3 minute read
It’s near inconceivable that well-bred Catanzaro has made it back to the racetracks, let alone win in class record time to propel him into Saturday’s Rosehill Gardens TAB Class 3, $75,000, Highway (1200m) for Cowra’s veteran one-horse hobby trainer Ken Parsons.
It's near inconceivable that well-bred Catanzaro has made it back to the racetracks, let alone win in class record time to propel him into Saturday's Rosehill Gardens TAB Class 3, $75,000, Highway (1200m) for Cowra's veteran one-horse hobby trainer Ken Parsons.
As a promising two-year-old, the So You Think protégé suffered a catastrophic fractured sesamoid, resulting in a three year absence. And now at five years, he wins races with a metal screw in a hind leg.
It wasn't just a notable comeback. It was revelation.
Last start on the Canberra synthetic at 1206m, Catanzaro third-up since March 2018 and with 58.5kg spaced his rivals in a class record 1.09.73. A time to compare with open class sprinters.
Then Parsons, a long-time Newhaven Park stud employee, and winning rider Matthew Cahill were convinced the gelding was up to his ears in a city Highway dropping to 54.5kg.
At $7, you won't get a stronger push from a leading regional form judge than travelling near seven hours return from the ACT for just one ride.
Meanwhile, anybody with a close association in racing determines a cracked sesamoid is usually the bitter end. Including career horseman Parsons at 57 years.
"I can't remember many racing again, if they do they're never the same and I've been around a long time," explained Parsons.
"But he's got some constitution and heart this big boy. He was galloped on from behind, cracked a sesamoid clear through.
"Because he was only two he wasn't a breeding proposition so racing was the only option. So they decided to have the operation.
"They rang me and asked if I'd take him and give it a go. We knew it was 12 months recuperation minimal. But he had complications again, so it ended up over two years.
"I was just doing my job for Newhaven. Managing the stallions, looking after the foaling mares and the handling every season at the yearling sales. He's the only horse I've got in work."
Parsons, a career horseman, took care and patience to the maximum with Catanzaro.
"After all that time in the paddock you could see he was a happy, eating and moving well enough, so eventually I started riding him work again,'' he said.
"He's a real big unit, gradually I got his weight down, then he had that feel - strong, hard to hold - he wanted to race."
Catanzaro sure did. He dominated a Wagga Wagga maiden second-up in May after his two-year absence and took it to another level, spacing them at Canberra.
"Matty and I thought he could win again off that maiden, but we didn't expect the time and the way he won."
So the decision was made to jump a grade and take on a Class 3 Highway. Catanzaro has been primed by a recent Bathurst jump out.
"We couldn't get a trial, so we went there for a jump out, he's where we want him," he said.
Parsons has rarely trained in the past decade but he's highly respected in the Riverina as he won a Canberra listed sprint way back in 2001 with performed Majanui and other winners.
Ken can't readily recall the last time he raced a galloper in Sydney. But Catanzaro and Cahill have given Ken an inkling it just might not be his last.
