Godolphin has split its juvenile team between two states on Saturday in a bid to continue its brilliant strike rate with two-year-olds this season.
Ottoman will sport Sheikh Mohammed’s royal blue silks in the TAB Place Multi Plate (1100m) at Rosehill while Bosnia represents the stable at Flemington.
Assistant trainer Darren Beadman said Godolphin had such a large squad of babies it was extra important to place the right horses in the right races and keep them apart when possible.
Adding to the conundrum is the fact Godolphin breeds its own racing stock meaning its two-year-olds are ineligible for the many sales-restricted races.
“We’ve got so many of them and we’ve got another 25 or 26 trialling next week,” Beadman said of Godolphin’s juvenile team.
“With the Magic Millions and Inglis races, it restricts what we can run them in.”
Both Ottoman and Bosnia won their respective barrier trials at Warwick Farm earlier this month and trainer John O’Shea immediately earmarked the big-striding Bosnia for the expanses of Flemington.
Godolphin has already flexed its juvenile muscle in Melbourne where it has won two-year-old races with Bantam and Antelucan.
In Sydney, O’Shea has saddled up seven youngsters in Saturday metropolitan races for three winners and three placings including the Gimcrack Stakes quinella of Calaverite and Igraine.
Ottoman has shown enough natural ability to be ranked among Godolphin’s better youngsters and Beadman says she has a professional attitude to match.
“She’s among our top 15 or 20 two-year-olds so far,” Beadman said.
“She still has a long way to go but everything she’s done to date suggests she’s a real progressive type.
“She’s very athletic and she seems to take everything in her stride – everything John has done with her she has accepted well.”
At her only trial, Ottoman joined the leader before the home corner and despite being under a good hold from Hugh Bowman she extended effortlessly to score a 1-1/4 length win over Perignon.
Bowman will ride the Peter and Paul Snowden-trained Pride Of Dubai in the Rosehill race with James McDonald taking over race day duties on Ottoman.
