‘We didn’t think he’d make it back to the races’
Trainer Kylie Gavenlock is hoping Go For Gold (Medaglia D’Oro) can make a splash in the city as the new Midway race series, the latest innovative concept brought in by Racing NSW amid a raft of prize-money increases announced in February, gets underway on Saturday at Rosehill Gardens with a Benchmark 72 event over 1100 metres.
However, while the Kim Harding-owned five-year-old has won three of his four starts for the Gosford trainer, at one stage he was a doubt to ever see a racetrack again after suffering a bout of heat stress following a fifth-placed effort at the Central Coast track in October 2019, before he was transferred into Gavenlock’s care.
“He had an issue when he was trained by Les Bridge and collapsed after his run at Gosford with heat stress and they didn’t think he’d probably make it back to the races, and so Kim (Harding) gave me a chance with him to see if we could get him back,” said Gavenlock to ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“He is building a nice record and is a very nice horse.”
The process has been a patient and at times arduous one for connections, but a stout pedigree and a clear display of talent led them to persevere with the gelding, who was a $360,000 yearling purchase.
Out of three-time Listed winner and Group 3 runner-up Madame Pedrille (Secret Savings), a half-sister to two stakes winners, while Go For Gold is from the family of I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit).
An intelligent animal, Go For Gold subsequently developed a phobia of the barriers, an issue Govenlock puts down to his memories of his Gosford ordeal, with the handler putting him through the barriers almost each and every day in the intervening period when he was absent from the races.
“He was off the track for a long time and when he came back he had a lot of issues with the barriers, because he associated it with what had happened at the races. It was a bit of a long-winded process but it’s all been worth it, he’s a lovely horse,” she said.
“He still races now with a blindfold and he’ll go into the barriers, but he gets worried about them in there.
“It just took a long road of putting him through the barriers every single day, just to make it as part of the day without giving him anything to worry about.”
A first up maiden win at Wyong in January was followed by victory in class 1 company at the same track just over two weeks later, and the son of Medaglia D’Oro (El Prado) arrives to Saturday’s Midway event off the back of a last-start win at Gosford on a Heavy 9 track, with similar conditions set to face the runners this weekend.
Yet despite his obvious ability and burgeoning record, Gavenlock continues to take each day as it comes.
“He is a very talented horse. He has a couple of issues with his feet, but at this stage all is really well with him,” she said.
“The wet weather is only going to play better for him. He goes well on a dry track but he goes even better on a wet track, so the rain that’s coming is going to help him, and he’s drawn a nice alley. He’ll drop from 60.5 kilograms to 57.5 as well, so I’m pretty happy with him.
“We take every day as it comes.”
The implementation of the Midway races follows on from the success of the Highway series, races which are restricted to country trainers and dangle the carrot of a $100,000 prize pot, with trainers in the bush having reaped the benefits of the opportunity to compete for higher prize-money in town.
Midway races are restricted to provincial trainers and smaller metropolitan stables, with a points system used to determine a trainer’s eligibility to contest the feature races, in a bid to match the benefits received by country trainers from the Highway series and aid the growth of the targeted stables.
However, Gavenlock, who has 12 wins from 69 starts this season at a strike-rate of 18 per cent, is reserving judgement on their perceived benefits for provincial trainers, like herself, who still have to compete with the might of some Sydney stables.
Richard Litt, the Warwick Farm-based trainer of Rosehill Guineas (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Castelvecchio (Dundeel), saddles three contenders in the 14-runner field, while Greg Hickman, trainer of Pierata (Pierro), lines up Our Bellagio Miss (Casino Prince), the favourite for Saturday’s race.
“They’re going to be very strong races. They’re not going to be a gimme. You’ve got a lot of very good Sydney trainers vying for the win on a Saturday class,” said Gavenlock.
“It is a very strong race on Saturday and I think they’re going to continue to be very good races. You’re going to need a very strong horse to win them.
“The country has the Highways, and that’s just for the country, this is not just for the provincial, so it’s still going to be a hard race.
“I’ll have to wait and see what opportunities these bring.”