LION READY TO ROAR AT RANDWICK

Local trainer John O’Shea is looking forward to last season’s Gr.1 Randwick Guineas (1600m) winner Lion’s Roar (NZ) (Contributer) resuming at Randwick on Saturday.

The son of Contributer is set to tackle the Gr.2 Tramway Stakes (1400m) after pleasing in a couple of lead-in trials.

“He looks to have made good improvement,” O’Shea told SENTrack.

“He is a much bigger, stronger horse this time. With his pedigree you would expect him to improve as he gets older, and he has.

“Kerrin McEvoy (jockey) galloped him his morning and will ride him on Saturday.”

O’Shea holds reserved expectations with his gelding ahead of the weekend, however, he expects him to gain a lot of improvement from the run heading into the Gr.1 George Main Stakes (1600m).

“He has never been overly effective at anything under a mile, so that needs to be taken into account, but I still think he will acquit himself well and lay a good foundation for his run in the George Main in two weeks time,” O’Shea said.

“I think 2000m is his pet (distance). He is a very good Randwick horse and we are very lucky we don’t need to take him anywhere away from Randwick over the next few weeks.”

O’Shea, in conjunction with good friend Jason Abrahams of Champion Thoroughbreds, purchased the handsome four-year-old from the Book 2 draft of Bill Gleeson’s Wellfield Lodge for $65,000 at the 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling sale.

Story: NZ Racing News