SHAGGY SET FOR ONE MORE 2YO FLING

WYONG whiz Shaggy will have one more start in his already successful two-year-old season.

Wyong trainer Allan Kehoe is readying the brilliant youngster for a 2YO Handicap (1100m) at Royal Randwick on June 7.

Shaggy hasn’t raced since finishing fifth to Newcastle’s $2m Inglis Millennium winner Rivellino in the Group 2 Skyline Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on March 1; his first defeat in four starts.

Connections afterwards decided not to pay a late entry fee to proceed to the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens a fortnight later.

Shaggy had won his first three races at Coffs Harbour, Sunshine Coast and Randwick by an aggregate margin of just over 10 lengths.

“Shaggy is great,” Kehoe said this morning.

“He worked with another horse at Wyong yesterday morning, and was smokin’.

“I’ll trial him at home on Tuesday week (May 27) before he runs at Randwick next month.”

Whilst Kehoe is yet to confirm a rider for Shaggy, he is considering booking apprentice Olivia Chambers because of her 3kg metropolitan claim.

Chambers has ridden five winners for Kehoe, including three on three-year-old Prince Of Sorts.

“Shaggy is going to get a bit of weight, probably around 60.5kg, so Olivia’s claim would be very handy,” Kehoe said.

“The Randwick race will be his final start as a two-year-old.

“I’ll give him a freshen up but keep him in the stable, and set him for The Rosebud at Rosehill Gardens on August 16.”

The $200,000 The Rosebud is an 1100m Listed event for early three-year-olds.

Kehoe has decided to spell Prince Of Sorts after his unplaced run in yesterday’s Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (1700m) at the Scone metropolitan stand-alone meeting.

“He’s off to the paddock,” Kehoe said. “He has done a good job for us this campaign winning two races (at Wyong and Hawkesbury) and also was placed at Randwick.”

. Meanwhile, Newcastle’s newest Group 1 winning trainer Nathan Doyle is keeping a close watch on south-east Queensland’s weather.

He is considering sending last Thursday’s impressive Hawkesbury winner Hidden Motive north for the $1m Magic Millions National 2YO Classic (1000m) at Friday’s meeting under lights at the Gold Coast.

The Capitalist youngster was a $120,000 purchase for Doyle Racing and Kurrinda Bloodstock at last year’s MM yearling sale at the Coast.

“Nathan wants to wait a while to see how the Gold Coast track is before making a decision,” Doyle’s racing manager David Dyson said.

“Now that Hidden Motive has broken through and in such good form, he doesn’t want to risk him should the track be pretty heavy.”

Whilst Hidden Motive’s stablemate Harlem Queen’s Brisbane winter campaign is over, Doyle will have Queensland Guineas runner-up Churchill’s Choice flying the flag for the stable in Saturday’s Group 2 The Roses (2000m) at Doomben.

Koby Jennings rode the filly in the 1600m Guineas at Eagle Farm on May 3, and will return from his country Victorian base to partner her again.

Story John Curtis, May 18, 2025