‘Now I’ve got to front up and face the music and see how good she is’ – Stakes test awaits Cavanough’s unbeaten filly
Wily bush trainer and punting enthusiast Brett Cavanough, whose last winner was at Muttaburra, is bringing a “big gawky filly with a head like a wheelie bin” to Sydney for Saturday’s Silver Shadow Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m).
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’s money through another escapade of his with a smokey from the sticks.
Many will recall when colourful Cavanough wrote another chapter for the Boys Own Book of Punting in Flemington’s Maribyrnong Trial Stakes (Listed, 1000m) in October, 2023 with Cerons (Street Boss).
An unheard-of debutant, and another not likened to an oil painting, the gelding went in off a second in a Newcastle trial and – with his trainer well on at the $201 in just a nine-horse field – nearly pinched it.
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.
“We got a decent drink out of it,” the Scone-based conditioner told ANZ News on Monday, “but it could have been a huge drink.”
Almost two years on he’s aiming up with another chance to shock the city slickers. Unlike Cerons – who sadly had a troubled career and ended up dying earlier this year as a seven-start maiden after a bout of illness – Zumbo has disclosed form, so Cavanough feels she’s not a plunge proposition.
She’s also set to be pitched into a particularly high–quality affair, as several three-year-old fillies take their spring bow.
Silver Shadow nominations include Bjorn Baker’s 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).
There’s also Peter Snowden’s Group 3 winner Memo (Capitalist), and Brad Widdup’s Savvy Hallie (Hellbent) – 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.
Michael Freedman’s 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’s Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) at his next start.
Gary Portelli has a high opinion of Queen Of Clubs (Maurice), who resumes after an impressive Rosehill win on June 14.
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).
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.
Zumbo’s 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’ handicap, also over 1000 metres, by 0.61 lengths on a Heavy 9.
That wet experience will likely come in handy on Saturday, since Sydney’s Biblical deluge is staying like Makybe Diva.
Cavanough – whose last winner was Kensington’s Jewel (Embellish) through his Queensland country satellite stable on the red dirt at Muttaburra’s non-TAB meeting on August 9 – insists he won’t be betting in the Silver Shadow.
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.
While she’s having her first race since May 2, she’s been in work at Cavanough’s 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’ll have a fitness edge on her many resuming rivals – like four of the five mentioned above.
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).
Assessing Zumbo’s huge rise in class, Cavanough said: “I usually like to take them through the grades but they’re 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.
“Since her last run, I’ve probably spent more time rehabbing her in work than out of work.
“The wet won’t bother her. She’s forward enough. She’s had plenty of work and a trial so she’s ready to roll.
“They’re good fillies on the way back that she’s up against. You’re in a stakes race, there’s no cheap ones, she’s just a good even chance. If she measures up to them ability wise, she’ll run super. She won’t put a foot wrong, I know that. She does everything right.”
Apart from having shown ability, Zumbo – who’ll be ridden as in her Muswellbrook win by Sydney’s champion apprentice Braith Nock – is also well bred.
She’s by Zoustar, Australia’s newly-minted champion sire, even if Cavanough reckons he’s previously “copped some of his slower ones”.
And she’s 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.
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’s bloodlines.
From the breeding Bible, specifically the Gospel according to Stuart, Zumbo’s 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.
And that blend sits beside a doubling of Danehill (Danzig) at 4m x 3m via Redoute’s 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.
“Stuey just rang me and said, ‘Oooh you’ve got one there. That’s the best cross there is. Wait till you get to 1400’,” Cavanough said.
Another with the same awesome foursome – Danehill, Danehill, Star Of Heaven, Biscay – is Zoustar’s best daughter Sunlight. At this stage, Cavanough can hope Zumbo matches just some of that triple Group 1 and eight-time stakes winner’s deeds.
He came to acquire her through another out-of-the-blue phone call, from her breeder Segenhoe Stud’s Peter O’Brien. Reckoning the filly wasn’t forward, precocious – or let’s face it attractive – enough for a yearling sale, O’Brien asked Cavanough if he’d race her on lease.
“I lease fillies from the studs and have done for years, and I just got a random call from Peter one day,” Cavanough said. “He had a couple of big, gawky, ugly fillies, and said I could take my pick.
“Did I like her [Zumbo] when I saw her? I thought, ‘Oooh, she’s by Zoustar out of a good mare’, 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’ve probably got my reward. It might be karma.
“She wasn’t forward enough or precocious enough for a sale. They probably wanted to hang on to her but didn’t want to pay city training prices for her, looking at her physically, so a country trainer got to lease her.
“She’s got a head on her like a wheelie bin. There’s nothing much pretty about her, but she goes and gets the job done. She’s unflappable. She’ll go to the races and go to sleep.”
And there’s the rub as to assessing her chances for Saturday’s adventure. Cavanough says Zumbo has never been extended. The depth of her talent, therefore, remains a mystery at this stage – to all including the bookies.
“I’m a bit nervous. You’ve won two country races and you’re going straight to a Silver Shadow. I’ve no idea how good she is, and no idea where she’s going to end up,” said Cavanough, who’s still hoping it’s the Melbourne spring.
“She’s never done anything wrong, but she’s never been squeezed up or emptied out. She’s just a casual girl who’s got the job done for me twice. She’s never been brilliant, she’s just honest, works alongside other horses. She just goes and does the job.
“Even 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’t even hear her breathing. She might have a big motor on her when asked.”
Cavanough had aimed to seek black type with Zumbo after her second win, entering her for Scone’s Woodlands Stakes (Listed, 1100m), but on race eve she tangled a foreleg in her lead rope and incurred a minor injury, requiring her scratching.
“She was only sore for a few days, but I just cuddled her because I know she’s got a touch of ability,” he said.
“I was tempted to take her to Queensland late in their carnival, but there was a bone in my body that just said, ‘Wait for her’, because she’s such a big filly and a little bit gawky.
“You don’t 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.
“I’ve waited. Now I’ve got to front up and face the music and see how good she is.”
As for indulging in what are likely to be juicy odds on Saturday, Cavanough was adamant black type is the only reward he’s seeking, but may have said just enough to have rival trainers looking over their shoulder.
“I’m probably concentrating more on training than punting these days. I punted to survive in the early days but things are ok at the moment,” he said.
“I haven’t even tried to have a bet lately. You can’t get on with half the betting shops. The days of the punt are nearly gone.
“I’m definitely not going for the punt on Saturday. I’m just taking her down and hoping she runs well.
“I would like to find another Cerons, but bloody hell they’re hard to find. But this is the time of year when you find them – the new ones are coming through. We’ve got quite a few hanging around. We’ll see if we can find one.”