One of the owners of Fender is often asked if he ever regretted passing on offers worth around $800,000 to race the horse in Hong Kong early in his career.
“The owners knocked back some big offers when he was a younger horse,” trainer Brett Cavanough said.
“A couple of guys have said to one of the owners, Dave Ceglar, ‘I bet you wish you sold him for $800,000?’.
“But Dave told them, ‘have you been to a Ramornie, a Goldmarket and Scone Cup?’ They said, ‘nut’, and he told them, ‘well you’ve never had fun’.
“He’s now racing in a second Kosciuszko. Fender is an easy horse to train. He’s foolproof. Maybe he’s a horse who will be one-and-a-half lengths off being a good horse all his life, then one day he’ll put his hand up and win one, as they do.”
Cavanough could be relying on Fender to win Saturday’s $2m The Kosciuszko (1200m) now stablemate and one of the early race favourites, It’s Me, is racing the clock to be fit. Stewards confirmed late Monday It’s Me suffered a stone bruise and would be monitored this week.
Fender will be out to upstage stablemate It’s Me in The Kosciuszko.Credit:Getty
Fender won his first four career starts when the offers kept coming from the Asian racing mecca, only for the connections to pass on them all. Now six, Fender only won another two of his 19 career starts, but more than held his own in some handy races like the Grafton Ramornie, Gold Coast Goldmarket and Scone Cup, the Hunter Valley track where Cavanough is based.
Provided she is fit, It’s Me poses as Fender’s biggest threat. It’s Me won The Kosciuszko in 2020, and was brilliant last start getting home behind Shades Of Rose. Shades Of Rose is now in The Everest.
“One of my horses has won it, the other one has been placed twice in Listed company,” Cavanough said.
“They’re rated in the top-four horses in the race.
It’s Me (black and yellow checks) wins The Kosciuszko in 2020.Credit:Getty
“[In regards to] It’s Me’s last run, you only had to have two eyes to see what happened there. And she’s just gone forward since. She had a solid jump out on Friday morning in company, she went down the back straight over the half-mile, she worked brilliantly, looks good and is ready to go.”
Six-year-old mare It’s Me, a winner of five of her nine starts, is eyeing a hit-and-run trip to the west over the summer and a race like the Winterbottom Stakes, regardless of how well she runs at Randwick.
Fender was originally being prepared for The Big Dance on Melbourne Cup Day, but after a couple of eye-catching runs over the shorter trips when kept fresh, Cavanough was inspired to target another The Kosciuszko.
The race open only to bush horses has always provided some fantastic post-race scenes, including Art Cadeau’s win last year, and Handle The Truth’s triumph in 2019. Both horses will line up in this year’s edition.
Clipperton to unite with Everest new kid on block
Jockey Sam Clipperton knows Eduardo and Nature Strip are fantastic horses but also a pair coming to the end of their careers – and the Generation Next top liners like Mazu are ready to take their place.
What four-year-old Mazu gives away in age and experience to eight-year-old Nature Strip and nine-year-old Eduardo he makes up for with effort, and Clipperton knows he is a knockout chance on Saturday in The Everest.
Clipperton will always have a soft spot for Team Snowden’s Mazu because he was the horse who ended his six-year group 1 drought in May with glory in the Doomben 10,000.
He could not have been happier with his last start in the Premiere Stakes, when he came around the bend in a better position than Lost And Running, but hit the line just as well as his The Everest rival.
Mazu winning the Arrowfield Sprint at Randwick.Credit:Getty
“Nature Strip and Eduardo won’t be around forever, and even though they are at the top of their game at the moment, you have to think long term, and the likes of Mazu and Lost And Running are that next generation coming through,” Clipperton said.
“Mazu and Lost And Running are both geldings and have a few good seasons in them. Mazu is four, Lost And Running is six, and whatever Mazu does this year he will be better again next year. But that’s not to say he won’t be right there this year.
“Mazu has turned into a flagship horse for myself, he’s rocketed through the grades and now finds himself in an Everest. His two runs back have been spot-on, particularly his second-up run in The Premiere Stakes.”
Mazu still likes to do things in a rush, says Clipperton, but his race-day manners improve with each outing. The winter campaign to Brisbane did wonders for the horse’s head space.
Clipperton would love to win The Everest, then potentially nail down his first ride in the Melbourne Cup on Joe Pride’s long-range hope Stockman.
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