Master trainer Andy Gath says he might have learnt more out of defeat than he would have with victory following superstar pacer Catch A Wave’s shock loss in Saturday night’s Garrard’s Preux Chevalier Free For All at Melton.
Yambukian emerged from his stablemate and little half-brother’s shadow to produce a huge boilover when he grabbed the Chariots of Fire and Miracle Mile champ in the shadows of the post to win in a photo finish.
The result perplexed many including Gath, who admitted he may have had Catch A Wave a little underdone heading into his first-up assignment.
“Obviously we still expected that he’d be able to get the job done. He still finished off in 26.5,” Gath said.
“Whether he star-gazed a little bit, I think it’s more probably that he just ran out of condition.
“The signs after the race – he’s blowing really hard – are that he needed that hit-out pretty bad.
“We always like to win, but going forward we know where we’re at and we know what we have to do to get him better. We’ll just have to put a little bit more workload into him.
“It’s just one of those things. It wasn’t disgraceful, but it was sort of below where we thought he would be.”
Catch A Wave quickly assumed the front-runner’s role from barrier three and controlled the tempo at the head of the field, but was surprisingly out-dashed in the straight as Yambukian got up to win on his inside.
Gath will now decide if Catch A Wave’s next public appearance will be in a planned exhibition trial against TAB Eureka rival Captain Ravishing at Geelong on August 4 or in the Our Maestro Free For All at Melton the following evening.
Winning driver James Herbertson was as surprised as most that Yambukian had been able to run down his more high-profile stablemate.
“I didn’t even think I did win and those horses, they shouldn’t get beat,” Herbertson said.
“Young Jordan Leedham has been driving the horse, but unfortunately he’s on the sidelines at the moment.
“I’ve driven for Andy here and there over the years, but (this is) definitely the first winner for him.
“I don’t know whether I’m excited or not – I’m a little bit still in shock.
“He’s just an absolute machine of a horse and unfortunately tonight he just switched off late. Credit to his older brother, he was still powering through the line.”
Yambukian, who like Catch A Wave is out of top broodmare Coppagoodone, has now won 12 of 34 career starts for earnings up over $160,000.
Tim O’Connor
