3 minute read

Mark Kavanagh; Craig Williams; Samaready; Gai Waterhouse; John Sargent; Araldo; Brent Stanley; Puissance De Lune; Country Apprentices; Neil Paine. Golden Rose.

Kavanagh Keeps His Cool

Is Mark Kavanagh about to break out of the doldrums and regain his place as a major spring carnival player?

By any measure it’s been a pretty lean time for Kavanagh since the heady days when he was winning more than 100 races a season and his horses were regularly winning Group One races.

The figures don’t lie. Last season Kavanagh won only 36 races with only 11 of those wins on metropolitan tracks.

It’s a long way from his career high of 135 wins in the 2009-10 season. He also trained more than 100 winners in the next two seasons but his figures have slipped dramatically over the last two seasons as the great run he enjoyed with G1 stars like Atlantic Jewel, Shocking, Whobegotyou, Maldivian, Divine Madonna, Devil Moon. December Draw and Undoubtedly becomes a fading memory.

Yet there are positive signs of a turnaround. Kavanagh’s Flemington stable has won six races in the last month and high hopes are held for Australian Cup winner Super Cool and the exciting Chivalry to raise the banner during the spring. We’ll know more on Saturday when Super Cool and Chivalry take on crack fields at Caulfield.

Super Cool had issues in the autumn and Kavanagh is confident he is capable of improving on his efforts last spring when he was third behind stablemate Atlantic Jewel in the Memsie Stakes and Caulfield Stakes, fifth in the Cox Plate and ninth in the Melbourne Cup.

“He’s a much better horse going into this spring than he was last year,” Kavanagh reported. “He hasn’t won since the Australian Cup but there’s no doubting his ability. He’s injury-free, so we’ll wait and see what happens.”

Kavanagh has ruled out the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups for Super Cool and will target the middle-distance weight-for-age events with the five-year-old.

“He showed us that he doesn’t stay 3200m,” Kavanagh said. “He’s a 2000 metre horse and that’s what he’ll be specifically set for. He’ll come right about two weeks before the Cox Plate and then the Mackinnon.”

Williams Admires Japanese Star

There are few Australians more qualified to comment about the impact the Japanese stayers may have on this year’s spring carnival than champion jockey Craig Williams.

Williams has a vast knowledge of Japanese racing due to his regular riding stints in that country and has first hand experience of the Japanese horses heading to Melbourne, especially the top class performer Admire Rakti.

“I rode Admire Rakti in two Group One races,” Williams said.

“He ran fourth in the Japan Cup and was disappointing in the Arima Kinen but he had excuses due to the ground.

“On his best day there’s no doubt he could win both of our major handicaps (Caulfield Cup/ Melbourne Cup).”

Williams also said owners and trainers across the northern hemisphere had come to realise there was much more to the spring carnival than just the Melbourne Cup.

“The whole carnival, not just the Melbourne Cup, is on their radar. Everyone is well aware of it,” he said.

“Going back Australia was too far away and their attitude was the Melbourne Cup is only a handicap. Now it’s much more than that. It’s fantastic for Australian racing.”

Samaready Program Set

Dual Group One winner Samaready is set to return to racing at Caulfield on September 20.

Trainer Mick Price has nominated the Sportingbet Sprint Series Heat 2 (formerly the G3 How Now Stakes) as the rasce to set the mare up for a clash with stablemate Lankan Rupee in the G1 Manikato Stakes in October.

Samaready was heading for retirement after she went winless during the autumn but she thrived in the paddock and is back for another season of racing.

“I think she is going as good as she has ever as,” Price said.

Gai Knows This Breed

Gai Waterhouse’s affinity with the progeny of Al Maher is the “x factor” behind the spring prospects of her boom three-year-old Almalad.

Waterhouse says Almalad is a very special prospect, and not just because he is already a G1 winner of the JJ Atkins at Eagle Farm in June.

He is the third G1 winner by Al Maher trained by Waterhouse, joining Fat Al and Diamond Drille.

Waterhouse certainly knows what makes the breed tick, having trained Al Maher to win five races including the G1 Australian Guineas and G2 Gloaming Stakes.

“We have had a lot of Al Mahers and they are not really two-year-olds, they tend to get better with time,” Waterhouse said.

“Most of them have funny natures and Almalad is no different. They take time to learn what it is all about.

“He showed in the Brisbane race that he was as good as any two-year-old, and now he gets to prove it.

"We think Almalad will be competitive in anything he runs in. That includes in the Caulfield Guineas and Cox Plate but the Golden Rose is the first target.”

Her comments add spice to what will be an enthralling Run To The Rose at Rosehill on Saturday.

Sargent Keen On Kirramosa

Trainer John Sargent will be disappointed if his VRC Oaks winner Kirramosa doesn’t race boldly when she has her second run back from injury at Rosehill on Saturday.

Kirramosa’s first-up sixth in the G2 Missile Stakes at Randwick was a beauty and left Sargent relieved after she missed the autumn due to the serious fetlock injury she suffered last December.

Kirramosa drops way back in class on Saturday and Sargent will be counting on her to run well and enhance her prospects for the big spring races.

“She’s taken a good deal of improvement off her first-up run,” Sargent said. "We elected not to trial her because I am more than happy for her to come to peak fitness during her campaign.”

Watch These Imports

Another weekend and another batch of imports will be out to enhance their spring claims in vital lead-up races in Sydney and Melbourne.

One of the most interesting will be the German stayer Araldo, who resumes in Saturday’s Listed ATB Stakes (Heatherlie Handicap) over 1700m at Caulfield.

It will be his first start since his recovery from a stress fracture in his back, detected after his third in the G2 Lexus at Flemington last November.

The son of High Chaparral had won the Listed Bart Cummings (2500m) at his previous start on protest over Sea Moon.

Trainer Mike Moroney is hoping Araldo will regain that form as he holds the import in high regard.

“He’s a really nice stayer,” Moroney said. From a mile and a half up he’s going to be very competitive.”

Another import to watch on Saturday will be the highly-rated Stipulate, having his first start since his third in the G3 Easter Cup at Caulfield in April.

Oaks Target For Veuvelicious

Veuvelicious, the classy filly Caulfield Cup winning jockey Brent Stanley hopes will give him his first Group One win as a trainer, is primed for a big first-up showing at Caulfield on Saturday.

Stanley has been thrilled by the progress of Veuvilicious since she finished third in a barrier trial at Cranbourne last week when ridden by Damien Oliver.

Stanley has wisely engaged apprentice Kate Mallyon to take advantage of her 1.5kg claim on Saturday but don't be surprised if Oliver is back on board in the bigger races later in the spring.

Stanley has the $1 million Crown Oaks in November as the ultimate spring target for Veuvelicious.

“She’s on a staying preparation but she trialled really well against some nice fillies,” Stanley said.

“There are plenty of options for her heading to the Oaks. We’ll just see how she’s going but she’ll probably have her fifth run in the Oaks.”

Stanley, based at Kyneton under his stable banner of Cloud 9 Thoroughbreds, has been training for less than two years but has shown he is a real rising talent in the training ranks with 45 wins already on the board.

Puissance Gallop Pleases Weir

Last spring’s boom horse Puissance De Lune gets another chance to record his first Group One victory in Saturday’s Memsie Stakes at Caulfield with trainer Darren Weir expecting good improvement on his first-up sixth in the Lawrence Stakes two weeks ago.

Weir’s confidence was boosted when seven-year-old galloped over 800 metres between races with a companion at Warrnambool on Monday.

“He had a nice bit of sharp work and I thought he worked quite well,” Weir reported.

Country Kids On The Rise

There are some gun apprentices emerging around the country who will soon step up to the big stage.

NSW pair Samantha Clenton and Nick Heywood are right out of the box among the host of young riders making their mark at in the NSW country and are certain to link with top city stables in the near future.

Big things also lie ahead for Victorian apprentices Jye McNeil, Regan Bayliss and Les Tilley this season.

Tilley has had plenty of experience on the tough outback circuit in Queensland and has already ridden six winners in Victoria since he transferred to Peter Moody.

The NSW central west has welcomed back apprentice Joe Saiki, who is indentured to Dubbo trainer Clint Lundholm.

Saiki was showing a lot of promise with 54 wins on the board in NSW before he was forced returned to Japan late last year for seven months due to Visa problems.

Knackers Now The Bionic Man

Veteran Sydney jockey Neil Paine has some popular nicknames but he’s certain to have a new one following his recent accident in Noumea that may bring an early end to his riding career.

Paine was involved in a race fall during the Noumea Cup in New Caledonia on August 10 where he sustained a fractured T8 vertebra and fractured both hands.

Since returning to Sydney he has undergone operations on his hands to insert three plates and 18 pins.

He has now recuperating at home but with that much hardware in his hands he certain to be known in future as the new ‘Bionic Man’.

Serious hand injuries are among the worst for jockeys and has brought an end to many riding careers. We hope ’Knackers’ – Paine’s pet name among his racing mates - can make a full recovery and get back into the saddle - if that’s what he wants at the age of 51.

Golden Rose Pressure

The interference caused by the wayward Liberation in last Saturday’s Up And Coming Stakes at Randwick could prove costly for a several of the rivals he took out of the race.

The interference caused by Liberation cut top shelf colts Better Land and Meursault out of vital prizemoney that they need to gain a start in the $1 million Golden Rose at Rosehill on September 13.

The pair now have to go down the difficult path of running in the Ming Dynasty Quality at Randwick on September 6 to secure sufficient prizemoney to ensure they can back up the following Saturday in the Golden Rose.