Cedarwood romps in
IT is a touchy subject at the minute but leading Cairns trainer Stephen Massingham is planning to send the impressive Cedarwood to the Cairns Newmarket later this year.
First-up from a break yesterday afternoon at Cannon Park, Cedarwood zoomed down the outside to claim the Class 6 Plate (870m) with ease.
The recent decision to make the Cairns Newmarket on Cairns Cup Day a Weight for Age race this year has many in the NQ racing community frustrated.
The switch to WFA caught several by surprise, with many asking: If other regional Queensland cities do not have WFA feature races, then why does Cairns?
Several NQ trainers have voiced their frustration at the change from a Handicapstyle race to WFA in recent days via email to the Australian Trainers’ Association.
One positive of the change is that champion The Harrovian is likely to remain in the North for a while longer.
And, following yesterday’s dominant victory, stablemate Cedarwood is likely to be right there next to him.
Cedarwood defeated smart horses like Sparkly Star and Polar Blast last preparation and showed yesterday he had lost no ability in the paddock over the summer.
“He is a very nice horse,” Massingham said.
“He could head to a Cairns
Newmarket. I do not know what exactly to do with him right now, but he is a 1200-1400m horse.”
The five-year-old gelding is likely to look towards an Open 1200m over the next few weeks ahead of the Cairns Newmarket in August.
Finishing second behind Cedarwood, Our Alicia’s Lane, ridden by local apprentice Krysten Swaffer, finished off well to continue his strong form after winning at Cluden Park last month.
Meanwhile, the small Mareeba-based stable of Lisa
Donovan collected a winning double from just two chances yesterday at Cairns.
Last year’s Country Cups Challenge entrant, Buxton, started the afternoon off perfectly for Donovan before Set To Sizzle claimed his first victory in the North.