By David Nagel
Local trainer Gavin Bedggood learned his craft at Cranbourne and would love nothing better than to win his home cup when No Effort fronts the starter for the Listed $500,000 TAB Cranbourne Cup (1600m) on Saturday.
Bedggood’s seven-year-old mare took on the cream of the crop at her last start, running last of five against Probabeel, Nonconformist, Zaaki and Homesman in the Group-1 Caulfield Stakes (2000m) on October 9.
Bedggood has since freshened up the daughter of Reward for Effort/Hold the Lion in preparation for the first ever Saturday instalment of the Cranbourne Cup.
“After Caulfield she went down to Monomeith Stud Farm, they’re in the ownership and they bred her down there,“ Bedggood explained at Wednesday morning’s barrier draw.
“She had 10 days on the water-walker and spent time in the paddock during the day, the box of an evening, and just had a bit of a freshen up.
‘She’s had five weeks between runs; she’s been up a long time and has been racing over 10 furlongs, so coming back to the mile we haven’t had to do a lot with her.
“Her work has been good and all the indicators are there that she’s going to go to the races and run her usual honest race…and any rain would be a massive boost to her chances.”
Bedggood is one of four Cranbourne trainers dreaming of home-town cup success with Robbie Griffiths (King Magnus), Julien Welsh (Don’t Doubt Dory) and Louise Bonella (Barbie’s Fox) all accepting for the highly-anticipated journey over a mile.
Griffiths, a long-standing member of the Cranbourne training ranks, said King Magnus is a live chance to take home the richest Cranbourne Cup in history.
“Having the standalone meeting for the Cranbourne Cup is fantastic for the club, a reward for effort, and it will be a big day on Saturday,” Griffiths said.
“King Magnus is such a consistent horse who puts himself in the picture every time he runs and he certainly can be a winning chance.”
This year’s cup field is stacked full of quality with last-start Flemington winners Age of Chivalry and Our Playboy sure to be hard to beat.
Top-weight Buffalo River, along with Justacanta, Harbour Views, No Effort, Don’t Doubt Dory, Winning Partner and Imperial Lad have all had visits to the winners’ stall this spring in a further sign of the overall quality of the field.
The Cranbourne Cup is backed up by a wonderful support card, with the $150,000 Apache Cat Classic (1000m) set down for race six on the program.
The Cranbourne Cup – race seven – will be run at 4.20pm and will be telecast live on channel seven.
CRANBOURNE CUP FIELD
No Horse/Barrier Jockey
1 Buffalo River (13) J. Childs
2 So Si Bon (14) L. Nolen
3 Age of Chivalry (3) D. Lane
4 Aramayo (9) C. Williams
5 Lunar Fox (7) B. Prebble
6 Justacanta (4) TBC
7 Harbour Views (18) M. Dee
8 In a Twinkling (8) C. Newitt
9 No Effort (16) B. Mertens
10 King Magnus (11) TBC
11 Our Playboy (17) Z. Spain
12 Riddle Me That (15) D. Stackhouse
13 Don’t Doubt Dory (1) P. Moloney
14 Winning Partner (19) L. Currie
15 Holbien (5) T. Nugent
16 Arcadia Prince (12) D. Thornton
Emergencies
17 Imperial Lad (6) A. Kelly
18 Mystery Shot (10) C. Williams
19 Barbie’s Fox (2) L. German
