Closing in on life’s dream
He has skipped school to watch it, reported on it for this paper and had a runner finish 12th out of 13 horses seven years ago, but today Anthony Mithen has his best chance yet to get his hands on the Geelong Cup as a winning owner with rising stayer Runa
GEELONG racing identity Anthony Mithen can still picture it.
As a young boy, he would study the form before going to school, then race home to make sure he was back in time to watch the Geelong Cup on Channel 10.
On a couple of occasions he even left early to avoid missing out altogether.
In those days Neale Donnelly and Peter Donegan anchored the broadcast, and Mithen would watch on with intent to see where his tips finished.
Now, the Rosemont Stud owner will saddle up his second ever runner in his local race.
His last runner in the Geelong cup, Diyaraka, ran 12th out of 13 horses in 2011, and in a twist of fate gave birth this week to a foal by Tarzino, who Rosemont bought into after his Victoria Derby win in 2015.
But for all of the success Mithen and his team has enjoyed in the breeding game, rising stayer Runaway could just provide them with one of their biggest highlights yet.
“It would be a massive moment for the farm to have our colours salute and they are becoming quite recognisable, our colours,” Mithen said.
“Myself and Nigel (co-owner Nigel Austin) are very proudly Geelong-based. He has Cotton On in Geelong and I have Rosemont in Geelong, and despite the fact that the breeding mecca of Australia is the Hunter Valley and Victoria’s is up Nagambie way, we are not moving anywhere and it would be great to fly the colours proudly in the Geelong Cup.
“It is a race I have watched since I was young and I remember it being broadcast on Channel 10 and I used to try to sneak home early to watch it. It used to be on at about 3.45 so if you dashed home from school at 3.30 you could get home and watch it.
“It has been a race that I have skipped school for, I have covered it for the Geelong Advertiser and thought ‘Wouldn’t it be great to win’, and seeing all of those internationals come through the race and go on to win the Melbourne Cup, it is a bit of pinch-yourself type stuff to think you have got a live chance in it so to win, it would be fantastic.”
Trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott initially thought Runaway, by champion sire Manhattan Rain, would be best suited to the shorter, quicker races, but his dam, Catshaan, has produced Group 1 stayers and it appears he has found his groove over the longer trip.
The four-year-old has had a solid lead-in after saluting in the VRC St Leger at Flemington earlier in the year, and Mithen said he was hopeful his second outing in the Geelong Cup would yield a different outcome.
“He is a far more appropriate horse to be running, and not without a chance I would have thought,” Mithen said.
“We bred him at the farm and took him to the sales and Gai bought him for about $150,000, and Nigel was pretty keen on the colt. But after she had bought him he went and chased her and asked if we could keep 25 per cent and put our colours on him, which looked like a pretty sound move six months later when his three-quarter sister, Abbey Marie, came out and won a Group 1 race.
“His mother, Catshaan, has actually produced two Group 1 winners, both Oaks winners in Abbey Marie and Absolutely.
“He ran really well in the Cranbourne Cup and Stephen Baster got off him and said he was screaming out for blinkers off and 2400m and I said ‘Well, we have a race in our backyard that might suit’ and he was happy to ride him.
“But he is in it to win it, so hopefully we can knock off a few of those fancied imports.”