Catch A Wave makes his return

Gifted pacer Catch A Wave (Captaintreacherous) is poised for his highly-anticipated return to Victorian racing this Saturday night.

The Andy Gath-trained five-year-old made his first public appearance since conquering The Nullarbor and Fremantle Cup in the west during April with victory at the Melton trials last week.

The gelding out of Coppagoodone featured in a two-horse trial with the Emma Stewart-prepared Idyllic and breezed past his only opponent to win in a mile rate of 1.55.6.

Gath, 55, was impressed with his pacer’s return.

“He looked very sharp and Kate (Gath) said he looked really sharp out there,” he said. “We are pretty pleased he didn’t knock himself around in his first trial back. We could obviously tell he would recover well and a horse of his ability, you would expect him to do that quite comfortably.”

The Long Forest horseman said the four-time Group 1 winner was being aimed at the Len Smith Mile at Menangle on September 7.

“That is on Eureka night, so he will have a couple of lead-up runs. Ideally we would like to race him the week before at Melton.”

Catch A Wave has been nominated for this Saturday night’s free for all pace at Melton Entertainment Park, with acceptances and final fields declared tomorrow.

by Lachlan Mitchell, for Harness Racing Victoria