Weather adds intrigue to race for final spots in Stradbroke Handicap
TEAM Hawkes is on weather watch while Todd Willan intends to roll the dice and scratch Artlee from a QTC Cup which is shrouded in mystery.
TEAM Hawkes is on weather watch while Todd Willan intends to roll the dice and scratch out of a QTC Cup which is shrouded in mystery.
Saturday’s QTC Cup at Eagle Farm is the last golden ticket into the Stradbroke, but with just 26 horses left in the $1.5 million sprint after Wednesday’s first acceptors, Artlee (18th in order) and Trubia (24th) are the only ones needing the security blanket.
Stratum Star and Sacred Star are QTC Cup acceptors, but both are safely in the Stradbroke field.
Kaepernick is the most fancied Stradbroke contender in the QTC Cup and though he does not need a win to make the field, Team Hawkes had always planned this as a vital final lead-up run.
Co-trainer Michael Hawkes is desperate for the weather forecast to be wrong, because he believes Kaepernick is a strong Stradbroke chance, but will not show his best on a wet track.
More than likely Kaepernick will be scratched on Saturday if the track becomes severely rain affected.
“It’s not the ideal preparation and it would make it very hard for him (if he misses a run on Saturday),” Hawkes said, pointing to the fact he would be going from 1100m to 1400m second-up with four weeks between runs.
“The horse looks fabulous and he worked enormous on Tuesday. He is going the right way, but unfortunately the weather might beat him. He’s just not the same horse on rain-affected ground.”
Willan will bank on nothing leapfrogging Artlee for the final place in the field and scratch from the Cup after he moved to 18th on the Stradbroke order of entry.
“I’m happy to take the chance and go there next week having had the right preparation,” Willan said.
Trubia can leapfrog Artlee into the field, while a longshot could occur if another horse wins the QTC Cup and connections lodge a $60,000 late entry by Wednesday to run in the Stradbroke.
The other potential spoiler for Willan is Federal, who is engaged in the Spear Chief.
He sits on a 94 rating and is 21st in the Stradbroke order of entry. If he were to win impressively, he could potentially go to a rating higher than Artlee’s 98.
Traveston Girl could also go ahead of Artlee with an upset win in the Juanmo Stakes but Stratum Star and Sacred Star are both coming off sub-par last-start efforts and if they were to run poorly again in the QTC Cup, it is unlikely connections would pay up for a Stradbroke start.
Gary Moore, trainer of Takedown (17th) is also considering scratching from the Daybreak Lover. “We have the visitors draw again and (a run this week) might come down to what the weather does,” Moore said.
Stradbroke contenders accepted for this weekend
(18 start in the Stradbroke)
Order of Entry / Horse / Race Sat / Stradbroke price
7 STRATUM STAR — QTC Cup $35
11 SACRED STAR — QTC Cup $51
16 KAEPERNICK — QTC Cup $17
17 TAKEDOWN — Daybreak Lover $35
18 ARTLEE — QTC Cup $21
20 TRAVESTON GIRL — Juanmo Stakes $101
21 FEDERAL — Spear Chief $41
24 TRUBIA — QTC Cup $81
26 THE VIRGINIAN — Daybreak Lover $151
Originally published as Weather adds intrigue to race for final spots in Stradbroke Handicap
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