Edging closer to milestone

ASTUTE horseman John O’Shea edged closer to a personal milestone thanks to his success in Bathurst last night.

Beginning the season with 190 training wins, O’Shea’s tally sits on 198 following Spartan Chimes’ triumph.

“I’ve been stuck in the 190s for a while, so hopefully it won’t take much longer`before I hit 200,” O’Shea said. “It’s not something I’m fussed about, but these little milestones are nice along the way.”

With O’Shea in the cart, Spartan Chimes was restrained to the tail of the field from barrier eight as his stablemate Our Lou led before being eased to take a trail behind Harbour View.

Last leaving the back straight, Spartan Chimes sustained a strong four-wide sprint to score by two-and-a-half metres from the pacemaker, with Captain Valiente 13 metres away third.

“He didn’t go too badly,” O’Shea said. “The talent is there, just not the brain at this stage.

“The breed doesn’t normally win at two, so really, he has done a good job to get to this stage.

“He’s got a long way to go, but he has done a few things which suggest he can go on as he gets older.”

Breaking his maiden at his third start, the two-year-old rated 1:58.4 over 1730 metres, with the victory doubling as O’Shea’s 865th as a driver.

“I enjoy training a small team that I can handle on my own,” O’Shea said. “I just chip away with my team and enjoy it when wins come along.”