Doomben 10,000 attracts overflow field; Racing NSW suspends
trainer Kavanagh
A full field of 16 plus one also-eligible line up for the Doomben 10,000
(Aus-G1) in Queensland, Australia, on Saturday led by current
favorite — the 5-1 Ciaron Maher-trained Srikandi (Dubawi).
The
chestnut filly displaced one-time market leader Our Boy Malachi (Top
Echelon), trained by Team Hawkes, in the betting after
drawing an ideal position in barrier 5, while the latter has been hung
out to dry in post 12. Third in last year’s Stradbroke H. (Aus-G1) in June, Srikandi landed the Victory S.
(Aus-G2) at the Gold Cost on April 25, but enters the Doomben 10,000 on the back of an eighth-place performance when slowly away
in the 1200-meter BTC Cup (Aus-G1), with Our Boy Malachi third and
Bring Me the Maid (Sebring) fourth at this venue on May 9.
“She’s come through the BTC Cup OK, she just had an easy week and had a
strong gallop yesterday and she was nice and bright today,” Ciaron Maher
told www.anzbloodstocknews.com. “She worked over 1000 meters and
came up a strong 600 and her times were good. Hopefully she can get
away cleanly and get back to her best form.”
Our Boy Malachi ended 2014
with a win in the Razor Sharp S. this past December prior to a
three-month spell and returned to take the Hall Mark S. (Aus-G3) at Randwick on April 18
over this distance one start before the BTC Cup.
“Statistics don’t
win big races, barriers do,” co-trainer Michael Hawkes said to www.anzbloodstocknews.com. “The horse is flying. It’s just
unfortunate he’s drawn badly (but) he’s quite adaptable and doesn’t
have to lead. His last run when third in the BTC Cup was quite good but he
had to do too much work in the first 400 meters. If you swap barriers
with the winner it’s a different result.”
Peter Moody’s Golden Slipper
(Aus-G1) third and Group 2 heroine Bring Me the Maid will try to buck history and
become the first three-year-old filly to win since Sea Siren in 2012, who was the first such winner in 80 years.
Bring Me the Maid faces
a tall task, however, despite carrying the lightest impost of 121
pounds, leaving from stall 16. Any moisture Doomben receives in advance of the
race will only increase her chances.
Temple of Boom (Piccolo), runner-up in this race in 2014, could also factor and was most
recently seventh in the BTC Cup against several of these.
In other Australian racing news, Sam Kavanagh, a trainer at Rosehill in Australia, has
had his training license suspended by the Racing NSW stewards Wednesday and
will face an inquiry concerning eight charges involving cobalt and
caffeine in three of his horses reported Racing and Sports. His license
status depends on the outcome of the hearing June 4.
Midsummer Sun (Monsun) tested positive for
both substances after winning the listed Gosford Gold Cup in January. Additionally, Kavanagh was charged for breeches of a racing
rule dealing with race-day medication administration. The other two Kavanagh horses involved are Ceda
Miss (Encosta de Lago) and
Palazzo Pubblico (Conatus), who raced at Warwick two days prior
to Midsummer Sun’s win.
The stewards released a statement which says
that Kavanagh admitted giving misleading evidence during the
investigation. Further incriminating evidence has surfaced in relation to the race-day administration and supply of medications to Kavanagh.
“In suspending his trainers’ license…stewards formed
the opinion that Mr. Kavanagh’s continued participation in racing might
pose an unacceptable risk to prejudice the image, interests or
integrity of racing,” the stewards’ statement read.
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