Doomben Cup 2017: Cylinder Beach on mission to end drought for Brisbane horses in Group 1 feature
TRAINER Desleigh Forster is confident in-form jockey Jim Byrne can help her break a 34-year drought for Brisbane horses in the Group 1 Doomben Cup.
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TRAINER Desleigh Forster is confident in-form jockey Jim Byrne can help her break a 34-year drought for Brisbane horses in the Group 1 Doomben Cup.
No Brisbane horse has won the Cup since 1983 when Lord Seaman, who was trained by Doomben-based Don Cleal, took the race.
Forster has Cylinder Beach in Saturday’s Doomben Cup (2020m) and will stick with Byrne who rode Redzel to victory in the Doomben 10,000, the first Group 1 race of the Brisbane carnival at the weekend.
Byrne is hoping to join Kerrin McEvoy (2016) and Graham Cook (1975) as the only jockeys to ride the Doomben Group 1 double in the past 50 years.
Cylinder Beach easily won the Toowoomba Cup two runs back and was one of several unlucky horses when seventh behind It’s Somewhat in the Group 2 Hollindale Stakes last Saturday week.
“I thought it was a very good run in the Hollindale as he was beaten three lengths,” Forster said. “There were a lot of hard luck stories but I felt we should have also finished a lot closer.
“The Hollindale is usually a pretty good guide to the Doomben Cup so it will be very interesting to see how things stack up this year. Brisbane has a real shortage of genuine Group 1 horses to contest our big races. But I think Cylinder Beach is one of them.”
Byrne rode Cylinder Beach in trackwork on Saturday morning and was pleased with his effort.
Hollindale Stakes winner It’s Somewhat, also the winner of the Doncaster Mile, is the equal $4.40 favourite for the Doomben Cup alongside Articus who is one of several horses premier Melbourne trainer Darren Weir is trying to get on flights to Brisbane.
Weir does not want to send his horses by float because Sooboog and El Divino, who were scheduled to run in the 10,000, had to be scratched after coming down with travel sickness on the long road trip.
Originally published as Doomben Cup 2017: Cylinder Beach on mission to end drought for Brisbane horses in Group 1 feature
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