WA-bred pacer Caberneigh continues to improve, and his trainer Jocelyn Young is planning a tilt at the $200,000 Golden Nugget on November 7 for the Bettors Delight gelding who chalked up his eighth win with an easy all-the-way success in the $100,000 Allwood Stud Devoted To Breeding Excellence Westbred Classic for four-year-old entires and geldings over 2536m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“We will probably look at the Nugget, now that we know he can run out the distance (2536m) of that event,” said Young.
“I was a little bit surprised that he won so easily. At his previous run over 2536m two starts earlier he led and finished third behind Vanderbilt and Rolling Fire. We put the pull-downs on him tonight because Kyle (Symington) said he switched off a bit, and he was probably in need of the run because it was his first outing for about three weeks.”
Caberneigh, a $4 chance, was smartest to begin in Friday night’s event in which Symington rated him perfectly, with modest opening quarters of 31.9sec. and 29.6sec. before he dashed over the final 800m in 56.2sec. and beat $12 chance Blaze Away by two lengths.
“He is just a little professional, and he settled down so well tonight,” said Symington. “I was holding back (in the back straight in the last lap) when I thought that Blaze Away, on my back, was the main danger.
“And when Blaze Away got clear I cut the ribbons, and Caberneigh responded very well.”
Caberneigh is the twelfth foal out of Live Or Die mare Nivea Franco, who had only four starts in New Zealand for one win and $4200. He is a half-brother to five winners, including Chancellor Cullen, who won the group 1 McInerney Ford Four-Year-Old Classic in November 2012 when he beat Bronze Seeker by a half-head.
Caberneigh, bred and owned by the Howlett family of Busselton, has earned $132,331 from his eight wins and seven placings from 26 starts.
By Ken Casellas