Catalyst still targeting for All-Star Mile

Trainer Clayton Chipperfield believes that star three-year-old Catalyst can bounce back to his best in the A$5 million All-Star Mile (1600m) in a fortnight despite suffering a heavy defeat in the Gr.1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington.

The Darci Brahma gelding weakened noticeably in the concluding stages on Saturday after lodging a likely challenge at the 300m mark, with Chipperfield and jockey Damian Lane believing a return to racing in blinkers is now a must for the horse.

‘‘The race just wasn’t run to suit with the outsider (Commodus) going around us and slowing up the pace made us hang on a bit too much,’’ Chipperfield said. ‘‘When we needed to finish it off in the last bit he started looking around at the horses beside him so the jockey (Lane) came back in and said he needed the hood to go back on.

‘‘He will definitely race in the hood next start and most likely for the rest of his life.

‘‘I know there have been some comments that said he looked like he was hanging or such like but that wasn’t the case as he was just having a gawk around.

‘‘I think it was inexperience as he hasn’t had horses around him going past him like that as he is normally the one going past them, so he was wondering what was going on.’’

Chipperfield spent time with the horse on Sunday morning before heading home to New Zealand

and was pleased with what he saw. ‘‘He also had the vets give him a good going over after the race and he passed their tests perfectly. They took some blood off him which we won’t know about for a couple of days.’’

Chipperfield has Catalyst staying at ex-pat Kiwi Brett Scott’s Mornington property.

NZ Racing Desk