Punters rally for French import Cawdor set to make Australian debut at Sandown

Punters rally for talented French import Cawdor set to make Australian debut at Sandown on Saturday.

By Brad Waters and Gilbert Gardiner

Punters have piled into a French import making his local debut at Saturday’s Sandown meeting.

Cranbourne trainers Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young will unveil the well-bred Cawdor in the Thoroughbred Club of Australia Handicap (1400m).

TAB punters have backed Cawdor from $10 into $4.80 to post a first-up win for connections, who paid 150,000 guineas (approx. $A316,000) in a UK auction last October.

Cawdor is a son of champion European stallion Invincible Spirit but hails from the same family as UK superstar Enable, the winner of 10 Group 1 races, including the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe twice.

Cawdor won on debut before twice finishing in the placings in French stakes races, including an unlucky second in a Listed race at Longchamp last May.

Busuttin said Cawdor has pleased the stable with his work and trials in both preparations since arriving in Australia.

“He has trialled up well with good European form,” Busuttin said.

“We had him in over summer and he got up to a trial stage before we gave him a break.

“He’s come back in and he’s worked well and trialled well so he’s ready to go.”

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Cawdor ran second in his first Cranbourne jumpout on April 22 before improving to win a heat on May 6.

Jockey Luke Currie, who will be aboard Cawdor at Sandown, received a good impression of the gelding in his jumpouts.

“He’s a nice strong type of horse and been quite sharp in his jumpouts,” Currie said.

“He can run really well, I think he can win actually.”

Athletic Cawdor has shown good speed in jumpouts with jockey Luke Currie aboard. Picture: First Light Racing

Currie, a 13-time Group 1-winner, has eight rides at Sandown including Batoka Chief, Elphinstone, Cawdor and Nicolini Vito.

Batoka Chief won a Pakenham maiden by 2¼ lengths on debut and runner-up Makdane franked the form last Thursday night, with an easy win at the same venue.

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“It’s a bit hard to line it up (maiden to Saturday grade) but his turn of foot was brilliant, he probably hadn’t trialled like he’d race like that, but definitely brought it to the races didn’t he, he looks like he might be a really nice horse,” Currie said.

“It’s a step up in grade but he couldn’t have been more impressive the other day.”

Cawdor set to debut at Sandown. Picture: First Light Racing

Meanwhile, Busuttin said connections had no major plans for Cawdor’s maiden Australian campaign but he added the stable was keen to capitalise on the lightly-raced galloper’s low rating during the winter months.

“He’s 78-rated so he’s only a one-win horse so we can win a few races bringing him through the grades,” he said.

“We don’t have any big ambitions for him so I suppose we’ll see how it goes Saturday and work it out from there.”

The Sandown track was rated a soft 5 on Friday with overnight dews making that rating likely for Saturday’s meeting.

Busuttin said those conditions would be perfect for Cawdor.

“He’s gone well with the cut out of the track so I’d like to see the sting of the track on Saturday,” Busuttin said.

“If that does happen, I think he’s going to be hard to beat first-up. You never know until they hit the track but I’d suggest his form in France is good enough to win a Benchmark 84.”

Originally published as Punters rally for French import Cawdor set to make Australian debut at Sandown