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Cunningham's Emerging Stayer Set To Do It Again At Gosford

3 minute read

Trainer Clare Cunningham is adamant the best is yet to come from lightly raced stayer Do This All Day but she’s quietly confident the three-year-old can chalk up another win at Gosford on Thursday.

Trainer : CLARE CUNNINGHAM after winning De Bortoli Wines Christmas Cup at Randwick in Australia.
Trainer : CLARE CUNNINGHAM after winning De Bortoli Wines Christmas Cup at Randwick in Australia. Picture: Steve Hart

The gelding is one of three horses remaining in Clare Cunningham's Warwick Farm stable as she begins a transition to being a mother but she's also leaving the door slightly ajar to continue training Do This All Day beyond her due date in August.

That's when Clare and partner Jason Collett are expecting their first child and when things will become clearer about what she can handle.

"We'll see what happens and what I can handle, if motherhood goes well and I feel like I can juggle one or two in work,'' she said.

"I have three in work and I've renewed my licence, obviously I had 40 on my books at the start of the year but I won't be training any great numbers.

"There are certain horses that are easier to train than others which may fit into our new lifestyle.

"There are types of horses like Do This All Day, simpler horses to train, where quirkiness isn't a big deal and you can rely on staff to get them to perform."

Do This All Day has won two of his six starts and after a bit of discussion Cunningham and Collett settled on the Tanti Financial Services Handicap (2600m) for his Gosford assignment having also accepted in a 1900m event.

The son of Not A Single Doubt stamped his staying potential with a strong length win over 2100m at Gosford on May 27. He was also victorious over the same trip at Wyong in April with Collett in the saddle.

"I like him, he's really gorgeous,'' Cunningham said.

"He will be better next preparation, he's done a wonderful job for me already this prep. He's been a bit difficult to ride for jockeys that don't know him, as you'd see Jason has been able to get the best out of him with his two victories, but that comes down to greenness.

"We nominated for the 1900m and 2600m but if anything Jason said he preferred him over the 2600m. He has a really good wind capacity.

"Instead of tackling a couple of Wednesday class horses, like Commander Bell and Madam Charm, over 1900m we have a weaker field over 2600m and we feel he will stay the trip."

Meanwhile, promising filly Madam Charm will move a step closer to graduating to metropolitan company if she can complete a hat-trick in the Gosford IT Handicap (1900m) and the vibe from the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace stable is that she is right up to the task.

Jack Bruce, Sydney foreman for Maher and Eustace, said Madam Charm has exceeded expectations with successive wins over shorter trips but they have shown there's plenty of upside in the three-year-old.

"She came over from New Zealand, she won a trial over there and had a run in her first preparation that was encouraging but it also let us know she would be better over a bit further and with a bit more time,'' he said.

"We're really pleased she's won these races on the way through to the 1900m."

Madam Charm has led all the way to wins over 1500m at Hawkesbury and 1600m at Kembla Grange on May on wet tracks, an ominous sign if Bruce is right and she'll only now start to come into her own at a middle distance.

He sees plenty of pluses for her at Gosford and expects she will be hard to run down.

"The small field helps her, she likes to roll forward and be kept in a comfortable rhythm,'' he said.

"She has found a nice race, she's got to keep making a progression but she's in great order.

"Whether it is this preparation I'm not sure but she's capable of winning a metro race. Now we are getting up to the ten furlong type trip we are really going to see what she's made of."


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