Taree preview: Horse who forgot how to win turns form around

The Australian

2 days ago

Trainer Allan Kehoe will be the best part of 1000km from home and even further again from Taree when he tunes in to Friday's meeting to chart the progress of his stable trio Lease, Prince Of Sorts and Midnight Rabble.
The Central Coast-based conditioner is in Melbourne preparing Wyong whiz Shaggy for his Vain Stakes (1100m) challenge at Caulfield.
Kehoe will have a hand in Friday's feature with the stable's iron horse Lease down to contest the Hopkins Livermore Cup over 1412m.
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Lease, who shares his name with Jack and Bob Ingham's 1999 STC Tulloch Stakes winner, had his first start in early October, 2020, finishing down the order in the time-honoured Breeders' Plate.
Fast forward three trainers and five years, Lease commemorated his 50th race start with an infrequent yet gritty and determined win at Coffs Harbour on the very same day the son of Choisir turned seven.
'Since he has come to us, he has turned his form around,'' Kehoe said.
'He has always been in the placings, he forgot how to win, but he's won three now for us.
'He is an honest old horse and with the sting out of the ground and going up to 1400m, and with a drop in weight, he should be thereabouts.'
And while Lease has well and truly paid his board and lodgings since walking into Kehoe's Wyong barn, his stablemate Prince Of Sorts is a four-legged walking money-spinner for connections.
Already a winner of close to $160,000, the son of hugely underrated stallion Tassort was purchased at the Inglis Classic Yearling Highway session in 2023 by Kehoe for $20,000.
With four wins and five placings from 14 starts, Prince Of Sorts will open his 2025/26 campaign in the co-feature Can Assist Kristylea Cup Benchmark 82 (1007m).
Prince Of Sorts most recent appearance was at the Scone stand-alone in mid-May when he was within three lengths of the winner of the 1700m Midway on the program.
'He was meant to barrier trial at Gosford last week or the week before but he had a bit of a temperature so we just pulled him out,'' Kehoe said.
'He is pretty sharp fresh. He wins those 800m trials and whatnot so he is a pretty handy horse.
'If he is within striking distance, he could be able to pounce on them I'd reckon.
'We are using it as a trial but a win wouldn't shock.'
Prince Of Sorts and jockey Olivia Chambers win at Hawkesbury in April. Picture: Bradley Photos
Kehoe's first runner on Friday is the lightly-raced and progressive three-year-old Midnight Rabble who will be ridden by his brother Jeff in the 1262m Kane Allan Electrical Maiden Handicap.
'He should run a very good race,'' Kehoe said.
'I had his two brothers and they were a bit sharper than him, he's more of a seven furlong (1400m) horse. He should be hard to beat.
'He should get through (the heavy ground), his two brothers got through it.'
Once Friday is done and dusted, all of Kehoe's focus shifts back to the Kooringal-bred and owned gelding Shaggy who lost some of his lustre when rolled in Sydney first-up but can win back all of that shine and more if he adds his name to the Vain Stakes honour roll which boasts Everest winner, Giga Kick.
Shaggy had also accepted for Saturday's Rosebud at Rosehill, the same race that his father Sandbar won in 2018, but is headed south instead.
'It was going to be real wet up in Sydney and we just wanted to get him on a bit better ground,'' Kehoe said.
'I worked him Melbourne the way other day, once or twice a week he does it, he should go all right.'
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Tamworth preview: Brown has huge belief in Big Short
Reigning Grafton Guineas-winning trainer Wayne Brown has declared the cleverly named and exceedingly well-bred gelding Big Short as the best of quartet in action at his home track at ­Tamworth on Friday.
Bred by Ingham Racing, Big Short was purpose-built to win a Golden Slipper just like previous 'cerise' winners Sweet Embrace, Guineas and Forensics.
Big Short – to be ridden by Kody Nestor – is a son of 2016 Slipper winner Capitalist out of a mare by Flying Spur, who upset the Ingham's beloved Octagonal in the 1995 renewal.
On top of that, Big Short's grandam was a daughter of Newhaven Park's 1987 Golden Slipper winner Marauding.
'Big Short has been an unlucky horse,'' Brown said.
'I think he is in a race that he will be very competitive in. He's my best hope anyway (today).'
One of Brown's other runners blessed with a Slipper connection is Oenology whose fourth dam is Bint Marscay, who set a new benchmark time of 1:08.88 when winning the 1993 edition.
As for Oenology, he will be a part of one of the strongest Class 3 runs in the country for some time over 1200m.
'Nice horse,'' Brown said.
'(But) It is a very, very tough field that and the horse of Brett Robb's (Nimble Star) is a real nice horse and Oenology has drawn in the car park.'
Brown's remaining two starters at Tamworth are the New Zealand bred, former Sydneysiders, Sethnique and City Gold Ready.
Former Tulloch Lodger Sethnique will make his Brown stable debut in a ­Maiden Plate over 1200m.
'It is the right race to kick him off in but in saying that, the climate up here with the weather has been terrible and he hasn't done a lot of work,'' Brown said.
'Hopefully he will be competitive but he is nowhere near wound up for that sort of race.
'The idea is to kick him off and then we will regroup and see where we go with him but I like the horse. I think he will end up being a nice horse.'
As for the 2024 NZ Derby participant City Gold Ready, he resumes in the McDonalds Class 1 Handicap (1400m).
'We just had a bit of an issue with him and he's had time off,'' Brown said.
'He needs 1600m or further. He'll be underdone but once again, he is a horse that will win some races.'