Kiwi stayer Megablast has firmed in the betting for the Listed $175,000 Scott McMahon Electrical Caloundra Cup (2400m) at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday despite not having raced for a month.

Damian Browne, above, rides Megablast in the 2018 Caloundra Cup at the Sunshine Coast. Photo by Daniel Costello.

Megablast has firmed in from $4.20 to be marked at $3.90 for the Caloundra Cup on race eve with Ladbrokes.com.au but hasn’t raced since finishing third behind Egg Tart and Tradesman in the Group 2 $200,000 Bradford Access Insulation P.J. O’Shea Stakes (2200m) at the Sunshine Coast on June 2.

The Nigel Tiley trained six year old was then forced to miss two runs at Doomben in the Group 2 $300,000 Pages Hire Brisbane Cup (2200m) on June 9 and the Group 3 $200,000 Lazy Yak Tattersall’s Cup (2200m) last Saturday because of a minor leg injury.

Tiley said that Megablast has fully recovered from a minor sesamoid injury and added that the grey only missed a little bit of work in between runs.

“He knocked a sesamoid, which is why I had to scratch him out of the Brisbane Cup,” Tiley told the NZ Racing Desk.

“I thought it was a huge run in the O’Shea Stakes.”

“We haven’t lost a lot of ground with him. He’s probably only missed a couple of gallops since he hurt his leg. He’s still working but it has just been a case of doing a lot of walking and slow, steady work to keep him up to the mark.”

The Darren Weir trained Tradesman heads the Caloundra Cup market order at $3.30 while the third favourite Nurse Kitchen has been scratched and will run in the Listed $125,000 Winter Cup (2400m) at Rosehill on Saturday.

The Chris Munce trained First Crush is now on the third line of betting at $8 just ahead of Smart As You Think at $10.

The scratching off Nurse Kitchen means that Megablast will now jump from gate nine with Damian Browne in the saddle again.