Linebacker puts spring in trainers’ steps

Group 1 winner Linebacker returns to the trials this week.

John O'Shea and Tom Charlton will welcome back several of their carnival horses at a Randwick trial session this week as they bid to parlay a successful season into a lucrative spring.

In their first full term as training partners, the pair had a memorable 12-months with three Group 1 wins courtesy of Linebacker in the Randwick Guineas (1600m), Schwarz in the William Reid Stakes and Maison Louis in the Queensland Derby (2400m).

They also finished seventh on the Sydney premiership with 37 metropolitan victories and Charlton said the most pleasing aspect of their performance was consistency.

"All the horses raced consistently throughout each period of the season. There wasn't a lull period for us and they raced well through the carnivals," Charlton said.

"We had three Group One winners over a range of distances. A sprint, a mile and also a Derby where we ran one-two. They were also all in different states so that's a credit to the staff and the processes of what goes into preparing those sort of horses for those races.

"We've had lots of winners and our strikerate has been solid. We can only hope to keep building the quality."

O'Shea and Charlton's spring plans will ramp up in earnest with a handful of their better horses scheduled to step out in Randwick trials on Tuesday, headed by Linebacker.

He will make his first public appearance of the new season in a 900m heat and Charlton is excited for what his spring might hold.

"He is probably the flag bearer," Charlton said.

"If you were to pick the classiest horse, he had an excellent latter stage of his autumn preparation. His run in the Doncaster was without luck but still huge in the circumstances."

Stakes-class mares Snow In May and More Territories will also be among the triallers for O'Shea and Charlton on Tuesday, along with Roselyn's Star who was scratched from Rosehill on Saturday due to the heavy track.

 However, it is a band of untapped three-year-olds that Charlton hopes can form the stable's foundation into the future and several will be stepping out across the 17 heats.

"We're looking forward to seeing a few horses that might work towards those staying three-year-old races like Scoop The Pool, O'Sheamus, One Step Closer," Charlton said.

"Napoleonic is a nice Wootton Bassett colt. Burn The Sky was a nice debut winner on the Kensington track and she might end up in the fillies' (Princess) series."

Charlton also confirmed import Quietness was given a short break after her second in the Grafton Cup and would return to work this week with a view towards the Metropolitan.