting Monday. He's bidding to make his fifth world championship team for the July 27-August 3 titles in Singapore. Chalmers also wants to become the first man to win 100m freestyle medals at four consecutive Olympics at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. 'LA is a massive target of mine,' he said. 'But Brisbane (in 2032) might even be a possibility.'

Aussie swim star says risky gamble will reap rewards
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Six months after thinking he'd never race again, Kyle Chalmers is taking the biggest gamble of his fabled swimming career. And the risk is already being rewarded to the extent Chalmers has put the Brisbane 2032 Olympics on his agenda. Last December, the champion freestyler was retiring. "I had my Christmas break and honestly I thought I wouldn't come back after Christmas," Chalmers said on Sunday. The 26-year-old had just found out his fiancee, Norwegian swimmer Ingeborg Loyning, was pregnant. "I didn't really know how that was going to go with swimming," he said. Chalmers and Loyning, based in Adelaide, had created a swim academy serving clients in person and online. "The only reason I got back in the pool was because we had some Japanese swimmers coming to train with us and also Matt Wilson was coming from NSW to train with me for a few days," he said. "So I felt I owed it to them to be at training because they had come to train with me. "And then I came back and just absolutely loved it. "I'm not associated with ... a high performance program. I'm there with people that are paying to be there, they love swimming." Chalmers shelved retirement and, with Adelaide-based sports physiologist Jamie Stanley, took a gamble. They changed the training program that propelled Chalmers to the pinnacle in a career reaping nine Olympic and 12 world championship medals. Chalmers has halved his training distance in the water in favour of cycling and running. "It's a bit of a gamble changing what I know works," he said. "I have done the same thing for the last 13 years so to actually change so much is a bit of a risk. "It's not about training harder, it's about training smarter ... it's very different to what anyone else is doing because it's based around two other sports that are very different to swimming." The first test of Chalmers' new regime came in April when he raced in Norway. The result stunned the man who has won gold, silver and bronze medals in the 100m freestyle at the past three Olympics. Chalmers clocked 47.27 seconds in his pet event in Norway - his fourth-fastest time ever and quickest outside of major meets. He followed with a personal best, 21.78, in the 50m freestyle. A week later in Sweden, he set a PB in the 50m butterfly, 22.89. "It was a massive shock for me," Chalmers said. "It's nice to be swimming personal best times at almost 27-years-old." Chalmers, who turns 27 on June 25, will race at Australia's world championship selection trials in Adelaide starting Monday. He's bidding to make his fifth world championship team for the July 27-August 3 titles in Singapore. Chalmers also wants to become the first man to win 100m freestyle medals at four consecutive Olympics at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. "LA is a massive target of mine," he said. "But Brisbane (in 2032) might even be a possibility."

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