The win by the John O’Shea trained Generalife in the Group 3 $150,000 Irresistible Pools & Spas Star Kingdom Stakes (1200m) gave James McDonald an early treble at Rosehill today.

Generalife, royal blue, gives James McDonald a winning treble by taking out the Star Kingdom Stakes at Rosehill. Photo by Steve Hart.

Generalife had to overcome a slow getaway before McDonald took up a position midfield and was then then able to angle for a run on the inside to score a nose win over the Joe Pride trained Target and Sight.

Hot Snitzel with Damian Browne abaord raced to a clear lead at the 300m and looked to have something in hand but couldn’t hold out the strong finishing efforts of the first two and was a neck away in third spot.

Generalife was having his first run back from a spell and was well supported in the ring to start the $3.40 favourite with Target In Sight the second pick at $4 with Hot Snitzel starting at $9.

Even though Generalife was slow to leave the barriers alongside stablemate Sidestep, O’Shea wasn’t worried as he knew the five year old had the ability to overcome the setback.

“He tends to do that and we are aware where he may end up, we know this,” O’Shea said.

“The trick to this track at Rosehill if you end up back in the field you can always cut the corner as James did, he did it on Contributer the other day and track is a lovely fair track at the moment and the horse tends to really appreciates racing here.”

McDonald and O’Shea had teamed up earlier in the day to win with Medcaut in the $85,000 theraces.com.au Handicap (1400m) and then McDonald took out the Group 2 $175,000 Ascend Sales Trophies Emancipation Stakes (1500m) on Catkins for Chris Waller.