Caught wary of southern rivals

WULGURU trainer Jeff Caught is on alert as southern raiders look to foil his bid to complete Townsville’s feature three- year- old double with Pure Hawk at Cluden Park today.

Royally bred Pure Hawk will line up as the clear favourite for today’s Townsville Guineas ( 1600m) after careering away with the Townsville Dollars ( 1400m) 16 days ago.

But Caught is expecting much tougher opposition from Garnett Taylor’s Brisbane winner Miss Miao and the Lindsay Hatch- trained Umawinner from Toowoomba.

“My bloke’s done everything right since the Dollars but he’s up against a harder grade this time,” Caught said.

“Garnett and Hatchy wouldn’t be coming all this way unless they thought they could win.

“I’ve watched the replays of Miss Miao and Umawinner and you’ve got to respect their form at the Rocky carnival.

“We should beat all of the horses that finished behind us in the Dollars, but I’m expecting the visitors to be tougher.

“He normally pings the gates and I expect him to be handy. I know he’s won from in front but he doesn’t have to lead.” Pure Hawk has been an instant success for Caught who snapped up the former Chris Waller- trained gelding after he failed to measure up in Sydney.

A son of Purrealist out of the outstanding producing mare Mollyhawk, Pure Hawk is a brother to Queensland Derby winner Hawkspur.

Caught has guided the gelding to two wins and a flashing second to gun three- year- old Grey Missile who will chase the Lazy Yak Cleveland Bay Handicap on Saturday.

Leading jockey Justin Stanley was on board in both of the gelding’s wins and has the ride again today. “The Guineas will be his last run this prep and then I’ll put him away.

“His breeding was one of the reasons I picked him up. He’s bred to run over 2000m but at this stage he’s a bit immature.

“I’m hoping he might make a nice cup horse next year.”

Miss Miao will appreciate returning to firmer ground after failing on a wet track behind Brains in the feature three- year- old event at the Rockhampton carnival on July 7. The grey filly ran second to Grey Missile in Townsville and the smart Rio Rosie in Rockhampton at her two previous starts. Brisbane jockey Ryan Wiggins retains the ride today.

Lightly- raced Umawinner ran on strongly to finish second to Brains in the Rockhampton feature and has made steady improvement since winning a maiden in Toowoomba in April. Umawinner will again be ridden by the in form Nathan Day.

The Guineas is the feature event on day two of the Townsville Winter Carnival with Saturday’s Mater Townsville Cup Day the final day.