2018 P.J. O’Shea Stakes Nominations: Egg Tart on trial for Spring campaign

Dual Oaks winning mare Egg Tart is on trial for a 2018 Spring Carnival campaign when she lines up in the Group 2 $200,000 Bradford Access Insulation P.J. O’Shea Stakes (2200m) at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday.

Egg Tart, above in green and red colours, is among the nominations for the 2018 P.J. O’Shea Stakes at the Sunshine Coast. Photo by Jenny Barnes.

Trainer Chris Waller was glad to see Egg Tart start to find some of her three year old form with a fighting second to stablemate Comin’ Through in the Group 1 $650,000 Hardy Brothers Doomben Cup (2000m) at Doomben on May 19.

Another good performance in the weight for age P. J. O’Shea Stakes will see Waller aim Egg Tart towards the Group 1 $3.15m Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield in October.

“It was the first time this campaign she had got out to somewhere near the 2200 metres of the Queensland Oaks,” Waller told AAP.

“If she races well I will start looking at whether she can measure up to the Caulfield Cup in the spring.”

Egg Tart was the star staying filly during the 2016-2017 season with wins in the Group 1 $400,000 Schweppes Oaks (registered as Australasian Oaks) (2000m) at Morphettville and in the Group 1 $500,000 Treasury Brisbane Queensland Oaks (2200m) at Doomben but the now rising five year old mare hasn’t won since her three year old days.

Egg Tart and her stablemate One Foot In Heaven are among the eleven nominations for the P.J. O’Shea Stakes which is being run at the Sunshine Coast this year while the Eagle Farm track is being resurfaced.

Victoria’s leading trainer Darren Weir also has two nominations, Gallic Chieftain and Tradesman.

Gallic Chieftain made it two wins on the trot with a victory in the Listed $200,000 Warrnambool Cup (2350m) at Warrnambool on May 3 but was then well beaten when tenth to Rising Red in the Group 3 $125,000 Channel Seven Premier’s Cup (2200m) at Doomben on May 26.

Tradesman was also a winner at the Warrnambool Carnival in the Open Handicap over 1700m before finishing ninth in the Doomben Cup.

Kiwi stayer Megablast is also nominated for the P.J. O’Shea Stakes and prior to finishing sixth in the Group 3 $125,000 Ascot Green Chairman’s Handicap (2000m) at Doomben on May 12 won the Group 2 NZ$100,000 Easter Handicap (1600m) at Pukekohe in New Zealand on April 21.

Nominations for the 2018 P.J. O’Shea Stakes (2200m)

#	Last 10	Horse	Sex	Age	Trainer	Hcp Rating
1	x270x40052	EGG TART	M	4	Chris Waller	107
2	3×36143110	GALLIC CHIEFTAIN (FR)	H	5	Darren Weir	103
3	2170×13545	ICON OF DUBAI	C	3	Peter & Paul Snowden	75
4	1322310305	KAHARAU	G	6	Kenny Rae	96
5	3314×21838	KARAVALI (NZ)	M	4	Kris Lees	–
6	2266×45530	MAN OF HIS WORD	G	5	Bruce Hill	98
7	618x52x185	MARABEL	M	4	Wendy Roche	–
8	28x1948x16	MEGABLAST (NZ)	G	6	Nigel Tiley	100
9	x72x203x60	ONE FOOT IN HEAVEN (IRE)	R	6	Chris Waller	107
10	4277×32932	SMART AS YOU THINK	M	4	John McArdle	–
11	0x374x4419	TRADESMAN	G	6	Darren Weir	94