Gary Duncan confident Seat Of Power can deliver Caloundra Cup success

Gary ‘Jack’ Duncan is looking to add to his Caloundra Cup race day success with three leading chances across the card and one that he says will be ‘very hard to beat’.

Gary ‘Jack’ Duncan returns to the track after suffering a heart attack at the Doomben racecourse on July 24. Picture: Patrick Woods

Sunshine Coast racing trainer Gary ‘Jack’ Duncan is aiming for even more Caloundra Cup race day success with two leading chances and one that he says will be “very hard to beat” in the 2400m Caloundra Cup.

After taking out the Group 3 Winx Guineas in 2020 with Wapiti and finishing second with Dzsenifer in 2021, Duncan has opted to instead aim for the other two main races in the $300,000 Caloundra Cup and the $175,000 Glasshouse Handicap at the Sunshine Coast Turf Club on July, 2.

He said he was eager to see how his seven-year-old gelding Seat of Power performed after finishing second behind London Banker in the Tattersall’s Cup on June 25 at Eagle Farm.

“Seat Of Power is definitely a strong chance, I wanted to go in the Ipswich Cup actually but I missed the acceptances so that’s why he raced last Saturday,” Duncan said.

“It’s not ideal to back him up but Ben Thompson will ride him again, he’s fit now, has had a good run under his belt and there’s some good horses around him but he’ll certainly be very hard to beat.”

Seat Of Power opened as a $13 chance before final acceptances on Tuesday.

Dzsenifer wins for Taylor Marshall to mark Jack Duncan's first winner since his heart attack in July. Picture: Grant Peters-Trackside Photography

Duncan said the potential rain in Caloundra on Friday and Saturday could be a further confidence boost to his four-year-old mare Dzsenifer and gelding Goldsborough.

“Dzsenifer is in and she’s going good so she’ll show up as always in the Glasshouse and with talk of rain coming it wouldn’t hurt actually,” he said.

“Goldsborough is a pretty good horse and he had a good run at Ipswich first up last start.

“He finds a good field here but will certainly be competitive that’s for sure.”

With more than $1m on offer across the entire card, eight leading Sunshine Coast based trainers will try their luck against big-name stables led by Chris Waller, Tony Gollan, Lee Freedman and duo Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.

Sunshine Coast Turf Club chief executive John Miller said he was excited for the nine-race card after three years of the event being significantly altered.

“We’re coming off 2019 as the last time we actually got to run a full lead up and a full Saturday race program because of Covid-19 and getting washed out,” he said.

“Our point of difference now is the increase of prize money for the Caloundra Cup from $175,000 to $300,000 and the future is hopefully doing the same with the Winx Guineas, possibly the Glasshouse Handicap and some of the other races.”

Originally published as Gary Duncan confident Seat Of Power can deliver Caloundra Cup success