It’s been a tedious wait for the connections of John O’Shea-trained Waihaha Falls, with it looking likely that he will not gain a start in this weekend’s $1 million The Hunter at Newcastle.
The relatively new feature has attracted a star-studded capacity field of 16 runners with four emergencies, and O’Shea’s Sacred Falls gelding sits at the bottom of the pecking order.
Stable representative Tom Charlton told Sky Racing’s Greg Prichard that it just comes with the territory, with many stables targeting the riches on offer.
“Obviously, it’s a new race so it’s probably quite a difficult race to get a grasp on,” Charlton said.
“This year’s a good renewal with lots of highly rated runners and unfortunately it’s probably going to mean that Waihaha will miss out.”
As a back-up plan, O’Shea has accepted the five-year-old gelding in the Benchmark 88 Handicap in the ensuing event, with stablemate Cotehele also taking part.
“Two nice chances in that race,” Charlton said.
“Waihaha writes his own story. He ran a huge race in the Sydney Stakes at weight for age level.
“Obviously he drops back to a handicap, will carry 63kg (less 1.5kg with the claim) which could be an impediment, but he’s a class horse.
“Cotehele was excellent the other day, always been a progressive horse and gets a nice run with James McDonald.”
O’Shea’s stayer Sound Of Cannons lines up in the $300,000 The Beauford over 2300m, and Charlton believes it is worth a shot at this level.
“He raced one of his best races on Saturday (second behind Pale King at Rosehill), probably not a lot of luck with the pace of the race,” Charlton said.
“A little bit of a throw at the stumps this weekend, but it’s a $300,000 race with (eight) acceptors and he’s just around $14.
“So if he gets a nice run, Tommy Berry (Berry) knows him well, and if he can show his best he won’t be far out of the money.”
Other O’Shea hopefuls on the card include Saveadateforme in the $200,000 Group 3 Spring Stakes for three-year-olds and Lion’s Roar resuming in The Hunter.
“(Saveadateforme) is a nice horse, just learning on the job and progressed with each run,” Charlton said.
“He’s a smart little horse, got a good turn of speed on him and looks to improve from his last run.
“It probably isn’t the deepest Group 3. It’s a bit of a tricky gate, but leave it to Tommy (Berry) and if he gets the right run in transit he’ll be there.”
“(Lion’s Roar) is coming off a set back, first run in about a year.
“He’s a little bit big, he’s going to need a run. 1300m is short of his best but he’s the sort of horse that’s working towards the Festival and Ingham in December.”
