Gavin Bedggood enjoyed the high of a Stakes win at Caulfield on Saturday, but that didn’t stop him heading back to Cranbourne with a lingering sense of frustration.
The trainer admitted he knew before the first race that he had erred with stable favourite Kingswood, a decision that continued to nag at him even after the stable celebrated victory.
Bedggood chose to scratch Kingswood from the Eclipse Stakes, where the gelding held favouritism, believing the Soft 7 conditions early in the morning would be unsuitable. But the expected rain never materialised, and the track was upgraded to a Soft 6 soon after the meeting commenced.
Despite winning the $200,000 Group 3 Eclipse Stakes with Casino Seventeen, Bedggood could not shake the regret of withdrawing Kingswood from a race that ultimately would have suited him.
“I’ve felt sick about it all day,” Bedggood said.
“It was a Soft 7 this morning, they run the first race and they upgraded and we’ve had no rain. If the owners were upset at me I wouldn’t blame them either.
“It was going to be wet and it hasn’t eventuated. That was my blue.
“I didn’t want to give him a gut-buster with the idea of backing up next Saturday, so I thought we’d reserve him for that.”
Kingswood will now chase redemption in Saturday’s $500,000 Listed Ballarat Cup (2000m), with Bedggood confident the gelding will atone under more suitable conditions.
He is also expected to line up alongside Eclipse Stakes winner Casino Seventeen, who claimed his first victory since transferring to Bedggood from Grant and Alana Williams’ stable in Perth.
The quirky part of Casino Seventeen’s triumph was the update to his unique career record: 55 starts for 11 wins, 11 seconds and 11 thirds, having raced across South Australia, Darwin, New South Wales and Western Australia before arriving at Cranbourne.
Punters weighing up Kingswood and Casino Seventeen for the Ballarat Cup can compare odds across leading Australian bookies at our recommended betting sites.