Asinara excites trainer John O'Shea

Saturday 2 January 2016, 4:55pm

In a stable with many stars, Asinara has made her mark for Godolphin with a stunning display at Rosehill.

After coming round the turn with the tail-enders, Asinara ($4.60) seemed to have too much to do in the Cellarbrations 3YO (1350m) to get near the favourite Lucky Fish ($4) who was four lengths in front of the pack.

Halfway down the straight Asinara had picked up the rest of the field but Lucky Fish still had a big break.

With her momentum up, Asinara produced an extraordinary finish to gather in her rival and win by a length.

Trainer John O'Shea was effusive in his praise of the filly who won on debut at Kembla Grange last month.

"We are blessed to have her," O'Shea said.

"She's a doll. She's a very special filly and is obviously very good.

"Is that race any good? I don't know, but she is very good."

O'Shea said Asinara would step up in distance but just how far she could get, he wasn't sure.

"She is bred to run a mile-and-a-quarter (2000m) or even a bit further.

"But she is brilliant."

O'Shea said the stable already had a couple of other fillies heading to the Australian Oaks which were adept in wet ground.

"We've got a couple of genuine Oaks fillies already that handle wet ground and I think if you're going to set a horse for the Sydney autumn you need to take into account the wet ground so we'll just poke along with her (Asinara) for now."

While Asinara's next race is uncertain, Loophole's could come around in less than a week.

Carrying 60.5 topweight in the 1900m-benchmark race, the Chris Waller-trained Loophole ($13) thwarted a betting plunge on Magical Stance ($3.60 to $2.80) by 1-1/4 lengths.

The Waller-trained Dance Of Heroes ($7.50) finished another three-quarters of a length third and the stablemates will be entered for Friday's Listed Gosford Cup (2100m).

"All going well, they will both go there," Waller said.

– AAP

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