Caulfield Cup 2016: Grant Kluske chases fairytale victory with outsider Go Dreaming in $3m staying classic

PART-TIME real estate agent and horse trainer of only two years Grant Kluske is a dreamer, and now he is only a few days out from turning one such dream into a reality.

PART-TIME real estate agent and horse trainer of only two years Grant Kluske is a dreamer, and now he is only a few days out from turning one such dream into a reality.

It’s one of those fairytale stories that racing dishes up, but less frequently than it used to.

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Kluske, 56, trains only 10 horses from his Ashbourne base, just outside of Strathalbyn, in South Australia. But he has managed to get one of his bargain-basement buys into Saturday’s $3 million Caulfield Cup — a race where he will take on some of the biggests stables in the world.

The horse’s name sums up so much of the story — Go Dreaming. The seven-year-old gelding was purchased by Kluske as a tried horse for $9000 in 2014 after racing in a 0-58 race at Geelong.

Grant Kluske says Go Dreaming will give a good sight in the Caulfield Cup. Picture: Simon Cross

He races it with family and friends, and the horse has now won six more races as well as $336,495, which is three quarters of Kluske’s total training prizemoney.

“He’s going really well, I’m really rapt with him,” Kluske said. “He doesn’t know his odds, he’ll give a good sight, that’s for sure.”

Go Dreaming will be ridden in the Caulfield Cup by Katelyn Mallyon, who this week learned she will likely have her first Melbourne Cup start with Assign, impressive winner of last week’s Herbert Power Stakes.

In keeping with the fairytale side to this story, Kluske uses the old-style training techniques passed onto him by the late Mick Whittle, who died earlier this year, including sometimes trotting Go Dreaming off a lead while driving alongside the horse in his car.

“Mick taught me that,” he said. “My family had always been involved in racehorses and my dad always had a few horses. I had a few horses with Mick, who has since passed on. He taught me a fair bit about how to train horses.

“My dad unfortunately passed away when I was 48. So when I turned 50, I decided I’m going to get my trainer’s licence. I told everyone, my wife and all, that I wanted to have a crack at it.

“My mates said ‘why the hell do you want to do that for? I said I didn’t want to get to 60 and wish I had done it. And in just two years, I’ve managed to get a Caulfield Cup runner.”

Go Dreaming finished a solid fourth to Real Love, beaten six lengths, in the JRA Cup at Moonee Valley last start. The horse hasn’t won this campaign, but did win four races in succession earlier last year before suffering an injury.

Kluske said that injury setback ended the dream of last year’s Caulfield Cup, but he never gave up hope of gaining a start this year.

“He got injured last year and I tried to keep him going,” Kluske said. “I put him in the Lord Reims and the Adelaide Cup but he just wasn’t himself. We took him to Oakbank, where he ran third, whereas the year before he won it. So he went to the paddock, but he has come back well.

Go Dreaming has worked his way back from injury to make the Caulfield Cup. Picture: Mark Brake

“All we need is a good track and I’m sure he will run well.”

Kluske will float the horse across to Melbourne on Thursday, more than 700 kilometres. Some of the part-owners will fly across, while a group of 20 friends from Ashbourne will make the trip across to Caulfield in a bus.

Kluske is eager to keep the dream alive, even though his gelding is one of the rank outsiders. And even though the horse hasn’t won since February, and might look outclassed when matched against some of the bluebloods in the race, his trainer doesn’t think so.

For he knows that this year has been one of sporting fairytales, so you just never know what might happen.

$3m CAULFIELD CUP

Caulfield, Saturday

1 PREFERMENT C Waller H Bowman (15) 57kg

2 OUR IVANHOWE L & A Freedman D Dunn (6) 56.5kg

3 EXOSPHERIC L & A Freedman D Oliver (3) 55.5kg

4 SCOTTISH C Appleby K McEvoy (7) 55kg

5 SIR ISAAC NEWTON A O’Brien C O’Donoghue (9) 55kg

6 TARZINO M Price C Newitt (4) 54.5kg

7 ALMOONQITH D & B Hayes & T Dabernig M Walker (2) 54kg

8 SIR JOHN HAWKWOOD J P Thompson B Spriggs (5) 53.5kg

9 ARTICUS A Wohler Z Purton (11) 53kg

10 TALLY J O’Shea B Avdulla (19) 53kg

11 JAMEKA C Maher N Hall (13) 52.5kg

12 REAL LOVE D Weir C Williams (10) 52.5kg

13 SET SQUARE C Maher M Dee (a) (20) 52kg

14 BIG MEMORY T McEvoy C Parnham (12) 51.5kg

15 SACRED MASTER C Waller T Berry (8) 51.5kg

16 FANATIC G Sanders D Yendall (16) 50.5kg

17 PEMBERLEY C Maher B Allen (a) (17) 50.5kg

18 GO DREAMING G Kluske Ms K Mallyon (1) 50.5kg

19e DE LITTLE ENGINE D O’Brien B E Thompson (a) (14) 50.5kg

20e VENGEUR MASQUE M Moroney P Moloney (18) 50.5kg

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