Win provides recovering trainer with reason to smile

GARY Doughty is recovering after a monster operation and is expected to be out of physical action for a couple of months.

WINNER: Cabeirian winning at Caloundra on Saturday. Picture: Contributed

RACING: Flashy chestnut Cabeirian gave his indisposed trainer Gary Doughty a welcome distraction when prevailing by a narrow margin at Caloundra on Saturday.

Doughty's wife Kelly represented the stable at Corbould Park and said her husband would have had a smile watching from home.

Doughty is recovering after a monster operation and is expected to be out of physical action for a couple of months.

Doughty suffered a perforated bowel 16 months ago and the operation was a follow up from his original surgery.

"It was a six-hour operation. They thought it would be keyhole surgery and very straight forward. Unfortunately it wasn't when they got in there,” Kelly said.

"Everything hopefully now is right and after this he should be A-OK, but to do anything physically it will be a couple of months.”

After going 11 runs without a win, Cabeirian has turned the corner in 2019, winning his past two in good style.

Kelly noted the four-year-old Snitzel gelding was more relaxed than ever before on Saturday and "didn't blink an eyelid.”

"Usually he's a bit full on and today he couldn't care less,” she said.

Cabeirian's margin was only narrow - fortunately for jockey Ryan Wiggins, who weighed in 1.2kg overweight.

He was fined $300 for the infringement, with stewards saying the penalty would have been considerably more severe had he been beaten.

David Vandyke intends to run unbeaten two-year-old Alligator Blood in a 1300m race at Eagle Farm in four weeks before committing to an interstate campaign.

"I wouldn't get too carried away with the win (last Saturday), but at the same time this boy's only a two-year-old and he's still learning his craft,” he said.

"Going forward I don't know whether he's got the speed to win a Golden Slipper, but at the same time we won't take that race off the radar, because it's obviously a dream for most people even to have a runner in that race.”

Vandyke will debut stablemate IamIcan at Eagle Farm this weekend.

The daughter of I Am Invincible was a $475,000 yearling purchase last year and beat Alligator Blood in a Sunshine Coast trial earlier this month.

"She's out of a good dour New Zealand staying family and she's a magnificent type,” Vandyke said.

"She only knows one gear and that's to go. I'm just hoping she can sustain that speed if not to win, run a very cheeky race.”