Long and winding Road back for tough Dubbo sprinter

It’s been a long and very frustrating wait for that third career win for Castlebar Road, but finally payday looms.

Connections of the tough Dubbo sprinter are set to finally return to the winner’s circle at Tuesday’s feature Gunnedah meeting.

The powerfully built and still lightly raced six-year-old incredibly hasn’t won for 25 months, when he ploughed through the mud to land a second straight win at home in a Class 1.

That came while he was in the stable of Dar Lunn, who had him for only two more runs later in the year before he was sidelined for an entire year, and ultimately transferred to the neighbouring Brett Robb stable.

Countless setbacks meant Castlebar Road didn’t race for nearly 13 months, only returning in January this year in a BM 58 at Gilgandra before again being tipped out for five months.

Finally, though, the Barclay family owners look set for a full campaign with the son of Kiwi sire Laguna Bay, after he was narrowly beaten in a good quality Class 2 at home seven weeks back.

He then led in a similar race but was easily run down before returning to Dubbo, where he looked home for all money until collared in the final strides in a country BM 58.

While Castlebar Road has his first outing at Gunnedah in a Benchmark 58 Hcp over 1000m, importantly he stays at his pet distance, with apprentice jockey Dylan Stanley off-setting the big weight with a 3kg claim.