When the newly minted Richmond 722m track record holder, Cassie Cool, backs up for Saturday night’s Group 3 Ladbrokes Newcastle Cup, the 715m ahead of her may be a little on the short side according to trainer Greg Hore.
“She’s probably looking for another 300m, I reckon she wants a marathon,” Hore laughed.
“From day one, she’s always trialled over 500 but her first sections were terrible and the whole litter has virtually been the same, they just want longer trips and can run all day,” he added.
The six-time winner lacking any of the early dash that helped her sprinting mother, Soaring Hawke, win 26 races between 318m and 603m.
A mystery of the breeding process that is still making Hore chuckle today.
“I had two bitches I was thinking of breeding with at the time, but one was a stayer and I wanted sprinters, so I went with Soaring Hawke as she was a good beginner and won most of her races over the shorter trips,” Hore said.
“But she’s thrown three litters now and all I’ve got is stayers. She’s thrown some honest dogs, but I can’t help but laugh at how it’s all worked out, especially now that the third litter look like they want a bit of ground as well.”
Cassie Cool set to line-up in her first feature final at The Gardens over the weekend, with Group 1 star Ritza Piper looming as a prohibitive favourite in her first run back from a successful Melbourne campaign.
“I think Ritza Piper will go straight to the front and it’ll be all over to be honest. My bitch definitely can’t lead, and she’ll need to find five or six lengths to knock the favourite off, but I’ll be hoping for a place and you can be she’ll be storming home,” Hore said.
“My girl has never seen the track but I went up to The Gardens for the first time ever a few weeks ago and it looks easy enough to navigate, plus I thought she deserves a chance at a race like this.”
“And she’s fit after plenty of recent racing. She got a clear run at Richmond on Wednesday night and showed what she could do coming from behind so fingers crossed she can repeat that.”
“I’ll take the track record [at Richmond] as well, but everyone knows there’s only been a few runs over the staying trip since the track got redone so we don’t expect to hold it forever.”
Cassie Cool has six wins and 13 placings from her 35 race starts
Hore hopeful of another strong showing on Saturday night, with plans to revisit a happy hunting ground with Cassie Cool in the New Year.
“I want to send her over to New Zealand at the end of January for a race called the Silver Collar in Auckland. It’s usually around May or June and it’s over 779m which might suit her better,” Hore said.
“I used to live over there and I raced her mother [Soaring Hawke] in NZ before moving back to Australia. She made the finals of the Auckland Cup, Waterloo Cup and a New Zealand Cup and won about 13 races over there.”
The planned trans-tasman assault not the first Hore has orchestrated either.
“I had a dog called Pedro Lee who could really run. I sent him over there in 2021 with the purpose of winning the Derby. He won 38 races including the Derby, and 34 of those wins came at Cambridge,” Hore added.
Pedro Lee won over $150,000 in career prizemoney after claiming 40 of his 90 race starts for Hore
“The broadcaster used to call him the ‘King Of Cambridge’ and that’s how I named Cambridge King who recently won the Million Dollar Chase Maiden consolation for the kennel.”
“I might even send Cambridge King over for the Derby as well. I’m still in regular contact with my old next door neighbour, Peter Ferguson, and he still trains dogs for me. If I think I’ve got a good dog for their races, I’ll make sure I give them a crack.”
The 2023 Ladbrokes Newcastle Cup, worth $25,000-to-the-winner, will go off in Race 9 on Saturday night’s 12-race program at The Gardens.
