John O’Shea hopes the benefits of a trial with multiple Group One-winner Our Ivanhowe will be apparent when Honeywire strives to put an uninspiring sequence behind him at Rosehill.
The three-year-old failed to make an impression in his past two benchmark outings, prompting the Godolphin trainer to freshen Honeywire up before running him in a barrier trial earlier this month.
Honeywine runs in Saturday’s Group Two Tulloch Stakes (2000m).
Our Ivanhowe used the March 7 trial at Randwick, where he was third behind First Seal and Honeywine over 1050m, as preparation for the Group One $700,000 Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill last weekend.
The trial had the desired effect for Lee and Anthony Freedman and now O’Shea is hoping the it will also have a positive effect on his charge.
“His first two runs (this preparation) were a little disappointing so we took him back to the trials and he trialed particularly well against Our Ivanhowe,” O’Shea said.
“His work’s been good. He’s very fit. He’s been effective in a better grade than this previously so we’re hoping he can bounce back to a bit of form.”
“We don’t know about him in the heavy ground, so that’s a bit of a query.
Honeywine was on the fourth line of the TAB’s market on Friday at $9 with New Zealand Derby third placegetter Jon Snow replacing Victoria Derby winner Prized Icon as favourite.
The Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained Jon Snow was at $3 with Prized Icon out to $4 and Acatour at $8.
