Haptic has confirmed his Golden Slipper credentials with his Lonhro Plate victory but the jury is out on a couple of his Godolphin stablemates.
Trainer John O’Shea sent out four runners in Saturday’s 1100-metre Listed race at Randwick with Furnaces the dominant $1.65 favourite.
Haptic
But it was Haptic ($7.50) who took control of the race under Blake Shinn and sustained the effort to beat Furnaces by a decisive three-quarters of a length.
Calaverite ($13) and Igraine ($16) finished sixth and eighth repsectively.
“Haptic is a jump-and-run type of horse. He showed that at his first start and he just controlled the race under a good ride from Blake,” O’Shea said.
“I was disappointed with Furncaces’ trial the other day. He didn’t learn anything from it and I was concerned going into today.
“Calaverite didn’t have luck and I want to assess Igraine.”
O’Shea said Haptic may not run again before the Golden Slipper.
“We have to work out whether to run him or not,” he said.
“He likes his races spaced so we might give him a trial. But he is in the race now and he is fit and happy so we can keep him ticking over.
“Furnaces will go to the Todman Stakes and he will improve for today’s run.”
O’Shea unearthed another potential Golden Slipper runner at Kembla Grange where Exosphere won a 1000-metre maiden by 4-1/4 lengths from his stablemate Mogador.
“Exosphere will go to the Skyline Stakes to see if he can get into the Slipper,” he said.
Shinn said Haptic had plenty of scope.
“I think he has been a bit underrated,” Shinn said.
“He will definitely run 1400 metres. He was able to control the pace and was just too classy.”
