THE Gai Waterhouse team is scouring its stable for an Albury Gold Cup runner after emerging galloper Rabbuka’s plans were canned.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Rabbuka, which won the listed Frank Underwood Cup at Rosehill two starts ago, was earmarked for the 2000m Gold Cup after failing over 2400m in the Australia Day Cup last Saturday.
But a tilt at country NSW’s richest race was scrapped this week when it became clear the Australia Day Cup run had taken a greater toll than expected.
“He’s gone to the paddock so he will not be going to Albury,” Waterhouse’s racing manager Robyn Hartney confirmed yesterday.
“He had a really tough run in the Australia Day Cup when he stepped up to 2400m on an average track ... and Gai just wasn’t happy with how he pulled up.
“They went very fast from the outset which knocked him around a bit and he hasn’t improved so Gai has decided to turn him out for four to six weeks.”
With Rabbuka ruled out, Hartney admitted the Waterhouse stable is now likely to be absent from this year’s Gold Cup after finishing fourth with Grand Commander in 2009.
Grand Commander broke down days after last year’s Gold Cup and has since been trained by Wayne Baker in Queensland.
Hartney said 2008 group 3 Craven Plate winner Lorne Dancer was also considered for the $170,000 Albury Gold Cup until he broke down last month.
“Your top class horses — your Theseo and Rock Kingdom types — are all going to the group 1 races, so I’m just trying to find a horse that is that rung below, like a Rabbuka or Lorne Dancer type,” Hartney said.
“Grand Commander was the perfect horse, we were really happy taking him down, but he didn’t have a lot of luck because they went pretty fast and a couple of things didn’t go his way.”
Lightly raced four-year-old Kontiki Park appears to be the Waterhouse’s best chance of returning to the Border.
The Thorn Park gelding, which has won two of his five starts, finished outside the placings for the first time in his career last Saturday when fourth behind Hawk Island in a Benchmark 80 Hcp at Rosehill.
“If he won on Saturday I thought he’d be a prospect but he’s going to drop back in class next start,” Hartney said of Kontiki Park.
