\n\t\t\t\t\tBy Trevor Marshallsea\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Listen<\/p>\n
Wily bush trainer and punting enthusiast Brett Cavanough, whose last winner was at Muttaburra, is bringing a \u201cbig gawky filly with a head like a wheelie bin\u201d to Sydney for Saturday\u2019s Silver Shadow Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m).<\/p>\n
But before bookies start sniffing a plunge and winding her in, Cavanough insists the mission for the unbeaten-from-two-starts Zumbo (Zoustar) is all about the race and the enduring hunt for black type, not the never-ending quest for the bagmen\u2019s money through another escapade of his with a smokey from the sticks.<\/p>\n
Many will recall when colourful Cavanough wrote another chapter for the Boys Own Book of Punting in Flemington\u2019s Maribyrnong Trial Stakes (Listed, 1000m) in October, 2023 with Cerons (Street Boss).<\/p>\n
An unheard-of debutant, and another not likened to an oil painting, the gelding went in off a second in a Newcastle trial and \u2013 with his trainer well on at the $201 in just a nine-horse field \u2013 nearly pinched it.<\/p>\n
Cerons led and gave his backers a fantastic sight, only to be collared late for a two-length second to the vaunted Bodyguard (I Am Invincible). Cavanough received a decent payback for the place dividend, but still winces when reminded of what might have been.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got a decent drink out of it,\u201d the Scone-based conditioner told ANZ News on Monday, \u201cbut it could have been a huge drink.\u201d<\/p>\n
Almost two years on he\u2019s aiming up with another chance to shock the city slickers. Unlike Cerons \u2013 who sadly had a troubled career and ended up dying earlier this year as a seven-start maiden after a bout of illness \u2013 Zumbo has disclosed form, so Cavanough feels she\u2019s not a plunge proposition.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s also set to be pitched into a particularly high\u2013quality affair, as several three-year-old fillies take their spring bow.<\/p>\n
Silver Shadow nominations include Bjorn Baker\u2019s Within The Law (Lucky Vega) in her first run as a three-year-old following three wins at two, all at stakes grade, and a second in the Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m).<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also Peter Snowden\u2019s Group 3 winner Memo (Capitalist), and Brad Widdup\u2019s Savvy Hallie (Hellbent) \u2013 who won a soft kill maiden at Newcastle last week by 5.48 lengths, after two runner-up finishes at Group level in the autumn.<\/p>\n
Michael Freedman\u2019s Apocalyptic (Extreme Choice) resumes after a debut second at Randwick in December, beaten 0.41 lengths by Gallo Nero (Wootton Bassett), who ran third in the Gold Coast\u2019s Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) at his next start.<\/p>\n
Gary Portelli has a high opinion of Queen Of Clubs (Maurice), who resumes after an impressive Rosehill win on June 14.<\/p>\n
And the Waterhouse-Bott stable has entered Agarwood (Wootton Bassett), who may yet become the keenly awaited first Australian stakes winner for her sire, whose initial impressions here may not have included a black type winner but were sufficient to force his service fee to a national record $385,000 (inc GST).<\/p>\n
Like Zumbo, Agarwood, a $420,000 Easter buy, is unbeaten from two starts. Unlike Zumbo, they came in the big smoke, at Warwick Farm and at Randwick on a Saturday in May.<\/p>\n
Zumbo\u2019s wins have been at Grafton in January, by a length in a 1000-metre two-year-old handicap, and at Muswellbrook in May, in a juvenile fillies\u2019 handicap, also over 1000 metres, by 0.61 lengths on a Heavy 9.<\/p>\n
That wet experience will likely come in handy on Saturday, since Sydney\u2019s Biblical deluge is staying like Makybe Diva.<\/p>\n
Cavanough \u2013 whose last winner was Kensington\u2019s Jewel (Embellish) through his Queensland country satellite stable on the red dirt at Muttaburra\u2019s non-TAB meeting on August 9 \u2013 insists he won\u2019t be betting in the Silver Shadow.<\/p>\n
But he says there are reasons other than the heavy going to believe in Zumbo, who he feels might just be the best of the roughly 100 horses on his books.<\/p>\n
While she\u2019s having her first race since May 2, she\u2019s been in work at Cavanough\u2019s stable for most of that time, rehabbing for a couple of niggles, before winning a Scone trial last Wednesday. That leads her trainer to hope she\u2019ll have a fitness edge on her many resuming rivals \u2013 like four of the five mentioned above.<\/p>\n
Corroborating evidence was supplied at Caulfield on Saturday when the three-year-old features were taken out by horses already in their campaigns over highly regarded resuming rivals, as Jimmy Recard (I Am Invincible) took the Vain Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) and Ferivia (Astern) the Quezette Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m).<\/p>\n
Assessing Zumbo\u2019s huge rise in class, Cavanough said: \u201cI usually like to take them through the grades but they\u2019re only three-year-olds once, and just maybe she might have a bit of residual fitness on those other fillies when the pressure comes on.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince her last run, I\u2019ve probably spent more time rehabbing her in work than out of work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wet won\u2019t bother her. She\u2019s forward enough. She\u2019s had plenty of work and a trial so she\u2019s ready to roll.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re good fillies on the way back that she\u2019s up against. You\u2019re in a stakes race, there\u2019s no cheap ones, she\u2019s just a good even chance. If she measures up to them ability wise, she\u2019ll run super. She won\u2019t put a foot wrong, I know that. She does everything right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apart from having shown ability, Zumbo \u2013 who\u2019ll be ridden as in her Muswellbrook win by Sydney\u2019s champion apprentice Braith Nock \u2013 is also well bred.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s by Zoustar, Australia\u2019s newly-minted champion sire, even if Cavanough reckons he\u2019s previously \u201ccopped some of his slower ones\u201d.<\/p>\n
And she\u2019s the second foal of Panna Cotta (Fastnet Rock), who, in a career cut short to just four starts as a two-year-old for Mark Newnham, won in Sydney city midweek class and ran third and fourth in Listed races at Rosehill and Doomben. That Kensington win was over a debutant named Kiku (Zoustar), who went on to win two Group races and $1.2 million.<\/p>\n
Better still, minutes after speaking with ANZ on Monday, Cavanough was called out of the blue by Hunter Valley breeding legend Stuart Ramsey, enthusing over Zumbo\u2019s bloodlines.<\/p>\n
From the breeding Bible, specifically the Gospel according to Stuart, Zumbo\u2019s pedigree contains the coveted blend of two of three full brothers by Star Kingdom (Stardust) in Biscay and Star Of Heaven. Zoustar has both, while Biscay is duplicated via Panna Cotta.<\/p>\n
And that blend sits beside a doubling of Danehill (Danzig) at 4m x 3m via Redoute\u2019s Choice and Fastnet Rock. While not the more successful gender balanced duplication, seeing that plus Biscay and Star Of Heaven prompted Ramsey to get on the phone, as Cavanough called ANZ back to relate.<\/p>\n
\u201cStuey just rang me and said, \u2018Oooh you\u2019ve got one there. That\u2019s the best cross there is. Wait till you get to 1400\u2019,\u201d Cavanough said.<\/p>\n
Another with the same awesome foursome \u2013 Danehill, Danehill, Star Of Heaven, Biscay \u2013 is Zoustar\u2019s best daughter Sunlight. At this stage, Cavanough can hope Zumbo matches just some of that triple Group 1 and eight-time stakes winner\u2019s deeds.<\/p>\n
He came to acquire her through another out-of-the-blue phone call, from her breeder Segenhoe Stud\u2019s Peter O\u2019Brien. Reckoning the filly wasn\u2019t forward, precocious \u2013 or let\u2019s face it attractive \u2013 enough for a yearling sale, O\u2019Brien asked Cavanough if he\u2019d race her on lease.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lease fillies from the studs and have done for years, and I just got a random call from Peter one day,\u201d Cavanough said. \u201cHe had a couple of big, gawky, ugly fillies, and said I could take my pick.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid I like her [Zumbo] when I saw her? I thought, \u2018Oooh, she\u2019s by Zoustar out of a good mare\u2019, but I looked at her and she was a big gawky looking thing. I was probably being a nice guy to Peter by taking her, so I\u2019ve probably got my reward. It might be karma.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wasn\u2019t forward enough or precocious enough for a sale. They probably wanted to hang on to her but didn\u2019t want to pay city training prices for her, looking at her physically, so a country trainer got to lease her.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s got a head on her like a wheelie bin. There\u2019s nothing much pretty about her, but she goes and gets the job done. She\u2019s unflappable. She\u2019ll go to the races and go to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s the rub as to assessing her chances for Saturday\u2019s adventure. Cavanough says Zumbo has never been extended. The depth of her talent, therefore, remains a mystery at this stage \u2013 to all including the bookies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a bit nervous. You\u2019ve won two country races and you\u2019re going straight to a Silver Shadow. I\u2019ve no idea how good she is, and no idea where she\u2019s going to end up,\u201d said Cavanough, who\u2019s still hoping it\u2019s the Melbourne spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s never done anything wrong, but she\u2019s never been squeezed up or emptied out. She\u2019s just a casual girl who\u2019s got the job done for me twice. She\u2019s never been brilliant, she\u2019s just honest, works alongside other horses. She just goes and does the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven in her trial the other day, her rider Mitchell Bell said she led and went to sleep in his hands, he gave her a click up and she still won in his hands. He said she pulled up and you couldn\u2019t even hear her breathing. She might have a big motor on her when asked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cavanough had aimed to seek black type with Zumbo after her second win, entering her for Scone\u2019s Woodlands Stakes (Listed, 1100m), but on race eve she tangled a foreleg in her lead rope and incurred a minor injury, requiring her scratching.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was only sore for a few days, but I just cuddled her because I know she\u2019s got a touch of ability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was tempted to take her to Queensland late in their carnival, but there was a bone in my body that just said, \u2018Wait for her\u2019, because she\u2019s such a big filly and a little bit gawky.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t get many good horses as a country trainer, so when you get something that shows you a bit, you tend to cuddle them and wait for them, rather than run them half sore and smash them to bits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve waited. Now I\u2019ve got to front up and face the music and see how good she is.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for indulging in what are likely to be juicy odds on Saturday, Cavanough was adamant black type is the only reward he\u2019s seeking, but may have said just enough to have rival trainers looking over their shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m probably concentrating more on training than punting these days. I punted to survive in the early days but things are ok at the moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t even tried to have a bet lately. You can\u2019t get on with half the betting shops. The days of the punt are nearly gone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m definitely not going for the punt on Saturday. I\u2019m just taking her down and hoping she runs well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to find another Cerons, but bloody hell they\u2019re hard to find. But this is the time of year when you find them \u2013 the new ones are coming through. We\u2019ve got quite a few hanging around. We\u2019ll see if we can find one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Trevor Marshallsea Listen Wily bush trainer and punting enthusiast Brett Cavanough, whose last winner was at Muttaburra,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-76211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}