Alberton Park Instantly Impresses New Stable

3 minute read

Former Queensland galloper Alberton Park (NZ) debuted for the John O'Shea stable on Saturday and instantly impressed with a nice win in the Benchmark 85 Australian Turf Club Handicap (1200m) at Rosehill.

Trained by Liam Birchley when racing north of the Tweed River, Alberton Park arrived at O'Shea's stable with solid form but had been costly to punters with 14 placings and only five wins from 28 starts. O'Shea looks like turning that record in the right direction.

Ridden by Chad Schofield, Alberton Park jumped well and enjoyed the run of the race, sitting one out

Little changed in the run until the field began to round the home turn when Schofield pulled Alberton

lead until the 150m, the race never looked in doubt.

At the line the margin to her rivals was three quarters of a length to First Look (Hugh Bowman) with Hatton Garden (Blake Shinn) a further length and a quarter away in third.

“Very uncomplicated little mare, she has been uncomplicated since the day she set foot in the place,”

“Trials have been good, work has been good and raced accordingly.

“Tony Bott rang me and asked if I was interested in training this mare, Tony has a great eye for a horse so we welcomed her into the stable and she has been a delight since she has been there.

“The biggest thing with these mares is to get them winning and she has done that now so we will let her progress and find a nice race for her later in the autumn.”

Schofield, who gave Alberton Park every opportunity in the run, was full of praise for his mare after

“She jumped well, just sort of lost her foot at the gates but didn't lose too much ground,” Schofield.

“We got across to one out and one back and there was an opportunity to come out. Mr O'Shea said

good.

“I was pretty confident coming to the top of the straight and when I let her go she put the race away.”