John O’Shea acknowledges that Napoleonic faces a tough challenge ahead in the Group 3 Eskimo Prince Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill this Saturday.
The colt, sired by the late Wootton Bassett, established himself as a top contender among his age group with a dominant 4-¼ length victory in the Group 3 Red Anchor Stakes (1200m) held on Cox Plate day.
Training alongside Tom Charlton, O’Shea chose to give the Pinecliff Racing-owned youngster a spell following the Red Anchor and has been impressed by his development, including a strong barrier trial win at Randwick recently.
“He’s great, I’m really happy with him,” O’Shea said.
“He’s trialled up well and made a bit of psychical improvement from last season so we’re looking forward to Saturday.
Although O’Shea is satisfied with Napoleonic’s preparation, he concedes that the upcoming Eskimo Prince Stakes and future Autumn races will present fresh challenges, particularly with standout filly Tempted in the field.
“She’s the benchmark,” O’Shea said.
“She should’ve nearly won an Everest. In terms of 1200 metre sprinters in Australia, especially three-year-olds, there’s none better than her.
So we’re respectful of her, and we know that we’re going to have to be right at the best of our game to be competitive.”
O’Shea doesn’t anticipate a repeat of the Red Anchor demolition but expects the run to provide valuable insight into Napoleonic’s standing against elite three-year-olds.
“That was his day, fourth up, he’d had a good foundation going into it,” O’Shea said.
“It was a good day for him to let rip. Saturday is a bit different, he’s got a long campaign ahead, so whatever he does he’ll improve off, but he’s done enough work to run well.
The team remains flexible with Napoleonic’s autumn program, potentially stretching to the Brisbane Winter carnival.
Check out the top Australian betting sites for markets on the Eskimo Prince Stakes.
Napoleonic holds at $3.60 as the second favourite in all-in betting for the Eskimo Prince Stakes, behind the dominant $1.50 elect Tempted.
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