Rosehill a first step for John O’Shea’s gentle giant
Cowboys fan John O’Shea might have found himself the Jason Taumalolo of racehorses in strapping colt Cafe Millenium.
The still developing three-year-old stands at 16.2 hands and tips the scales at a whopping 570kg, significantly bigger than many fully mature thoroughbreds.
In that vein, O’Shea isn’t putting any pressure on Café Millenium to perform in Saturday’s Group 3 Up And Coming Stakes (1300m) at Rosehill, despite the horse’s lone win coming first-up last preparation in the Pierro Plate (1100m) where he settled last and unleashed a dazzling turn of foot.
However, he does believe Café Millenium can come into his own once he extends to 1600m when races are paced more moderately and the horse can get his big body into a rhythm.
“I don’t think you want to make a judgement on him until he gets to a mile,” O’Shea said.
“He’s going great. He’s big and strong, happy and healthy.
“He’s hard to get out of the gates because he’s so big, but when he gets to a mile and the tempo is different, I think he’ll be fine.”
Café Millenium’s three runs have deliberately been on the expansive Randwick circuit and his hefty frame would all but rule him out of chasing a goal like the Caulfield Guineas on a tighter track.
However, O’Shea is hoping the colt can measure up to black-type races during the carnival with the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Randwick on October 28 pencilled in as a target.
“He’s not a Caulfield horse. I think we would go through the traditional path to the Spring Champion,” O’Shea said.
“Hopefully he runs ten furlongs as a three-year-old, but he will definitely run a mile as a three-year-old.
“There are a bunch of races for him.”
A field of 12 was accepted for the Up And Coming Stakes on Wednesday, headlined by promising Chris Waller pair Caballus and Tutta La Vita and Fernhill Mile winner Tom Kitten for Godolphin.
Tom Sherry will partner Café Millenium while James Mcdonald, who has won three of the past four renewals of the Up And Comin Stakes on Tiger Of Malay (2022), North Pacific (2021) and True Detective (2020), rides Caballus.
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