Savwell to continue chase for Cup glory

IN-FORM trainer David Vandyke makes his first trip to Townsville this weekend, anticipating it being a fruitful one as Savwell attempts to make it third time lucky in this year’s Northern Crown Series.

Savwell ran second to Silvera in the Rockhampton Cup and was then third to Bergerac in the Mackay Cup before venturing further north for his tilt at tomorrow’s $150,000 Townsville Cup (2000m).

“We’re cementing ourselves as Queenslanders with this northern trek. I really enjoyed the Rockhampton and Mackay experiences and hopefully we see our boy run well at Townsville as well,” Vandyke, who has trained eight winners from his past 18 runners, said.

Savwell failed at his only middle distance attempt as a late three-year-old, but Vandyke felt he proved his 2000m credentials last time out at Mackay.

Vandyke mapped out the Rockhampton trip some time ago and when he finished off strongly there he was happy to go to Mackay and give him another shot at a 2000m race.

“I expected (Rockhampton) to be a winnable race, because he’s always very strong at the mile,” he said. “So after that we decided to press on and it was really good to see him get the 2000m last time because there was a question mark over him up to this campaign.

“They certainly tested him to see if he could run the 2000m because the pace was on for a large part of that race.

“He’s come through that in good shape and I imagine he will run a similar race.”

Vandyke noted the Townsville Cup might be a touch easier, given Bergerac is not there this time.

“Bergerac was obviously the class horse in the Mackay Cup. To have an Ipswich Cup winner racing in Mackay certainly highlights the advantage of raising prizemoney,” he said.

“It’s a real positive for Queensland racing to see the better horses competing in some of these races.”