15 hours ago
Ciaron Maher colt Oyster Lane has speed to make winning debut at Caulfield
Oyster Lane has the speed to make up for inexperience on Saturday at Caulfield in the 1000m 2YO Handicap.
The smooth-moving Blue Point colt, trained by Ciaron Maher, is a $4.60 equal second favourite with last start winner Hello Romeo.
Sonofkirk, placed third on debut behind the smart Miss Ole and Espana, is the $3.90 favourite.
Jockey John Allen has completed most of the education work on Oyster Lane, including three trials.
'He looks like a nice progressive horse, shown plenty at the trials,' Allen said.
'I suppose he's got to go and do it race day now.
'A little bit unknown but fairly hopeful he can run well.'
Oyster Lane was spelled after placing second in his first trial at Cranbourne last February.
The $80,000 Karaka yearling won a trial at Ballarat last month and repeated the effort with a strong 800m Cranbourne hit-out on June 16.
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Allen gave Oyster Lane a squeeze at Cranbourne and the colt responded in kind, stretched out nicely to put a margin on the opposition.
'He's always naturally gone quite well but he seems to have improved with every trial,' Allen said.
'He's got to take the next step at the races… I took him off the bridle to teach him a little bit.
'He does feel like a nice horse… he feels pretty sharp.'
Assistant trainer Jack Turnbull said Oyster Lane has progressed nicely and benefited from the recent Cranbourne experience.
'He's done nothing wrong in his education,' Turnbull said.
'He trialled down at Cranbourne to have a look down there, a trip away, and he went pretty well … he was at Ballarat but being a colt he gets a bit lairy.
'We shifted him around, which is great we're able to do that with our facilities, I think that trip away really brought him on.
'Johnny kept him up to the task to the line, hence the margin in the trial, which wasn't the plan but (Allen) said post trial he felt to be better educated he wanted to keep him up to the mark.'
Allen has four rides at Caulfield on Saturday, including Flamin' Romans (race 5), Earlswood (R8) and Running By (R9).
Maher-trained Running By, an $8 chance, has drawn poorly in barrier 14 but should be ready to peak third-up.
'She's building towards running a nice race I reckon,' Allen said.
'I haven't ridden her yet this prep but I've galloped her, I reckon she came back in good condition so it might've taken those couple of runs to top her off.'
Earlswood, trained by Gavin Bedggood, is expected to be competitive also in the 2000m Quality Handicap.
