Caught hoping for a touch more luck
TOWNSVILLE horse trainer Jeffrey Caught will be grabbing all of his lucky charms as he aims a two-horse assault on the Amateurs features at Cluden Park today.
The barrier draws have not favoured the local gallopers as six-year-old Atouchmore and seven-year-old Imanui set sail in the Amateurs Cup and Amateurs Sprint respectively.
Atouchmore will be going out to the 2000m journey for the first time since joining Caught’s stable earlier this year.
The gelding by Onemorenomore has run the trip once before in his career at Doomben, fading over the final 200m to finish 4.7 lengths behind Amateur Cup rival Estikhraaj.
It will be a big jump in distance for Atouchmore after finishing second last-up over 1609m at Cluden Park last week. A wide draw in barrier 12 will also do the gelding no favours.
“He has come along all right, but the question mark will be the 2000m for him,” Caught said.
“He has had a couple of runs over that distance down south but he hasn’t performed that great.
“He has drawn out wide so he will need to get in quick to the fence. It is his first time up to that distance this prep so you don’t want him doing too much work, and being gassed early.
“He just needs to ride them and put them to sleep. It sounds simple, but it won’t be against a pretty strong field.”
Imanui has form on the board after fighting on strong to win last start at Cluden Park under the hand of Chris Whiteley. But he will need to overcome his tardy efforts out of the gate to make use of an inside draw in three.
The mountainous veteran has struggled to get the jump in recent runs and Caught worried that he could get caught deep in the field on the fence, but a three kilogram weight drop will help.
“He just takes a few strides to really get going,” Caught said. “Usually he just needs that clear air to get himself in a good position.
“He will just need to try and hold a position early and do his best. If he is within a couple of lengths of the leader at the turn he will be there at the finish.”
Imanui will not have it all his way though, as he comes up against a strong field of sprinters headed by Roy Chillemi’s old warrior Grey Missile.