Soulcombe, a recent Melbourne Cup favourite, fell out of the gates like a bag of spuds, not surprisingly but later disappointed pulling up 2/5 lame. Obviously the import needs a longer journey and more acclimatisation as did Chalk Stream before Chris Waller waved his magic wand over him for King Charles.

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J-Mac had a more comfortable passage on Aft Cabin in the Eskimo Prince, outclassing the other three-year-olds. Potentially they are only average with the possible exception of Osipenko, ridden by Nash Rawiller who described the run as a “complete disaster”.

Aft Cabin had scope for improvement but was more forward in condition than stablemate Golden Mile, another promising Godolphin three-year-old, beaten at Rosehill the previous Saturday.

Perhaps the run of the Randwick program was produced by Remarque who looked every inch a major Oakleigh Plate contender taking the Yarraman Park under Tim Clark. He is another rival who adds merit to the domination of J-Mac, tipped as a kid in New Zealand to be outstanding by trainer John O’Shea. Did O’Shea ever think he would reach his present pitch?

“I’ve always told him he would be outstanding but to be great he had to have a good home life and Katelyn (Mallyon) has produced it,” he answered.

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