Talented Victorian trainer-reinsman Matt Craven has high hopes he will celebrate his first appearance in a race in Western Australia by winning with the New Zealand-bred three-year-old Cant Refuse in the $50,000 Caduceus Club Classic at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The gelding, a winner at just one of his 14 starts, was stranded in Melbourne on Tuesday night, but Craven is confident that a flight to Perth will be available either on Wednesday or Thursday.
Also tentatively booked to fly to Perth this week is another Victorian three-year-old Soho Tribeca, who is trained by Jayne Davies and was an easy all-the-way winner of the $30,575 Caduceus Club Cup at Cranbourne last Saturday night.
Both Victorian pacers drew out wide in the random barrier draw for Friday night’s group 3 classic over 2130m. Cant Refuse drew barrier No. 7, with the Rob Watson owned and bred Soho Tribeca out at No. 8. Watson also is a part-owner of Soho Wall Street (barrier two) and Soho Wolverine (barrier two on the back line).
The 31-year-old Craven has shown considerable ability in Victoria in recent years and he comes to Perth with a splendid record of 622 driving successes and 1062 placings from 3995 drives.
Cant Refuse raced ten times in New Zealand for one victory, rating 1.56.8 over 1700m at Alexandra Park last October. He has had four starts in Australia — for fourths behind champion colt Lazarus in a heat and the final of the Victoria Derby in January and a third to the outstanding youngster Our Waikiki Beach in a heat of the New South Wales Derby and then a splendid second to the same pacer in the final of the of that classic at Menangle last Sunday week.
Cant Refuse put up a tremendous performance in finishing a 2m second to Our Waikiki Beach in the NSW Derby. A 9/1 chance, he began smartly and raced in the breeze early before obtaining a trail in the one-wide line. James Rattray then eased the gelding three wide to surge forward to the breeze with 1200m to travel.
Our Waikiki Beach, the 3/1 on favourite, took the lead in the first circuit and Cant Refuse got to within a head of him 350m from home. Our Waikiki Beach went on to win in impressive fashion, rating 1.55.4, which equalled the race record for 2400m. The win gave Our Waikiki Beach a perfect record of 16 starts for 16 wins and $654,421 in prizemoney. The final two quarters were run in 28.6sec. and 26.5sec.
Soho Tribeca was a 100/1 chance and he raced five back on the pegs before finishing in seventh place. Then he returned to Victoria where he led from barrier six and scored easily from Sparrow Hawk at Cranbourne last Saturday night.
Cant Refuse is bred in the purple and is a full-brother to Our Bettor Dream (62 starts for 13 wins, 21 placings and stakes of $214,590), Bettor Offer (28 starts for 12 wins, nine placings and $150,325) and Delightful Offer (25 starts for 12 wins, six placings and $136,521).
Cant Refuse will be stabled in WA at Greg and Skye Bond’s Forrestdale training establishment and will remain in the State to contest the $200,000 WA Derby at Gloucester Park on April 15.
All 12 runners in Friday night’s classic will be on trial for the WA Derby and Oakford trainer Ross Olivieri was thrilled when El Hombre drew the prized No. 1 barrier.
“I’d rather No. 1 than any other barrier,” he said. He also lauded El Hombre’s victory over Rocknroll Whitby and Johnny Disco in the $25,000 Battle of Bunbury at Donaldson Park last Saturday night.
Driven by Stuart McDonald, El Hombre was sixth in the one-wide line at the bell before starting a three-wide move with 600m to travel and bursting to the front at the 350m mark.
“He followed the pace, one out and two back, and then chimed in and kicked clear before getting the wobbles in the straight,” Olivieri said. “He then got going again and won comfortably. He did a good job in what was really a test for us to see if he was up to Derby class.
“We knew there was a fair bit of upside with the horse and I think there’s still plenty of upside left. He’s been a big, slow-maturing horse, but he’s got power. He’ll follow the pace and he also showed that he can set the pace as he did at his previous start when he rated 1.55.2 over 1730m at Gloucester Park when he won from Mister Shark and Questionable Gesture.
“I hope he will lead this week. But the good thing about him is that he is not a one-trick pony. I’m very, very pleased with him and it looks like that he’s up to Derby class.”
All runners in the race have been racing enthusiastically and luck will surely play a significant part in the outcome of the 2130m event.
The most inexperienced runner is the Ray Williams-trained New World Order, whose five starts have produced two wins and two seconds. Reinsman Nathan Turvey said: “He’s green and it’s a big step up in class. I think he’ll do a good job, but I’m not sure if he’s up to the class of this field yet. But we will find out.”
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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