Trainer John O’Shea believes that Lightinthenite is well placed to record his first win for almost twelve months when he contests the Group 3 JRA Cup (2040m) at Moonee Valley tomorrow night.
Lightinthenite will return to handicap conditions in the JRA Cup at Moonee Valley tomorrow night. Photo by: Steve Hart
Lightinthenite resumed with a very impressive third place finish in the Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes (1600m); fighting on gamely after racing outside the leader Beaten Up for the majority of the race.
The Galileo gelding will return to handicap conditions in the JRA Cup, carrying four kilograms less than he did in the Chelmsford Stakes, and O’Shea is confident that the five-year-old will be very hard to beat.
“We are pretty happy with him; he seems to have enjoyed his time in the last ten days,” O’Shea said.
“He is second up at 2000 meters but he only had a short lay-off coming out of the Queensland winter so he has a good residual fitness.
“He is dropping from weight-for-age back to a handicap and gets in under the scale.
“They had a bit of rain in Melbourne overnight so the track is going to have a bit of give, which will also suit him, and he looks to get a nice run into the race.
“He will take a power of beating.”
Lightinthenite will be competing at Moonee Valley for the first time and although O’Shea doesn’t believe the David Jones Cup winner will have a problem handling the tight-turning circuit he said he will be instructing jockey James McDonald to get the gelding off the rail.
“He loves Caulfield and they are slightly different but I don’t think that it will be a problem for him,” O’Shea said.
“I would think that we will try and hold him one off if we could.
“I didn’t want him to end up with him finding himself fourth or fifth on the rail still looking for a run.
“I would be more inclined to try and stay one off so that we can go when we need to go.”
Lightinthenite ($4.80) is currently on the third line of JRA Cup betting markets behind Western Australian star Mr Moet ($3.50) and Peter Morgan-trained Oasis Bloom ($4.25).
