VETERAN Tasmanian thoroughbred trainer Walter McShane celebrated his biggest day in racing when his gallant stayer Norsqui emerged triumphant in the Group 2 $400,000 Adelaide Cup at Morphetville on Monday.
Less than 24 hours later McShane was yesterday contemplating aiming his stable star at Group 1 races later this year.
McShane confirmed yesterday that he will nominate the six-year-old gelding for the Group 1 Sydney Cup to be run over 3200 metres at Randwick on April 27.
“We have worked hard to build this horse up physically and mentally to handle Group staying racing and we have emerged with a great result in Adelaide,” McShane said.
“I don’t know for sure whether he can be competitive at Group 1 level but I will nominate him for the Sydney Cup and see what weight he gets and go from there.”
“He is not a big horse by any means so he will struggle if he is burdened with big weights but I can try and build him up even more than I have done in the past year to give him a bit more strength,” he said.
Last season Norsqui’s Mornington Cup win gave the horse ballot free entry into this season’s Caulfield Cup and McShane was preparing the gelding for the race but his form waned so he pulled the pin, gave him a break and set him for the Adelaide Cup.
Winning the Adelaide Cup was a brilliant result for McShane who also part-owns the gelding with his long-time friend Keith Graver but few people are aware that the trainer had some grave doubts about the horse starting in the race.
“The horse is a very finicky eater and we had some issues with his eating habits prior to travelling to Adelaide,” McShane said.
“We had to float the horse to Adelaide from Melbourne in very hot conditions so I didn’t know what to expect when we unloaded him.”
“But to my surprise the horse looked better than he did when we loaded him onto the float so my worst fears were allayed,” he said.
However things didn’t go to plan during the race.
“Our plan was to be running fourth or fifth but at the half-way mark we were still well worse than midfield and 1200 metres out I thought we couldn’t win unless he pulled out an effort like he did to win the Mornington Cup and that’s exactly when he did,” he said.
If McShane progresses Norsqui to the Sydney Cup and he is competitive there is every chance he will aim the home-grown gelding at the Melbourne Cup.
“Right at the moment I am just doing a lot of thinking while the horse is doing a lot of relaxing here at Broadmarsh,” McShane said.
Norsqui is by Matsqui that has stood at McShane’s property for 12 years but has only served on average about 10 mares a season.
Matsqui is one of the most versatile stallions to stand in the state as he has produced speed machines that have excelled over 1000 metres and he has sired quality middle distance performers and Norsqui that is the best two-miler the state has produced since Piping Lane.