Excitement for owners

Trainer swayed by advice from long-time client

IT is not often a trainer will listen to the advice from one of his owners.

But for Freshwater Creek trainer Jamie Edwards, the sage advice from Mike Palmer convinced him to head to the Geelong Cup with Kawabata.

Edwards was tossing up whether to run his stayer in the 2400m benchmark 78 race, but finally settled on the $300,000 Group 3 race.

“As a trainer, the best place to run her was the restricted race. Mike Palmer, who owns Sertorius, said to me the other day, ‘racing is not always about winning or losing, it’s the experience of being an owner. If I owned Kawabata I would be running in the Cup every day of the week’,” Edwards said.

“His reasoning was that there is a big build up, there’s no expectations and you can go to the races, have a great day and have a runner in the Cup. For the owners they’re going to have a great time.”

Kawabata, the only locally trained runner in the Geelong Cup, is a $41 outsider.

She has to carry 54kg, the same weight as Grey Lion, who is 18 rating points higher.

Apprentice Ben Thompson will ride from barrier five.

“Tactically, I don’t think we can give them a big start like her pattern of racing. We’re going to have to use some sort of tactic,” Edwards said.

“I’ll see how the track is racing and have a chat to the jockey. If we jump out and let her find her feet and then work home . . . she is carrying 10kg more than she should against these horses and they will outsprint her.”

Edwards said despite the weights he was happy with how his galloper was tracking heading into the race.

“She can’t be going any better,” he said.