Catch A Wave is even better
Multi-millionaire pacing star Catch A Wave is on song to make a bold bid to win the Nullarbor slot race for the second year in a row when he lines up in the $1.25 million feature event at Gloucester Park next Friday night.
The six-year-old romped to an effortless all-the-way victory in the $31,000 Garrard’s Horse And Hound @ Albion Park Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night, a striking performance which delighted his trainer Andy Gath.
Catch A Wave was the $2.10 second fancy behind the $1.85 favourite and local superstar Mister Smartee, who raced without cover and finished second, just over three lengths behind the Victorian invader.
“It’s a perfect lead-in for next Friday,” said Gath. “Whenever you travel you never know what to expect. But he has pulled up very well, and you wouldn’t know he’s had a run.
“He will probably have a hoppled run on Tuesday when we are trying to mirror what we did last year. And he is better than he was last year when he won the Nullarbor.
“This was the first time he has run the gate (in recent times), and he was good and relaxed the whole way. He is also a terrific sit-sprinter, and that’s probably his best chance of winning the Nullarbor even though, early on, he won most of his races when leading.
“He got a soft lead (37.6sec.) and we would’ve been disappointed if he didn’t win. He has a bit of class about him. At his previous start, when he won at Geelong, he wasn’t entitled to win. He had to run a half in about 53.5sec., and I don’t think there is any horse in Australia who could have won.
“Barrier draws don’t worry us too much; it’s where the other horses draw (in the Nullarbor) that worries us.”
Kate Gath got Catch A Wave away speedily from the No. 5 barrier on Friday night, and after the modest lead time and casual opening quarter of 30.9sec. the gelding dashed over the final 400m sections in 29.5sec., 27.7sec. and 26.9sec. to win by ten metres from Mister Smartee, rating 1.55.3.
Mister Smartee began out wide at barrier eight and settled down in seventh position before Gary Hall jnr sent him forward, three wide, after 220m to move to the breeze where he settled and did not apply any pressure on the pacemaker. He ran home strongly to finish second, a half-length ahead of the polemarker and $23 chance Hoppys Way, who trailed Catch A Wave throughout.
“It was a perfect run,” declared Kate Gath. Catch A Wave now boasts a 50 per cent winning record, with 26 victories and eleven placings from 52 starts for earnings of $2,158,278.
Ideal Muscle revives memories
Ideal Muscle revived memories of star pacer Magic Flute’s victories in the 1957 and 1958 Easter Cups when he made most of the running and won the $50,000 Garrard’s Horse And Hound Easter Cup at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Ideal Muscle, trained and driven by Aiden De Campo, is a direct descendant of Star Song, the dam of Magic Flute, who was trained and driven throughout his highly successful career by the late Fred Kersley snr.
Ideal Muscle is by American Ideal and is the first foal out of unraced Bettors Delight mare Delightful Page, who is out of Centrefold Angel, a winner of 14 races and $237,348 who traces her ancestry in a direct line back to Star Song.
Ideal Muscle, the $4.60 second favourite, began from the front line in Friday night’s standing-start Cup, and De Campo let him settle before dashing him to the front after 600m. The little four-year-old, who had been placed at his four starts this season, was able to relax with a casual opening 400m section of 32.5sec., followed by a 30.4sec. quarter, a flying 27.7sec. section down the back and a final 400m of 29.2sec.
He went on to win by a half-length from the 40m backmarker Spyglass ($10), who sustained a spirited burst from last with 1050m to travel. Nine-year-old Major Express, the $3.60 favourite from the 10m mark, produced an excellent performance at his first appearance for 531 days to finish third.
Major Express, driven by Chris Lewis, was sixth after a lap and he dashed forward to be third (three wide) at the bell and fought on gamely.
Ideal Muscle, bred and owned by Craig Lynn, has now earned $141,870 from nine wins and 14 placings from 33 starts, and his victory gave De Campo his first success in an Easter Cup and enabled him to emulate the performance of his father Andrew, who drove Smooth Business to victory in the 1993 Easter Cup.
“Ideal Muscle’s runs this time in have been really good,” said De Campo. “He got the job done tonight behind the tapes before we worked our way to the front, and then the easy first quarter won us the race.
“He is a funny horse who does only what he has to do. He tends to knock in the final 50 metres, so I wanted him to get away from the others before they tried to swoop on us, and it all worked out well for us.”
Little Darling flies home from last
Champion reinsman Chris Lewis recorded a remarkable ninth triumph in the $75,000 group 2 Empress Stakes when he brought $17.30 chance Little Darling home with a flying finish from last to snatch victory from the $2.75 favourite Aardiebytheseaside at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“Going into the back straight you would have given her no hope,” said Lewis. “And when we straightened up, I thought we were not going to get there. But she knuckled down, and I think Aardiebytheseaside came back to us a little bit. The quick lead time probably took the edge of that mare.
“Little Darling is a good all-round horse who is best suited doing nothing and then sprinting home. She ran a good time (rating 1.56.5) tonight.”
Nullarbor Navajo ($4.80) led from the No. 2 barrier, with Aardiebytheseaside in the breeze after racing three wide early from the No. 6 barrier.
Penny Black ($3.70) began from the outside barrier (No. 9) on the front line and settled at the rear before Gary Hall jnr sent her forward to take up the breeze position 700m after the start, enabling Deni Roberts to have Aardiebytheseaside racing in the one-out, one-back position.
Aardiebytheseaside was switched three wide 300m from home and swept to the front 100m later and looked a certain winner when she was almost two lengths clear of her rivals with 100m to travel. But she was unable to hold the flying Little Darling at bay.
Wonderful To Fly ($8) was tenth with 300m to go, and she impressed with fast-finishing effort out five wide to finish third. Penny Black faded to finish eighth, while Water Lou ($16) raced at the rear, broke into a gallop 400m from home and finished tenth.
Little Darling was bred and is owned by Busselton trainer Barry Howlett, his wife Lyn and their son Jimmy. She is by Art Major and is the first foal out of Bettors Delight mare Fay Darling, who raced 22 times in WA for five wins, seven placings and $33,106. Fay Darling’s dam Molly Darling earned $506,033 from 24 wins and 18 placings from 72 starts.
Patched equals record
Eight-year-old Patched is showing no signs of declining, and he overcame the back mark of 50 metres and a strong late challenge from Chumani to win the $21,000 Garrard’s Horse And Hound @ Melton Trot at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
He rated a smart 2.1.1 to equal the track record for a trotter in a 2503m standing-start race. Mr Sundon began from 10m when he won by six lengths from Tokyo Joe on January 3, 2020.
This shows that trainer David Young and reinsman Aiden De Campo probably underestimated his performance, with both saying that he appeared to be below his best.
“He made hard work of it, and I think he can go a lot better,” said De Campo. “I think that in his old age he is getting a bit cunning.”
Young agreed, saying: “Aiden said he wasn’t as sharp as he was the previous Friday night when he won a 2130m mobile race. He is a cunning old horse, and he put his head out on the line tonight, just like the old Patched.
“His strength has always been his high speed, but as he has got older, he has got a lot tougher. They ran along tonight when Majestic Marion ran a fast lead time of 29.4sec., with Patched probably running the lead time in about 68sec. And then he has done a lot of chasing.”
Patched, the $2.60 favourite, was well back in seventh position in the field of nine with two laps to travel. He moved forward into the breeze with 1350m to travel, with Chumani ($4.80) and starting off the 40m mark, following him.
Patched took a narrow lead ion the home turn and he fought on determinedly to hold Chumani at bay.
“Patched will keep racing until he tells us he doesn’t want to do it anymore. He’s happy, he loves racing and at home is as bright as a button. After winning four times in Victoria, he has won another 22 times for Young in WA and has amassed $292,301 in prizemoney.
Hugotastic remains unbeaten in Australia
New Zealand-bred five-year-old Hugotastic improved his Australian record to four starts for four wins when he raced without cover before finishing strongly to beat the frontrunning Ruby Lou in the $27,000 Garrard’s Horse And Hound @ Redcliffe Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The Sweet Lou gelding, trained by Michal Young, was the $1.30 favourite from the No. 6 barrier, and he was driven with supreme confidence by Gary Hall jnr, racing three wide before getting to the breeze after just over 500m.
Hugotastic was not fully extended in getting to the front in the finals stages to beat Ruby Lou by a half-length, rating 1.57.8 over 2130m after final quarters of 27.3sec. and 28.7sec.
“Ruby Lou was travelling strongly coming into into the bell, but Hugotastic has very good point-to-point speed and was able to get alongside the leader very quickly,” said Hall.
“And when he did that down the back straight to get level with Ruby Lou, I was confident of beating her. Hugotastic got a little bit lost on the last bend, but he then dug in and got to the front in the home straight.”
The win took Hugotastic’s record to seven wins, seven placings and stakes of $89,282 from 18 starts.
Marbeechsam shows his versatility
Marbeechsam ended a losing sequence of 16 and a 12-month drought when he sustained a powerful three-wide burst to score an easy victory on Tuesday of last week --- and he made it two wins in the space of three days when he was seen in a different role before winning the $21,000 Garrard’s Horse And Hound Autumn Series final at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
He was a strong $1.50 favourite when Ryan Warwick got him away smartly from the No. 3 barrier and dashed him to the front after 120m before setting a solid pace and winning from the $3.80 second fancy Kingseat, rating 1.57.4 over 2130m.
“It was a very good run on Tuesday and the way he did it was most impressive,” said Warwick. “It gave him some confidence, and he built on that tonight.”
Marbeechsam is trained by Mike Beech, who races the Foreclosure five-year-old in partnership with his partner Margie Guy, Sam Salamone and Sam’s daughter Margaret McKenner --- with a combination of their names making up the gelding’s name.
“I picked him out at the yearling sale, and we bought him for $20,000,” said Beech. The gelding now has raced 47 times for seven wins, eleven placings and stakes of $70,847.
Marbeechsam is out of Mach Three mare Generally Outspoken, who won the Gold Bracelet for two-year-old fillies at Gloucester Park in July 2013 before being retired after racing 26 times for eight wins, five placings and $69,688.
Marbeechsam’s elder half-brother Whataretheodds has shown great promise, having had 34 starts for nine wins, 13 placings and $144,150. As a two-year-old in the winter of 2021 he finished second to Tricky Miki in the Golden Slipper and second to Rock On Top in the Westbred Classic.
“Marbeechsam was immature early on and wouldn’t sit behind horses,” said Beech. “But he has turned the corner and matured over the past six months.
“Earlier in his career when he was pulled out (for a run) in a race he would just take off, and that’s why we had to sit him. Now he has settled, and he is at his best sit-sprinting, and we also are happy to use his gate speed as well.”
Belly Up shows his class
Up-and-coming WA-bred young pacer Belly Up gave further proof of his ability when he bucked the odds to win the $23,000 Garrard’s Horse And Hound @ Newcastle Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
He was the $5 third favourite from out wide at barrier eight, and he was trapped out very wide in the early stages before Deni Roberts had little option but to restrain him back to the rear in the field of eleven.
Belly Up’s stablemate Rumble Strip was the $3.40 second favourite behind the $1.80 favourite Bettors Pride.
Bettors Pride was smartest to begin from barrier four but as unable to cross Rumble Strip, who burst straight to the front from the No. 2 barrier. After a fast lead time of 35.9sec. Belly Up was in tenth position and facing a serious challenge.
Roberts sent Belly Up forward with a three-wide burst approaching the bell and he was fourth, out four wide on the home turn, and facing an almost impossible task. But he responded to the urgings of Roberts and surged home to get up and snatch victory by a half-head from Rumble Strip, with $10 chance Gaitcrasher a neck away in third place after racing without cover for much of the journey. A further neck away in fourth place was Bettors Pride.
Belly Up, prepared by champion trainers Greg and Skye Bond, continues to improve and he now has earned $190,039 from five wins and six placings from 14 starts.
“Once Rumble Strip got a nice the first quarter (31.3sec.) I had to get going a lot earlier than I wanted,” said Roberts. “Then I got lucky with about 600m from home when I was able to duck in behind Bettors Pride. And when I pulled the plugs around the home bend Belly Up really kicked.
“I think that Belly Up is our No. 1 three-year-old at the moment. He still has a lot to learn, so there is some improvement there.”
Frankensteinsbride survives early setbacks
Looking at the oddly-named mare Frankensteinsbride one can see the scars and multiple stitch marks on the near side of her body as well as the scar across her forehead.
These are constant reminders of her misfortunes in the first year of her life when she suffered a severe cut on her forehead at the age of six months, and then a month later she ran into a tree and ripped a gaping hole in her side, a bloody injury which required more than 200 stitches,
“And those ugly injuries is the reason why I named her after the fictitious monster Frankenstein,” explained the mare’s breeder Clinton Pearce, who races her in partnership with his wife Danielle, his brother Travis and some of his best mates, Terry Churstain, David Holt and Michael King.
Frankensteinsbride went into the $21,000 Garrard’s Horse And Hound @ Menangle Autumn Series Maiden final over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night with a record of no wins, six seconds and six thirds from 36 starts when she was a $18.30 chance from the No. 4 barrier.
The Big Kaboosh was the $1.50 favourite from barrier two, and she was the smartest into stride, leaving Frankensteinsbride in the breeze. But this did not prevent Frankensteinsbride from finishing doggedly to take the lead in the final 50m and win from the $3.70 second favourite Don Diablo, who ran home gamely after trailing the leader. The Big Kaboosh wilted to finish third.
Frankensteinsbride overraced badly but it did not prevent her from winning convincingly, with reinsman Kyle Harper saying: “I thought we might have been in a bit of trouble when she was overracing. But she ran a bold race and won comfortably. I didn’t need to pull the plugs.”
This was a notable victory for the 41-year-old hobby trainer and full-time finance broker Clinton Pearce, whose only previous metropolitan-class winner was Demon Possessed, the $53.60 rank outsider who set the pace and dead-heated for first with This Time Dylan in a 2503m standing-start event at Gloucester Park on September 20, 2013.
Pearce, who has held a trainer’s licence for 15 years, has prepared 19 winners from 398 starts.
Frankensteinsbride is by former brilliant pacer Alta Christiano and is the first foal out of Bettors Delight mare Ctheballerina, who raced 96 times for two wins in New Zealand, four in Victoria and one in Tasmania. She was also placed 24 times and earned $61,790.
Ctheballerina ended her career in Western Australia where she had 46 starts for eight placings in 2018 and 2019. She raced in Victoria for Andy and Kate Gath before arriving in WA to be prepared by Mike Reed.
“We eventually got her, and she ran a couple of placings at Kellerberrin for us,” said Pearce.
Frankensteinsbride was making her seventh appearance at Gloucester Park on Friday night when Pearce said he was “full of confidence that she would go close.”
The win was some compensation for Pearce, who lost six-year-old mare Bramante Steps to a bout of colic just over a week ago.
Sibling seizes the opportunity
Ravenswood trainer Jocelyn Young is in Sydney preparing star mare Steno for two feature events at Menangle, leaving her younger sister Madeliene the chance to drive Caberneigh in the $21,000 Vale Bill Crabb Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
And 30-year-old Madeliene made the most of the opportunity by producing an outstanding drive to land Caberneigh, a $4.40 chance, a brilliant winner after the four-year-old appeared to be hopelessly hemmed in seventh place, four back on the pegs, for most of the race.
After Master Leighton and Joey James, the two pacers ahead of Caberneigh, had been eased off the pegs about 400m from home Young dashed through on the inside with Caberneigh before getting the gelding into the clear and switching three wide on the home bend.
Caberneigh sprinted strongly to burst to the front at the 100m and went on to win by almost a length from $26 chance Major Freeway, who finished strongly from tenth at the bell.
Caberneigh entered Jocelyn Young’s stables a couple of months ago and she drove him when he produced an outstanding first-up effort to charge home from the rear at the bell to finish second to Gaitcrasher in a 2185m race at Pinjarra two Mondays ago.
Jocelyn then left for Sydney with Steno to get her ready for next Saturday’s $50,000 Sibelia Stakes at Menangle and the $200,000 Queen Elizabeth Mile two weeks later.
Jocelyn’s partner Cameron Ross took over the preparation of Caberneigh, and Madeliene sat in the sulky behind the gelding for the first time on Friday night when he drew awkwardly on the inside of the back line.
Ya Bettor Followme ($13) won the start from the No. 3 barrier when he held out $6 chance Bettor Arcade, who was the fastest to begin from out wide at barrier eight.
Dawson, a stablemate of Caberneigh, was the $3 favourite, who began from the outside (No. 9) on the front line and was angled across by Kate Gath to fill the favoured one-out, one-back position before moving to the breeze with 900m to travel and eventually taking the lead at the 400m.
“I was in a terrible spot in the back straight in the last lap,” said Madeliene. “There was nowhere to go, and then someone ran into my tyre, and I looked back and down to see if the tyre was punctured.
“And when I looked back up, everyone had pulled off the fence, and so I put the whip on Caberneigh’s backside and sent him through before coming out at the top of the straight after he had almost run over Dawson just before the turn.”
Caberneigh, who rated 1.57.7, was bred and is owned by Busselton trainer Barry Howlett, his wife Lyn and their son Jimmy. He has now raced 16 times for five wins, three placings and $44,012 in prizemoney.
He is by champion sire Bettors Pride and is the twelfth foal out of Live Or Die mare Nivea Franco, who had four starts in New Zealand for one win, in a two-horse event at Addington in February 2004.
Caberneigh’s half-brother Chancellor Cullen is remembered for his desperately close half-head victory over Bronze Seeker in the group 1 McInerney Ford Classic for four-year-olds at Gloucester Park in November 2012.
Madeliene Young returned home to Pinjarra late last year after spending a year in America, working for trainer Linda Toscano at her New Jersey stables. It was in March last year that Young was successful at her only two drives in the United States, setting the pace and winning by three lengths with Matters Most at the Freehold track, and finishing strongly from well back to score with Somiki at the Meadowlands.
Caberneigh’s win on Friday night was Young’s first metro-class success since she drove Castella Dellacqua to victory at Gloucester Park on November 3, 2023.
She was successful at her first appearance in WA after returning from America when Hold Your Fire, trained by her father Kim, led and won easily at Gloucester Park on January 21 this year. That was followed with Pinjarra wins in March with Zuede and Infinite Merit.
Interestingly, Zuede won an event for female drivers when he beat Courage Of Lombo, driven by Jocelyn, by a head.
Ross revealed that Caberneigh was a major handful when he arrived at Jocelyn’s stables a few months ago. “I was about to work him on Jocelyn’s track, and as we untied him from the cross ties he bolted without me in the cart.
“I didn’t get hurt and neither did the horse. But he ran through four fences and destroyed a jog cart. But he has now turned the corner and is causing no problems.”
