Cool relief for Kavanagh

CLEAR air has been in short supply for Mark Kavanagh in recent months. At a time when the trainer himself desperately needed a little bit of breathing room, ironically it was the horse that plunged him into the cobalt mess that found plenty of it.

Travelling sweetly and with clear galloping room as the Queensland Derby field rounded for home, what would have Jim Byrne on New Zealand-trained favourite Werther given to be afforded a similar luxury?

He ducked, dived and eventually drove through to some sort of open air, only for Magicool to have pinched a winning break and an upset Derby result.

“He just kept getting shuffled back, I held my ground early and they just slowed up and a couple of them zipped around me,” Byrne lamented as Werther finished second, three-quarters of a length from the winner, after launching from barrier one.

“There was not much you could do.”

Which basically explains Kavanagh’s plight of late.

Ever since Racing

Victoria stewards announced Kavanagh was one of three high-profile trainers to have had horses test positive to cobalt last spring carnival – Magicool was Kavanagh’s horse in question – the cloud has barely lifted.

Even though he wasn’t trackside at Doomben on Saturday, the relief for Kavanagh would have been palpable when Magicool eased to the stable’s first major since the Atlantic Jewel rollercoaster ended in the spring of 2013.

“It’s always hard to win a Group I,” Kavanagh’s son Levi said. “The boys have been patient and today is the day.

“He’s still been maturing mentally. Last week against the older horses was his best run and he was chasing all the way to the line.”

If there was more irony to be had from the Queensland Derby result it was to be from Magicool’s jockey James Winks.

Most thought the equine version – Queensland Oaks heroine Winx – would have had a mortgage on the race if Chris Waller pressed on. Instead it was the jockey basking in the limelight.