Royal Date For O’Reilly Colt

6 May 2013

Champion WS stallion O’Reilly will be represented at the highest level at this year’s Royal Ascot carnival. His three-year-old son Shamexpress is a confirmed starter in the Gr.1 King’s Stand Stakes on June 18 and will then stay on for an extended European campaign.

“We are under no constraint as to when he has to come home,” trainer Danny O’Brien said.

“With Star Witness he had to come home to get to stud. If this guy is in form, we might run him in the July Cup and possibly the Nunthorpe.”

Shamexpress won the Gr.1 Newmarket Handicap at his last appearance at Flemington in March and will return to O’Brien’s stable this week after preparatory work at the trainer’s Barwon Heads property.

“He’s in really good shape,” he said. “He’ll have a jump out at Flemington a week before he gets on the plane.” Craig Newitt, who rode Shamexpress in the Newmarket, retains the ride in the King’s Stand.

The Corner with Garry Chittick

Well, I got a bit behind last week, with Friday slipping by without realising it; hence no Corner. I have said on too many occasions that negative messages are of no help to anyone, and yet there seems so often a reason to be concerned. Clearly, this week the well-constructed Guerin Report on the threatened downgrade of our Group 1 races demands our attention.

21 October 2026

Vale Ohope Wins, Ocean Park’s tough, kind and courageous daughter

Long before her Oaks double, Ohope Wins’ greatest victory belonged to the Waikato Stud staff and Matamata Veterinary Services vets who saved her as a desperately sick foal. Taken far too soon at Caulfield, her remarkable story is theirs too.