Cliff House cools his hooves in readiness for postponed Wellington Cup
By Ray Hickson
It seems Cliff House doesn’t mind waiting an extra day for his shot at Big Dance eligibility in the $100,000 Grand Hotel & Bottle Shop Wellington Cup (1700m) as he enjoyed some sun and a pick of grass to pass the time with the postponement to Monday.
Trainer Tim Donnelly gave the six-year-old some light work on the treadmill, which he says Cliff House enjoys, to keep him ticking over and says even though he has top weight and the outside barrier, he’s very well-placed.
Heavy rain forced the postponement of the Wellington Cup meeting to Monday.Credit: Jenny Evans
In fact, he said the outside barrier will give Cliff House his best chance to book a spot in the $3 million Big Dance later this year.
“He actually doesn’t mind covering ground,” Donnelly said.
“If you look at a number of his wins, the Gundagai Cup and his Highway at Randwick, he’s three or four deep the whole way. He’s a big horse, so it doesn’t really worry him.
“I definitely wanted to draw out at Wellington, I didn’t want him getting caught in on the fence.
“He’s a momentum horse, so he can get out and get going when he wants to.”
Cliff House only had two runs last preparation, a slashing fourth in the Goulburn Cup before he bled in a race at Randwick in September and had to be spelled.
It’s clear to Donnelly that he’s come back in outstanding touch with a first-up second over 1200m at Canberra before going down narrowly in the National Sprint (1400m) earlier this month.
He’ll carry 61kg at Wellington and be giving away between 3.5kg and 7kg to all his rivals.
“He ran second in a Listed race the other day, so you’ve got to pay the penalty,” Donnelly said.
“He’s a horse on the way up with only two runs back this preparation, the other chances in the race have been going around for a while.”
It’s no surprise that Donnelly would like to give Cliff House another chance in his home town Wagga Cup in early May after he ran sixth behind Fawkner Park last year.
That will be his fifth run for the preparation as Donnelly wants to give him another to bridge the five weeks between Wellington and Wagga.
McDonald to miss rescheduled Tancred meeting
The rescheduling of Tancred Stakes day from Saturday to tomorrow has cost top jockey James McDonald another meeting in the Sydney autumn carnival. McDonald was due to ride River Of Stars (Tancred Stakes) and Movin Out (Vinery Stud Stakes) for Chris Waller in the group 1 races on Saturday at Rosehill, before officials declared the meeting a washout. He is now unavailable because of commitments in Dubai. McDonald was set to miss day one of the Championships at Randwick next Saturday due to his rides at Meydan, including Romantic Warrior in the Dubai Turf.
Craig Kerry
Foreman’s Gully repays Wellington
Pride Of Dubai gelding Foreman’s Gully all but repaid trainer Rob Wellington in full with an easy victory on debut at Wagga on Sunday. Formerly trained by the Hayes brothers at Lindsay Park, the four-year-old had two placings and no wins from six starts in Victoria. He was a $15,000 buy for Wellington at the Inglis February Online Sale and stepped out for the first time for the trainer in the 1000m maiden. Foreman’s Gully led under Billy Owen then kicked clear in the straight for a four-length win and first prize of $13,950. “He’s a very raw sort of horse,” Wellington said.
Craig Kerry
Supplied by Racing NSW
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