He was one of The Everest favourites, but Lost And Running is the forgotten sprinter heading into Saturday’s TJ Smith – and trainer John O’Shea can’t work out why.
Lost And Running has not been seen on race day since being beaten in the Nature Strip Stakes in October, where he pulled up lame as the $2.35 favourite after his shock race-morning scratching from The Everest.
Hugh Bowman returns on forgotten TJ Smith contender Lost And Running after winning the Premiere Stakes.Credit:Getty
“It’s ridiculous, he’s $30 in this race,” O’Shea said. “He has won against these before and look at his record at six furlongs at Randwick, and we get Hugh Bowman back on him.
“He has had the two trials and his gallop the other morning at Hawkesbury was perfect to top him off for this race.
“It is a very good race with a stack of chances, Nature Strip, In Secret and Giga Kick, not to forget Joe Pride’s horse [Private Eye], but I would happily put my bloke against them any time.”
Lost And Running has had several setbacks in his career, most significantly when he was ruled out of The Everest on race morning because of a scratchy action after developing a rash on his leg.
He had been favourite for the Galaxy, but missed out again because he had filling in the near-fore pastern, but O’Shea is confident the Premiere Stakes winner from spring can repeat that form on Saturday.
“This race was always the race we were targeting, and he is in great order now,” O’Shea said. “The draw [of outside barrier 15] wasn’t ideal, and where he will get from the barrier is a concern, but he is ready to run to his best.
“We will probably have to ride him conservatively and be a little further back than usual. There is going to be plenty of pressure on [Nature Strip] with Passive Aggressive, Overpass and Shades Of Rose likely to go forward.
“I think the horse back in the field will be charging late.”
Giga Kick, which won The Everest using that style, is the $4.20 favourite in front of Nature Strip and In Secret, at $5 and $5.50 respectively.
Giga Kick stunned The Everest field last year.Credit:Racing Photos
Lost And Running is part of a big group 1 team for O’Shea, who has waited for the Sires Produce Stakes with Cafe Millenium, which is looking to get out in distance. He has Stroke Of Luck and Domingo in the Australian Derby and Ingham winner Kirwan’s Lane and Lion’s Roar in the Doncaster.
Cafe Millenium is a raw talent, which won brilliantly on debut, before running fourth in the Todman Stakes.
“It’s a nice race for him, and the Slipper form is usually the right form, but we thought it would be better for him to step out to this trip [of 1400m],” O’Shea said. “He just needs a bit of pressure to get home late.
“Both of the Derby horses will run the trip and Stroke Of Luck probably should have won the Tulloch Stakes last week and is spot on.
“Kirwan’s Lane and Lion’s Roar have both won at the Randwick mile, but the draw [of barrier 24] doesn’t help Kirwan’s because he is a horse that needs to take position.
“I think Lion’s Roar, who is a Randwick Guineas winner, has the right form coming out of the George Ryder only being beaten a couple of lengths and drops in the weights.”
Meanwhile, James McDonald had a scare on Wednesday when the Joseph O’Brien-trained Temple Of Artemis broke his near-fore sesamoid bone at Warwick Farm. The jockey jumped off the four-year-old at the 200m mark when he felt Temple Of Artemis was going to fall.
“He felt terrific in the run, he sailed through the first half of the race, and from about the 800, we started to quicken up and he was travelling beautifully,” McDonald told stewards.
“He was building brilliantly, and he felt fine. He whinnied [at the top of the straight] and I thought he was having a heart attack. He was wobbling and then he whinnied out again and I knew there was something wrong.
“I thought he was going to fall so I bailed out.”
Temple Of Artemis was taken to the Warwick Farm equine hospital and euthanised as a result of the injury. The incident will open the debate on scanning internationals, which occurs in Victoria but not NSW.
