Michael Howard
The first bricks may have been laid on the path to a super season of two and three-year-old success for Catch A Wave and Ladies In Red, who both impressed with front-running Ballarat wins on Saturday night.
In only his second start, Catch A Wave validated trainer Andy Gath’s huge opinion of the two-year-old, who was in a class of his own when clearing out to record a 12-metre win in the APG Vic 2YO Gold Sovereign Final.
He crashed the line in a 26.5s last 400 metres for reinswoman Kate Gath, which Ladies In Red would top by a 10th the following race to win the Nutrien Agent 3YO Classic by eight metres from stablemate and rival Tough Tilly.
While the three-year-old fillies’ reputations were well known before tonight, much was on the line for Catch A Wave, but he quickly justified owners Richard and Pauline Matthews’ $82,000 APG sales investment in the $40,000 Group 3.
Kate Gath told Trots Vision the win exceeded expectations on how good they thought he was.
“I thought he would have run 54ish, but I didn’t necessarily know the last quarter was a 26 something, although it did feel fast around the last corner – we were hiking,” she said.
“He felt really good and I didn’t have to turn the stick or pull the plugs, but hopefully when we have to do that there will be something there.”
And she is confident that he’ll have bigger fish to fry this season after Saturday night’s performance, when he led comfortably from gate four and gapped his rivals with a 28.1s third quarter before the blistering run to the line.
“It looks promising. I don’t want to get too excited, but after tonight who knows how far he can go and how he’ll go against the best ones,” Gath said.
“It’s one thing to have one to be really impressed by, but it’s always that next step to take on the best ones. He hasn’t had a lot of racing or anything like that, so who knows when he gets there.
“He certainly feels like he’s got it all to make it down the track, but time will tell I guess.”
Catch A Wave is paid up for November’s Breeders Crown and December’s Vicbred Super Series, as well as Australian Pacing Gold, all great earning opportunities for his owners Richard and Pauline Matthews as well as breeders Benstud and Peter and Zilla O’Shea.
“He was quite a decent priced yearling, so it’s good for Richard and Pauline, who put so much money into the sport – they breed so many horses every year, they go to the yearling sales every year, and to see them get a bit of success like this, it couldn’t happen to better people and more deserved people in the spot,” Gath said.
“Hopefully he can get a few more of these big races down the track and that will be really great, he’s a quality horse and I think we will aim for those at this stage.”
The big stage is also clearly in the paths of Ladies In Red and Tough Tilly, who look bound for great battles beginning with the October 9 Pryde’s EasiFeed Victoria Oaks after clearing out to run one-two at Ballarat.
In David Moran’s hands, Ladies In Red soon briskly made her draw advantage count over her Emma Stewart-trained stablemate, cruising to the front while Tough Tilly settled in the running until emerging with a tick over a lap to go.
Second-up and with the shortest way home she was never threatened by first-up Tough Tilly, crashing the line in a 53.5s last 800 metres to remind of her class.
“She was really sharp tonight,” Moran said. “Last start she obviously was first run back and she was a little bit doughy and I didn’t bust her too much.
“We let her know we were there up the straight this time and just sharpen her up for the Oaks heats.”
Moran said she had “certainly filled out a little bit” on her two-year-old season, when she won nine of her 10 starts, with the only miss an outstanding second to Tough Tilly in the New Year’s Eve Vicbred Super Series final.
That has the reinsman supremely confident for the forthcoming Victoria Oaks.
“If she finds a race like this when she finds the front reasonably comfortably, it’s nearly mathematically impossible to beat them really,” Moran said.
“As you see like Tough Tilly did in the (Vicbred Super Series) final, it’s just a matter of draws and runs and lead times and things like that that make a big difference. It would be a great race to see them both draw (gates) 11 and 12.”
The victory was the second of three for the Emma Stewart and David Moran combination, with trotter Missucci and pacer Abouttime also scoring.
Trainer Andy Gath also walked away with a double after Jordan Leedham steered Diamonds N Cash to a second win in three outings, while reinsman Josh Aiken and trainer David Aiken also produced a pair.
The father-and-son claimed the first of the night, when Letsrockletsroll crashed the line late in the DNR Logistics Pace, and then claimed the high-class Runners Relief Claiming Pace with Sirletic.
Josh Aiken said Sirletic would likely bypass next Friday night’s Jet Roofing Kilmore Pacing Cup, but would be geared towards the October 2 TAB Smoken Up Sprint.
“He’s the sort of horse if he sat on the fence in a Smoken Up Sprint he could earn some money, so definitely nominated.”
Enchanted Stride will also likely have some big races ahead, with David Miles’ mare winning the Group 3 Allied Express Tailamade Lombo after Rod Petroff emerged from the fray to win with a late dash.
The Elizabeth Clarke Mares Triple Crown kicks off with The Make Mine Cullen on October 16 and continues with the Angelique Club Pace on October 22 and the $100,000 Benstud Queen Of The Pacific on October 29, and Enchanted Stride looms as a likely contender.
“It just all worked out very well in the end and we got the job done thanks to Dave,” Petroff told Trots Vision. “You don’t get to drive nice horses like this all the time and I’m very grateful that I got the opportunity to do it.”
