John O’Shea got off to a perfect start in his new role as head trainer for Darley Australia with a winner from his very first runner after Alaska proved too good in Wednesday’s $35,000 Heading Out Hair and Beauty Handicap (1400m) at Sportingbet Park Sandown.
With O’Shea having officially taken over from Peter Snowden on Sunday, Melbourne foreman David Charles said the win was a fantastic thrill for the whole Darley team.
“It’s fantastic for everyone,” Charles said. “It’s fantastic for John O’Shea winning with his first runner for Sheik Mohammed.
“You couldn’t get off to a better start and hopefully we can build on this. It’s a day to reflect and enjoy.
“We’re pretty quiet down here in Melbourne in the coming weeks as we’re just going through the transition stage at the moment but we’re really happy with how things are taking place.”
Charles, who has worked for Darley for the past five years and has been in his current role since Paul Snowden left in mid-March, said he and O’Shea had already developed a good working relationship.
“John’s had a chance to get around the horses over the last couple of weeks and months and it’s all going very well,” he said.
“He was down here last week and we had a good three days together going through our processes and he was really happy.
“He watched this horse do his last bit of work and he was confident that he’d run really well (Wednesday).”
Charles said there were no immediate plans for Alaska ($4.60), who was taken straight to the early lead by jockey Steven Arnold before kicking two lengths clear at the top of the home straight.
Despite tiring over the final 100m, the son of Medaglia d’Oro had enough in reserve to hold off a late challenge from the Mick Price-trained Duke Of Brunswick ($5) by a long-neck on the line, with fellow Price stable mate Devon Princess ($21) just under a length further back in third.
– Racing Victoria
