Captain Hammerhead making a last chance dash for Eureka

Forgotten Victorian pacer Captain Hammerhead (Captaintreacherous) is primed to make a last-minute bid to grab a spot in the world’s richest harness race, the $2.1mil TAB Eureka on September 7.

The classy four-year-old, who ran ninth in the TAB Eureka as a raw “baby” last year, had been written-off by most after a soaring temperature and virus ruined a planned Queensland raid last month.

He hasn’t raced since arguably one of the best wins of his career when he sat parked and won in a brilliant 1min51.4sec mile rate for 1720m at Melton on June 29. It was the 10^th win in his 25 starts career.

“The timing couldn’t have been worse,” trainer-driver David Moran said. “I had him as good as he’d ever been and he’d really developed as a racehorse.

“It’s really hard to do what he did that last run and he still had improvement to come.

“The way the Rising Sun fell away in Brisbane, it made it hard to watch knowing he was as good as any of them.

“Just before we were set to go, his temperature spiked. It hit 41c, which is scary high. We had to treat him.

“It came back down again, but when I started to work him again, it spiked again, so we decided to back off him for a while.”

Captain Hammerhead will trial at Shepparton on Thursday and, like a few other key hopefuls, he will head straight to the Racenet Discovery Stakes at Menangle on Saturday week.

That’s the race TAB revealed last Friday they would use to pick their slot runner to replace the sidelined Frankie Ferocious.

“That was music to my ears,” Moran said. “Dom (Martello, owner) and I had almost given up hope of getting in.

“Now we’ve got a lifeline. It’s sort of like last year, but different.”

The TAB Eureka wasn’t really on Captain Hammerhead’s radar last year, but he won the $100,000 Singo at Menangle two weeks before the big one and slot holder John Singleton snapped him up as his runner.

“We were there sort of had to go around, but he was still a big baby back then,” Moran said.

“He always had plenty of talent, but he’s so big and raw. It’s all really come together for him these past four or five months.

“I’d love to get in again this year. The race isn’t as strong as last year and my guy would be very competitive at his best.

“He’s raring to go, too. I’m trailing him this week because he always goes better with a hitout.

“He’ll be close to his best for the ‘qualifying’ race, but I know he’ll be even better again if he can land that last spot into the Eureka.”

In other stable news, Moran confirmed he had taken over training Victoria Derby hopefulTimmy Rictor, who he owns.

“Emma and Clayton did a fantastic job with him. He’s back home now and is close to racing. The Victoria Derby and NSW Breeders Challenge will be his big targets.”

Timmy Rictor has raced just six times for five wins and a second. His last run was a win in the Group 1 Breeders Crown final at Melton on November 25.

by Adam Hamilton, for Harness Racing Victoria