Tim O'Connor
It’s onwards and upwards towards the Victoria Derby for excitement machine Catch A Wave, who bounced back from a shock defeat in devastating style on Saturday night.
Gear malfunction was blamed for the Andy Gath-trained star’s upset loss in the heat of the Alabar Vicbred Championship, but he could barely have been more impressive in winning the Group 3 final at Tabcorp Park seven days later.
The three-year-old showed scintillating gate speed to lead the field from gate seven and was never headed on his way to a dominant 14m victory.
He rattled off closing quarters of 28sec and 27.1sec to defeat Hugo Rocks (Ash Herbertson/James Herbertson) and Ozzie Playboy (Julie Douglas/Jack Laugher) in a mile rate of 1:54.6min for the 2240m trip.
Gath told thetrots.com.au he was unsure exactly what lie ahead for Catch A Wave en route to the October 8 Derby, but was pleased with the professionalism on show in his 10th career win.
“I’m just relieved he bounced back and it was a step forward manners wise,” Gath said.
Driver Kate Gath was in awe of Catch A Wave’s early zip.
“His gate speed is something else,” she said.
“I’ve driven some fast horses off the gate. Blatant Lie many years ago – he was exceptionally fast – but this guy, I was just a passenger out the gate tonight.
“I didn’t fire him off the arm, that was just him doing his thing.
“He settled pretty good after. We do have a little bit of pulling gear on him to get him to settle. As you saw last time in, he was leading and getting too keen, ripping up the back too hard and it wasn’t doing him any good.
“I was happy that he came back to me tonight. I think the track is fast because I felt like I was dawdling through the middle there. And it was relatively cheap, but the mile rate was still pretty quick and he did that pretty well.”
The win completed a double for Andy and Kate Gath after Pull The Other Leg made it two wins from two Australian starts with a classy win in the DNR Logistics Pace.
The former Kiwi scored by more than 9m in a mile rate of 1:54.6m over the 1720m trip.
Geoff Webster landed a training double with Dougs Babe and Belmont Royale, while Daryl Douglas scored two driving wins thanks to Interest Free’s victory in the night’s feature – the $40,000 VHRC Caduceus Victoria Sires Classic – and Art Of Sheng Li’s swooping performance in the HBV Stallion Guide Amarillen Matriarch Pace (second heat).
