A preparatory run at Sandown before embarking on a trip to Hong Kong for December’s major race meeting is an unusual path in today’s racing landscape, yet trainer Gavin Bedggood is approaching the scenario with confidence.
Kingswood produced a significant upset for many punters when he triumphed at $26 in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) on October 17. While he is unlikely to be offered at those odds again this Saturday at Sandown, his trainer is expecting a strong showing before the horse heads to Hong Kong for the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase (2400m) scheduled for December 13.
The six-year-old stallion underwent his initial mandatory inoculation for the international journey merely days after his Caulfield Cup success, with his subsequent booster dose slated for a few days following his next competition, the Group 2 Zipping Classic (2400m).
“Four weeks between runs allowed us to give him a quiet week and we’d had to tighten the screws again since,” Bedggood communicated after Kingswood completed a gallop at Caulfield on Tuesday.
“I’d like to see him win again this week. To be going over there and racing on the world stage, he’d have to be winning or being unlucky not to win for me not to want to go.”
Kingswood is poised to become the first winner of the Caulfield Cup to participate in the Zipping Classic in the same year since Bunratty Castle did so in 1968.
Under the handicap conditions of that time, Bunratty Castle carried a weight of 8 stone 11 pounds, approximately 55.5kg, while Kingswood will bear 59kg under the contemporary weight-for-age system.
Bedggood is resolute in his aim to bring a competitive runner to Hong Kong and has maintained the same disciplined methodology that enabled him to swiftly revert to his established routine after the Caulfield Cup triumph.
“When I got to work on the Monday morning and you have to open the front gate at 2:45am, it was back to normal,” he added.
The trainer expressed his satisfaction with the grey galloper’s Tuesday workout at Caulfield ahead of his return to racing action at Sandown.
Kingswood is currently the second favourite at $4 in the initial markets for the Zipping Classic, positioned behind Joseph O’Brien’s contender Small Fry, who is priced at $2.10.
